When we were thinking of things to cover last week one of the ideas that came up was to cover some British cars that had made it big in the USA.  Perhaps as a natural result of this we found some unusual cars that made it to American shores that we weren't expecting.

Probably my favourite from the overseas oddities were those that made it into the Trans-Am racing series.  The Trans American Sedan Championship ran from 1966 till the present day and consisted of two classes, Under 2 litre (U-2) and Over 2 litre (O-2).  The O-2 class was the domain of the big American muscle cars.  The U-2 class was mainly European marques, including a handful of British cars.

Ford, Austin, Sunbeam, British Leyland and Triumph all fielded cars.  The 1966 season was won by Alfa Romeo with it's GTA, the Europeans didn't get a look in again until 1973 when Porsche won two years in a row, after that the championship regularly changed hands between European and American companies, with the 1977 and 78 class wins by Jaguar being the high point for the British contingent.  That is until recently when the Jaguar XKR has dominated the championship.  For us though the golden era is throughout the late sixties and seventies.

The spectacle of Mini Coopers and Lotus Cortinas cut it up among the larger American cars must have been a sight to behold.  The car that first drew our attention to this selection of British racing cars is the Triumph Vitesse that was run by British Leyland in the 1971 season which we spotted on the excellent BringATrailer.com.  The car has been for sale a few times before but seems to have finally sold, lets hope it is to someone that will bring it out for some historic events in the USA.

Outside of the world of racing it can be surprising to see what has made it to US shores, the best place to keep an eye on these things is the previously mentioned BringATrailer with it's handy British category.  Whilst there are a fair few small sporty convertibles, how about these two Peerless or a nice Triumph Dolomite Sprint, they must really stand out on US roads.

Have you seen any odd driving around the states?  Or even better are you driving something unusual on US roads?  Drop us a comment.