SSC Tuatara
Why 2.6: Shelby SuperCars shrank a flat-plane pushrod V8 to 5.9 litres specifically so it could rev to 8,800 rpm, then put 1,750 hp of it behind a 1,247 kg carbon tub. The October 2020 top-speed claim was retracted after independent video analysis, and the car has been living with that ever since.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
A flat-plane crank on a 5.9-litre pushrod V8 spinning to 8,800 rpm is a combination nobody else has built, and it shrieks where every other blown American eight booms. But the turbochargers still flatten the very top, and SSC never did the exhaust engineering Koenigsegg does. Behind the Jesko and the AMG Black Series.
8-cylinder · turbocharged · 8,800 rpm redline · rated 7.8 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €1.7M (2020) → €1.8M (2026), trending up · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
There aren't any — strict two-seater.
The only position there is, so makers of this era equip it: expect a passenger-airbag cut-off (key switch or occupant sensing) as standard, because there is no rear row to point children to. Whether the seat itself carries ISOFIX anchors is maker-specific — Porsche bundles them with its child-seat preparation, Ferrari sold them as an option, others are belt-mount only with the airbag off.
Derived from production years and seating layout, not a per-car source. ISOFIX was standardised as ISO 13216 in 1997, required on new EU model types from 2011 and on all new EU cars from 2014.
The long version
The engineering deserves better than its reputation. Nelson Racing built the 5.9-litre V8 with a flat-plane crank and two injectors per cylinder, and the capacity was deliberately reduced from the obvious 6.9 so the thing could spin to 8,800 rpm without shaking itself apart — nobody else combines a pushrod valvetrain, a flat-plane crank and that rev ceiling. The drag coefficient is genuinely class-leading. Then SSC announced 331 mph in Nevada in 2020, the footage did not survive scrutiny, the run was withdrawn, and a subsequent verified attempt landed well below the headline. For a company whose only product is a record, that is close to existential, and it shows in how the cars are held. Deliveries have been slow against the 100-unit plan, the secondary market is thin rather than hot — there is no Bugatti-style premium waiting for a flipper — and the owners who did commit are a small group of American collectors holding a car whose defining claim is contested. Low miles, low speculation, and a story the car cannot outrun.