'You've seen lists of the hundred best footballers and the hundred best guitarists. In fact, you've seen lists of the hundred best everything. Now, as Britain enjoys its hundredth year of car making, sit back and enjoy the first ever definitive list of the hundred best cars.

You may imagine, because I drew it up, that it'll be full to overflowing with Italian exotica and Japanese turbo-charged play stations. And you'd be right, it is. But there are surprises too, like the Ford Transit Van and the Peugeot 504 Estate. I've even let the odd Porsche squeak through the net.

And then, before I get to the top ten, I set out to find the worst, which is then mashed into an Austin Allegro and destroyed in the biggest game of bar skittles ever staged. So yes, there are fireballs, screaming tyres, power slides, power chords, jack hammer engine noises and a countdown: a countdown to number one. The wheeled Jimi Hendrix. The automotive Pele. The best car ever made.

You're in for a shock.'

Jeremy Clarkson, 2001