In our last installment of Ford’s Top 20 Cars of All Time, we paid homage to the 1965 Shelby Cobra 427, the 1955 T-Bird, the 1982 Mustang GT, both the 1939 and 1961 Lincoln Continentals, the 1969 Capri, the 1965 Galaxie and LTD, the 2010 Raptor pickup, the 2005 Ford GT, and last but not least, the 1967 Lotus 49 Ford-Cosworth. It may be hard to believe, but these great machines didn’t even make the top 10. So now, the better half of our fabulous Fords countdown continues . . .
10) 1939 Anglia
1937 Ford Anglia model shown
As American cars grew ever larger, the rest of the world needed an honest small car to deal with higher fuel prices and congested former cart paths. Anglia production didn’t ramp up until after World War II, but it firmly established Ford as a worldwide company.
9) 1968 Escort
1970 Ford Escort model shown
This was a simple, straightforward car, with a front engine and rear-wheel drive, that made Ford almost as British as it is American. Deeply beloved in the UK, it became a fierce rally car and a performance icon.
8) 1953 F-100
1953 Ford F-100
Arguably, this is the best looking truck ever made (just ask any street-rodder). It got even better in ’56 when a wraparound windshield perfected the design. And thanks to a modern chassis underneath, the beauty was more than skin-deep. Although many of these have been customized into hot rods, some are still working hard every day.
7) 1949 Ford
1949 Ford
Forget fat fenders and running boards, modern cars of the postwar era would have “envelope” bodies that tidily tucked everything within sleek styling. Think of it as the engineering blueprint that the entire American industry would follow for the next 35 years.
6) 1986 Taurus
1986 Ford Taurus
In the mid-1980s, the American car industry was flailing, failing, and falling behind the Japanese. Then came the cleanly aerodynamic, front-drive Taurus and suddenly it was rational to buy an American car again. No one may ever collect one as a classic, but the Taurus saved Ford.
5) 1948 F-1 Pickup
1948 Ford F-1
It was Ford’s first true post–World War II design, and with its “Million Dollar Cab” it was more comfortable and more usable than any pickup before it. The F-series pickups have been among the best-selling vehicles on earth ever since.
4) 1965 Mustang
1965 Ford Mustang
Yeah, it’s merely pretty metal over the bones of a Falcon, but it (and its savvy marketing) made an entire generation of Americans go nuts for cars. Car fans will continue to disagree whether the first Mustang, Introduced in April of 1964, was officially a 1964, 1964-1/2, or 1965 model, but the VIN pegs all first-year versions of the ponycar as 1965 models.
3) 1932 Ford V-8
1932 Ford V8
The Model T put the world on wheels, but it’s the 65-hp ’32 V-8 that brought power and style to the people. The flathead Deuce is the eternal hot rod.
2) 1964 GT40
1964 Ford GT40
Fewer than 135 of these mid-engine racing machines were crafted, mixing European chassis components with production-based American racing V-8s. Built to beat Ferrari at its own game, the GT40 won four straight 24 Hours of Le Mans between 1966 and 1969. It’s simply the greatest Ford race car of all time.
1) 1909 Model T
1909 Ford Model T
Our top pick for the number-one Ford of all time? Did you really have to ask? Over a period of 20 years Ford built about 16.5 million of these bare-bones, four-cylinder machines at assembly plants around the world. With the Model T, Ford really did put the world on wheels, and in so doing, the world changed.
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