The 25 coolest Fords of all time

Praise the Fords

With a history stretching back 120 years, the Ford Motor Company (Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury) has made dozens of cars that we’d consider cool. The Model T, Galaxies, Comet Calientes, Cobras… the list of fan favorites is nearly endless.

These are but a few storied Fords and Lincolns, with the occasional Shelby thrown in for good measure. Apologies are proffered to all the cars that didn’t make the cut. You are always in our hearts.

1901 Ford sweepstakes car

Henry Ford built and raced this vehicle in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, in 1901. His unexpected victory helped him attract the investors needed to start the Henry Ford Company, later to become the Ford Motor Company. The ‘sweepstakes car’ made history.

Edsel Ford’s 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster

After Edsel Ford returned from a trip to Europe in 1932, he asked Ford’s chief designer to build him a personal sports car like those he’d seen “on the continent”. With design help from Ford’s aircraft division, this stunning vehicle was completed two years later.

1932 Ford V-8

Ford released the flathead V-8 in 1932 and once again changed history. Its revolutionary design could be mass-produced cheaply from a single casting, making eight-cylinder power affordable to the common man. Ford sold more V-8 cars over the next 21 years than all its competitors combined.

1939 Lincoln Zephyr

Styled by the newly founded Ford Design Department, the Zephyr was sleek, modern and aerodynamic. The 1938 design featured dual grilles with horizontal slats, a motif that is still a Lincoln hallmark today. From 1939-1941, however, the vertical ‘waterfall’ design seen here was used.  It made the Zephyr an American automotive icon.

1939 Ford Cab Over Engine (COE) truck

The big news of 1939 was Ford’s introduction of the Mercury brand and, along with it, a more powerful V-8 engine. This found its way into many Ford vehicles, including the stylish COE dump truck seen here. The oval grille models were produced from 1938-1940, and are highly prized by collectors and customizers today.

1946 Ford Super Deluxe Station Wagon

Ford thoroughly updated its range in 1941, preparing for the unpredictability the already-ongoing World War II might bring. Production ceased in 1942 and restarted in 1945. This 1946 model was essentially a 1942 car with very minor trim tweaks. However, for soldiers returning home from the war with unspent cash in their pockets, it symbolized an optimistic post-war future, filled with babies and easy suburban living.

1949 Ford

The ’49 Ford was the first new design to be introduced after World War II. It ushered in a new era in automotive styling, with slab sides, integrated fenders, chrome trim and the first touches of the aircraft inspiration that dominated the 1950s. It also welcomed back the automotive industry as a whole.

1951 Lincoln Tudor

After the war, Ford combined Lincoln and Mercury into one division to save development costs. This 1951 Tudor has much of the same DNA as the now-coveted ’51 Merc, such as the low roofline and excellent proportions, but features simpler trim, tucked headlights, frenched taillights and wraparound bumpers. Customizers will often add these touches to cars for a more elegant look, even today.

1955 Ford Thunderbird

One of the most charismatic vehicles ever to emerge from Detroit, the Thunderbird was never intended to be a sports car. Instead, it was designed to be a personal boulevardier. A V-8 was standard on the lightweight two-seater, as was a painted fiberglass top (a cloth convertible top could be ordered). A dual exhaust exited through twin bumper guards at the rear.

1956 Ford Fairlane Victoria

New for 1956 was the four-door variant of the flagship Victoria, which really could be ordered in pink, with a painted interior and wheels to match. The base engine was a 292 cubic inch V-8: good for 202 horsepower when coupled to a Ford-O-Matic transmission. The 312 version could be ordered with a Holley four-barrel carburetor, making 225 horsepower. Also new for ’56 were 12-volt electrical systems across the entire Ford line.

1957 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner

Ford spent $20 million developing the power-retractable hard top for 1957 – around $214 million in today’s dollars. Predating transistors, the electrical mechanism used 610 feet of wire, three drive motors, four lock motors, eight circuit breakers, 10 limit switches and 10 power relays. The roof could be actuated in 40 seconds, but trunk space was severely limited with it down. Although it cost twice as much as a baseline sedan, nearly 49,000 Skyliners were sold between 1957 and 1959.

1959 Ford Country Squire

Long before the dreary days of minivans and SUVs, autobarges like this stylish nine-passenger Country Squire ruled the roadways. Ford sold its wagons on their utility and as a vehicle for adventure. The Ford Treasury of Station Wagon Living articles and books, published in the late 1950s, highlighted the amazing array of camping equipment on offer, such as the boat on top of the vehicle pictured here, which unfolds into a complete campsite on the next slide…

1959 Ford Country Squire

Seating in the giant Country Squire was in three rows of three passengers each, with the back row located behind the rear axle. For 1959, fiberglass edging and a vinyl-like film called Di-Noc made up the signature wood paneling. The last true Ford ‘woodie’ was produced in 1948, although real wood trim was used until 1953.

1961 Lincoln Continental

The fourth-generation Continental was a marked departure from the excessive styling of the 1950s, and is arguably the most iconic Lincoln ever made. Simple and clean, the design evoked solidity and authority. The famous ‘suicide’ doors were a practical choice; in mockups, engineers had problems exiting the rear seat without hitting their feet on the door.

The ’61 Lincoln was also the first car made in America to be sold with a two-year, 24,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty.

1966 Shelby Mustang GT-350H

No list of cool Fords is complete without at least one Mustang. The Shelby GT-350H was a race-ready rental car, available to Hertz Sports Car Club members for just $17 a day and 17 cents a mile. Stories abound of racers taking the car to the track, pulling the high performance engine and installing it into their own race cars to boost performance. At the end of the day, the engine was reinstalled in the Shelby and returned to the Hertz lot with no detectable damage to the car.

1966 Ford GT40 Mark II

Ferrari won the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race six times in a row from 1960 to 1965. In 1966, Ford took a 1-2-3 finish with the achingly beautiful GT40 Mark II, the first Le Mans win in history for an American car manufacturer. It was also the first American car to win a major European race since the French Grand Prix in 1921.

1966 Ford Bronco

Another milestone in Ford history came in 1966, with the introduction of the much-loved Bronco. Originally a stalwart workhorse, the options list included a snowplow, power takeoff unit, post-hole digger, CB radio and winch.

1976 Ford Cruising Van

The van craze of the 1970s resulted in America’s first “Factory-built, completely customized van”. The paint, bubble windows and mag wheels were all standard. Inside, deep carpeting covered the entire cargo area, from the floor to the ceiling.

1978 Ford Mustang II King Cobra

While the Mustang II Cobra, introduced in 1976, was only an appearance package, the 1978 King Cobra featured the first V-8 in a Mustang since 1973. Ford rebadged its 302 cubic-inch motor a “5.0-liter” for the first time in history, even though it was actually a 4.9-liter mill. Either way, it produced a dismal 133 horsepower.

1984 Ford Bronco

The 1984 Bronco has a singular, if forgettable, place in automotive history: it was the first vehicle to come with cupholders. This is actually a 1985 model.

2010 Ford F-150 Raptor

Ford’s decision to unleash a bonkers, desert-ready prerunner in 2009 changed the truck world forever. Critics cheered, inspiring thousands of weekend warriors to explore the dirt. Things got even better in 2010 with the addition of the 6.4-liter V-8. This produced 411 horsepower and 434 lb-ft of torque.

2016 Ford GT No. 68

Fifty years after the famous 1-2-3 finish, Ford’s reborn GT once again duked it out with Ferrari at Le Mans. Ford took the lead for the final time in the 20th hour to win the GT class outright.

2017 Ford Focus RS

Its jewel-like 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine sends 350 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque to all four wheels. Lateral grip exceeds 1 G. It’s nuclear Smurf blue. It’s like the world’s loudest love letter to video game-addicted, energy drink-guzzling Millennials. It’s perfect.

2021 Ford Bronco

Yes, it’s another Bronco, but this 2021 comeback version is just cool. The adventure-ready Bronco Everglades seen here comes with an air intake snorkel and a Ford Performance heavy-duty front bumper housing a 10,000 lb Warn winch.

2022 Ford GT Mk IV

The current Ford GT is signing off with the incredible Mk IV, a track-only special edition co-developed with Multimatic. Priced at $1.7 million, the ultimate GT gains ‘long tail’ carbon fiber bodywork, a tuned EcoBoost engine with over 800 hp and Multimatic’s advanced Adaptive Spool Valve (ASV) suspension. Only 67 will be made.

2025 Ford Mustang GTD

Wow, where did this come from? The remarkable 2025 Ford Mustang GTD is the most extreme Mustang ever – a fully street-legal performance car designed alongside the Mustang GT3 racer, set to challenge the world’s greatest supercars.

A strictly limited-edition ultra high performance car, the supercharged V8 is targeting more than 800 horsepower, and a blisteringly fast sub-7-minute Nurburgring time. “Mustang GTD shatters every preconceived notion of a supercar,” said Ford president and CEO Jim Farley.

“This is a new approach for us. We didn’t engineer a road car for the track, we created a race car for the road.”

The coolest Ford of all time? We can’t wait to find out in the coming months…