The 25 Greatest Fords of All Time

Year: 1931-1942
Complex Says: The Lincoln K was the kind of car we all wish Lincoln would start making again: stately, imposing, powerful, and preferred by presidents.

Year: 1936-1940
Complex Says: The Lincoln-Zephyr was meant to be a smaller and more modern luxury car to fit under the Lincoln K Car. The pricing and styling were right, and the fact that it was powered by a V12 was just the icing on the cake. Yum.

Year: 1990-Present
Complex Says: The Explorer is Ford's SUV that sells mainly to new mothers who are for some reason under the impression that giving birth necessitates an SUV. While most SUVs have devolved into nothing more than wagons that are too high off the ground for good handling or aerodynamics, the Explorer has retained the ability to drive off-road.

Year: 1989-1991
Complex Says: The Taurus was a hot seller, so people knew what to expect from them at the lights: slowness. This is what made the SHO so great. The SHO V6 under the hood gave this seemingly innocuous family sedan some major grunt. One of the best factory-made sleepers of all time.

Year: 2009-Present
Complex Says: This is, hands-down, the most capable production off-road truck available today. Other manufacturers are trying to come up with something to compete against it, but nobody has really done so yet. The best part is that it's still incredibly useful as a truck too. It can still tow and haul, and it's actually more comfortable than the regular F-150.

Year: 1960-Present
Complex Says: The Falcon (1960-70) was sweet, and it still is sweet in Australia. It's a muscle sedan, and we here at Complex would gladly trade both the Fusion and the Taurus for it.

Year: 1949
Complex Says: Ford kicked up its game in 1949, totally modernizing its namesake car. Every aspect of the '49 was new and improved. It had a new chassis, new suspension, new layout, new drive shaft, and new, forward-thinking styling. The '49 was not only a big step for Ford, but a big step for design as well.

Year: 1957
Complex Says: This was the first retractable, hard-top convertible. Today, with stronger servos and lighter materials, these are pretty easy to engineer. But in 1957, this was nothing short of groundbreaking and dramatic. There's a reason these are so valuable today.

Year: 1966-1996
Complex Says: There are the refined and slightly stuffy European Land Rovers and G-Wagens, and then there's the rough-and-tumble all-American Ford Bronco. It's a simple, to-the-point off-roader that was meant to--and sure as hell did--challenge the Jeep Wrangler. It managed to dominate the Mint 400, Baja 500, and Mexican 1000 (today the Baja 1000) races.

Year: 1967-1976
Complex Says: The Cougar started out as a Mustang with an enhanced sense of style. It was fast, it was luxurious, and, most importantly, it was bad-ass. Sadly, as Mercury died its slow death, so did the Cougar. By the end, the Cougar was an underpowered, front-wheel-drive posuer-mobile.

Year: 1959-1974
Complex Says: The Galaxie was a powerful, front-engined, rear-wheel-drive sedan the size of a small state. It's the kind of car people think of when they talk about big American cars. It's iconic. It's also a shame that Ford doesn't offer a rear-wheel-drive sedan in the U.S. anymore. It feels like we've lost a part of our heritage.

Year: 2009-2010
Complex Says: Who knows why it was considered a good idea to run 350 horsepower engine through the front wheels of a Focus, but it was. Somehow, Ford managed to build a very powerful front-wheel-drive hot hatch that wasn't crippled by torque steer. It's just magical.

Year: 1955-1971
Complex Says: The Thunderbird was introduced in 1955 as a sporty two-seater with a drop top. Many people at the time thought it was going to go head-to-head with the Corvette, but Ford decided on a more luxurious route. The term "personal luxury car" was introduced along with the T-bird and it became a much-loved market segment in the U.S. until the '90s. The segment is now dominated by the extremely upscale brands like Maserati and Bentley, but it started with Ford.

Year: 1964
Complex Says: There have been many great Fairlanes throughout the years, but the Thunderbolt stands out with its ridiculous 7.0L V8. The Thunderbolt produced an incredible 657 horsepower and weighed 700 pounds less than the Galaxie, upon which it was based. The Fairlane Thunderbolt was and still is one scary drag racer.

Year: 1932-1934
Complex Says: The Model B is known as the '32 V8, and that just about covers it. Until 1932, Ford had made only one car at a time. In '32, however, Ford introduced a new model, with a nice big American V8, and a love affair was born. Ford has always made some nice V8s.

Year: 1939-1987
Complex Says: American automakers have a reputation for "land-yachts," cars that are luxurious, expensive, and enormous. The Continental might as well have been the prototype for this market segment. The Continental is imposing, powerful, and comfortable, which is exactly what a large segment of the American populace wants. This is road trip country, and we demand a cushy four-door convertible.

Year: 1965-1970
Complex Says: The Mustang is a great, cheap, sports car, but it was not competitive with purpose-built sports cars until Carroll Shelby had his way with it. Horsepower was boosted, handling was drastically increased, and the '65 Mustang turned from a sporty budget coupe into a purpose-built race car that just so happened to have turn signals.

Year: 1948-Present
Complex Says: In 1948, Ford introduced the F-series pickup truck. It has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for 24 years and the best-selling truck for 34 years. Even in the '40s, when the F-series was introduced, it was a hot seller. Ford sure knows something about making trucks.

Year: 1979-2010
Complex Says: If a person says "taxi" or "cop car," you probably think of a Crown Vic. It may have been thirsty, provided little power considering the sheer size of the V8, and a little unwieldy, but the Crown Vic is one of the toughest damn cars to ever see the road. When Ford announced that it was going to replace the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor with a faster, better-handling, more efficient car, the general reaction was to stockpile CVPIs and demand that Ford continue making them. Now there's a beloved car. When it was discontinued, it marked the first time in decades that Ford has not offered a rear-wheel-drive V8 sedan in the U.S.

Year: 1927
Complex Says: While the Model T may have been the first Ford for the masses, the '27 Model A was the first refined Ford for the masses. The Model A used conventional pedal layouts, as opposed to the awkward, outdated layouts used in previous Fords. There's a reason hot rodders love these things.

Year: 1908-1927
Complex Says: It's still one of the best-known Fords of all time. The Model T was the first car to be manufactured via an assembly line, and it was the car that brought motoring down to the middle class. Before the Tin Lizzie, cars were only for the rich and powerful. Thanks, Henry.

Year: 1992-1996
Complex Says: The Ford Escort was a capable car. Cosworth made it brilliant, as it is wont to do. This was the first production car to produce downforce in the front, and one of the only production cars to have the wherewithal to use it. The Escort Cosworth managed an impressive eight rally victories before it was replaced by the Focus WRC in 1999.

Year: 1984-1986
Complex Says: Whenever the words "homologation special" are uttered, car guys get excited. It's because of things like the RS2000. This legendary Group B rally car from the '80s produced 444 horses at 8,000 rpms and shot to 60 mph in the two-second range, making it one of the coolest things to ever have four bug-eyes.

Year: 1964-1969
Complex Says: Henry Ford II had been itching for a Le Mans win when he found out that the great Enzo was interested in selling Ferrari. Henry spent a few million dollars investigating Ferrari when Enzo informed him that he wanted to have Ferrari race in the Indy 500. When Henry said that they didn't want to sponsor their own competition, Enzo backed out simply to spite him and Mr. Ford was sent away angry. He must have learned something in Italy, though, since his high speed vendetta called the GT40 went on to get a 1-2-3 finish at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Year: 1964-1973
Complex Says: At the 1964 New York World's Fair, Ford introduced the Mustang, a lightweight sports car cobbled together from parts of other Ford cars to keep costs down. America whole-heartedly embraced the Mustang's maximum bang-to-buck ratio and quickly turned it into an American icon. Like apple pie and the Statue of Liberty, the Mustang is a symbol of what's great about the USA.