03. 1955 Thunderbird. The Thunderbird was first unveiled in 1954, with a two-seat body and a 4.8 liter V8 engine good for 198 bhp. Bristling with fins and a low silhouette, the Thunderbird was inspired by European sports cars and emerged as an American version of the personal car, rather than a true sports car.  It was relatively affordable, because it shared many parts with other models.  The Thunderbird lived on in more luxurious iterations until the 1990s.  An all-new Thunderbird was launched in 2003, and a coral-pink example got to hug Halle Berry's butt in the James Bond film Die Another Day.

04. 1964 ½ Mustang.  The stunningly-styled Mustang, with its long hood, chrome wraparound bumpers, and short rear deck created a sensation for Ford.  The sporty interior featured bucket seats, "sports" steering wheel and a floor shifter.  The Mustang was affordable, selling for about half the price of the Chevrolet Corvette.  The car was highly customizable, including its choice of engines, from a 101-bhp inline-6 to a 271-horsepower, 4.7-liter V8.  More than 500,000 cars had been sold in less than a year and demand was so high that several plants were converted to Mustang production.  The 2004 Mustang GT concept heralds a return to the original styling concept while providing thundering performance from a new V8.

05. 1960 Falcon.   Credit the folks Down Under for this branch of the family tree.   While Stateside full-sized Ford sedans have gone the way of yellow, or black-and-white Crown Victorias, a riotous little clan family lives on in Australia.  Aussie Falcons developed a fierce rivalry with their Holden (GM) counterparts.  Falcons developed their own iterations such as the sedan-front, pickup-rear "utes."  The latest Australian-designed Falcon comes with a world-class interior and chassis, and performance engines start with a 4.0-liter inline-6, go up through a turbo version of that engine, and up to a V8 appropriately called the Boss. 

06. 1966 GT.  In 1963, Enzo Ferrari had begun sounding out Ford about selling his business, and Ford was indeed interested.  But the deal fell through and Ford's response was to challenge Ferrari at its home racing turf, at the Le Mans 24 Hours.  Two years of quick development work followed, with the new GTs achieving consistently fast speeds and increasingly reliable performance.  They soon picked up the nickname "GT40," the number signifying the vehicles height in inches (barely more than a meter high).  On 19 June 1966 three V8-powered Ford GTs crossed the rain-soaked finish line only feet apart.  Bruce McLaren took the checkered flag, proving that 12 cylinders and scarlet paint were not essential to victory.  The 2004 GT is once again a rejoinder to the Italian rival, with a 500-bhp supercharged mid-mounted V8 and lines strikingly similar to its famous forebear.