Pure Ford

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.

A straightforward attempt to leverage the Mustang formula in Europe, Ford’s Capri was basically a sexier body fitted to the mechanical bits of the Ford Cortina. And it was quickly embraced as an affordable platform for modification. Through two generations, it was sold in the United States by Mercury dealers, ending in 1978.

It’s the GT40 of off-road pickup trucks. Suspension travel and aggressive looks produce something no other manufacturer has yet dared to build. The SVT Raptor was rumored to be Ford’s most profitable vehicle, so it’s no wonder a second-gen model based on the latest aluminum-bodied F-150 was approved for production. Ask about engines and twist our arms, and we’ll tell you we prefer the roar of the 6.2-liter V-8 offered in the first truck, but the second Raptor—which has an extremely stout twin-turbo V-6—is about as excellent as a truck can get.