# 10 Iconic Cars From Ford | Otto Explains | AutoTronix **Section:** Otto Explains **Canonical:** https://autotronix.om/otto/ford-iconic-cars **Language:** English **Arabic version:** https://autotronix.om/ar/otto/ford-iconic-cars --- ## Short Answer Otto’s ten iconic Fords are the 1932 Ford V-8, the 1949 Ford, the Thunderbird, the Shelby GT350, the Transit, the GT40, the Bronco, the Ford GT, the F-150 SVT Raptor and the Ranger Raptor. They run from a 1930s family car to Le Mans winners, a van, off-roaders and desert trucks, and each is remembered for something specific: a first, a victory or a design that set a direction. --- ## How did Otto choose these ten Fords? Each car is a model in its own right with a defining fact taken from Ford’s records, The Henry Ford museum or the companies that built it, and together they cover family cars, sports and racing cars, a van and trucks from 1932 to 2018. Cars that changed Ford as a company, such as the Model T, the 1928 Model A, the F-Series, the Mustang, the Fiesta, the Taurus, the Explorer and the Mustang Mach-E, are covered in Otto’s article on the legendary Fords. The order below is chronological, not a ranking. --- ## Why is the 1932 Ford V-8 remembered? It put a V8 engine into a mass-produced, low-priced car. Henry Ford wanted an affordable V8 to upstage Chevrolet’s low-priced six, and Ford cast the engine’s cylinders and crankcase as one block to keep the cost down. In the 1932 cars, built at the Rouge plant, it gave 65 hp from 221 cubic inches, and the engine became the foundation of the American hot-rod hobby. --- ## What made the 1949 Ford special? It was the first all-new car of the post-war era from one of Detroit’s Big Three, and the first new Ford under Henry Ford II. Its wind-tunnel-tested shape, integrated pontoon fenders and aircraft-inspired spinner grille made it, in Ford’s words, as radical a change as the 1928 Model A. --- ## What was the original Thunderbird? Ford introduced the Thunderbird for 1955 as a two-seat “personal car”. Rather than chasing sports-car performance, it put comfort and convenience first, and its porthole windows became part of its identity. Ford’s timeline calls it a car that would become a classic. --- ## How did the Shelby GT350 begin? It began with Carroll Shelby, the Texan who won Le Mans in 1959 and in 1962 founded Shelby American in California to build the Cobra with Ford V8 engines. In 1965, at the request of Ford’s Lee Iacocca, Shelby American turned the Mustang into the GT350, and the GT500, with a 428-cubic-inch engine, followed in 1967. Ford took over production of the Shelby cars in 1968. The partnership returned in the 2000s, when Ford again began selling Shelby-badged Mustangs of its own. --- ## Why is the Transit on the list? Ford Germany and Ford UK developed it together, and the first Transit left Ford’s Langley plant in England on 9 August 1965. It has stayed in production ever since: more than 13 million had been built worldwide by August 2025. --- ## Why is the GT40 so famous? Because it was built to beat Ferrari at Le Mans. After talks between Ford and Ferrari ended in May 1963, Ford set up a racing programme with Roy Lunn, Carroll Shelby, Eric Broadley and John Wyer, and the car stood just 40 inches high. It failed in 1964 and 1965, but in 1966 the 7-litre Mark II finished first, second and third, with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon declared the winners. Ford won Le Mans four years running, to 1969, and the 1967 Mark IV of Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt was the first all-American car and team to win. Bruce McLaren’s own story is in Otto’s [history of McLaren](https://autotronix.om/otto/mclaren-history), and Ferrari’s landmark cars are in Otto’s [ten iconic Ferraris](https://autotronix.om/otto/ferrari-iconic-cars). --- ## What made the first Bronco different? Ford introduced it on 11 August 1965 and says it was the first vehicle to be called a sport-utility vehicle. It came as an open Roadster, a half-cab Sports Utility or a Wagon, all with four-wheel drive, and its earliest sketches were by McKinley Thompson, Ford’s first African American automobile designer. It also won in the desert: in 1969 a Bronco was the first vehicle of any kind across the line in the Baja 1000. The original line ended in 1996 after 1,148,926 had been built, and Ford brought the name back in 2020. --- ## What is the Ford GT? It is Ford’s modern tribute to the GT40. The first, introduced in 2004, was a mid-engined, 550-hp sports car. Its successor’s racing version won its class at Le Mans in 2016, 50 years to the day after the GT40’s first win. On the road, Ford describes this later GT as a carbon-fibre car with a twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6, which reaches 660 hp in what Ford calls the most powerful Ford GT ever. Otto explains [how turbochargers work](https://autotronix.om/otto/turbocharger-vs-supercharger). --- ## Why does the F-150 SVT Raptor matter? It began the Raptor name. Built by Ford’s Special Vehicle Team for 2010, it was a high-speed off-road version of the F-150 with Fox shocks, 35-inch tyres and a stance 7 inches wider than a standard F-150, and a pre-production truck finished third in its class in the 2008 Baja 1000. Today the Raptor badge covers Ford’s off-road performance models, and on Ford’s Oman website every vehicle in the performance range is a Raptor. --- ## Why is the Ranger Raptor on the list? It brought the Raptor idea to a mid-size pickup. Designed and engineered in Australia, it debuted in 2018, and the first production truck left Ford Thailand Manufacturing in Rayong on 25 June 2018; it is now exported to more than 106 countries. In Oman today it has a 405-hp 3.0-litre EcoBoost V6 petrol engine and FOX Live Valve shocks. --- ## Common Questions **Is a Shelby Mustang made by Ford?** It depends on the car. Shelby American is Carroll Shelby’s own company: it built the first GT350s from Ford Mustangs in 1965, Ford took over production of the Shelby cars in 1968, and from 2007 Ford sold its own Ford Shelby GT500. Shelby American, now in Las Vegas, still builds performance versions of Mustangs and Ford trucks, and the Shelby, GT350 and GT500 names are trademarks of Carroll Shelby and Carroll Shelby Licensing. AutoTronix PERFORMANCE looks after Shelby Mustangs. **Which Fords have won Le Mans?** The GT40 won outright four years running, from 1966 to 1969, including the 1967 Mark IV of Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt, and the Ford GT won the LMGTE Pro class in 2016. **Can you buy a Raptor in Oman?** Yes. On 25 October 2026 Ford’s Oman website listed the Ranger Raptor, F-150 Raptor, F-150 Raptor R and Bronco Raptor. Check availability with the authorised Ford distributor. **Why aren’t the Model T and the Mustang on this list?** Because Otto covers them in the article on the cars that changed Ford as a company, with the 1928 Model A, the F-Series, the Fiesta, the Taurus, the Explorer and the Mustang Mach-E. --- ## Related Otto Explanations - Different Engine Designs Explained: Inline, V, Boxer and More: https://autotronix.om/otto/engine-designs-explained --- ## Related Services - AutoTronix PERFORMANCE: https://autotronix.om/performance - Performance Car Pre-Purchase Inspection: https://autotronix.om/performance/performance-pre-purchase - Performance Vehicle Health Report: https://autotronix.om/performance/vehicle-health-report --- ## Book a Service WhatsApp: +968 9966 7600 https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=96899667600&type=phone_number&app_absent=0 Location: Mabellah Industrial, Street 7, Muscat — Saturday to Thursday, 9 AM to 9 PM