The Most Beloved Cars of All Time

What makes a car beloved? Iconic status, sheer popularity, personal history with that car? These cars inspire a passion for motoring.

Defining the “Best Car Ever”

Personal taste accounts for a lot when it comes to cars. One man’s Fiero is another man’s Ferrari. Or so the saying goes … Some people love yellow cars while others loath SUVs or, alternatively, EVs. Vehicles like Jeeps, Corvettes, and Subarus inspire deeply loyal fanbases as ardent and multigenerational as any seen in the sports world. But what defines the most beloved cars of all time? The list below considered a vehicle’s cultural impact, current fanbase, and sheer popularity past and present, plus a bit of fuzzy math that calculates collective “fondness.”

Jeep Wrangler

There are Jeep people and then there’s everyone else. This former military workhorse turned into an off-road legend in civilian hands. A love of the great outdoors and knobby tires continue to sell Wranglers by the bushel. Jeep ownership is a mentality as much as anything. Driving one proclaims you’re a free spirit (so free you don’t need doors or a roof), a rugged individual (9.7 inches of ground clearance, brah), and a thoroughly uncompromising motoring connoisseur (so uncompromising even a wallowing pavement ride cannot dissuade you from daily driving your Jeep with off-road tires).

Toyota Tacoma

The Toyota Tacoma, and before it the Toyota pickup, has ascended to beloved status. The Taco is emblematic of the rough-and-tumble, nigh unkillable Toyota writ large. Its shared DNA with the Hilux and Land Cruiser ensure Toyota fans have yet another 250,000-mile, 20-year-old vehicle to drive up in price. Like the Wrangler, the Tacoma is a favorite among off-roading/overlanding enthusiasts and therefore gets more than its share of aftermarket attention. And then there’s the nickname, the Taco. Obviously beloved.

Ford F-Series

The Ford F-Series gets its spot on the list of truly beloved vehicles for two equally valid reasons. First, the F-Series is why so many Ford diehards are as committed as they are to the blue oval. Dad drove an F-Series, grandad drove an F-Series, and great grandpa, well he drove a Model TT, which is basically the 1910s version of the F-Series. And second, the F-Series, and the F-150 specifically, has been the best-selling vehicle in the US for over 40 years. The people have spoken, and they love the F-Series.

Volkswagen Beetle

As the long-time global sales champ, the modest yet indelibly iconic Volkswagen Beetle sold over 20 million units while going unchanged for decades. In that time, the Beetle went from Germany’s “people’s car” to flower power favorite to ubiquitous Mexican taxi, among many other guises. Simplicity was always the Beetle’s greatest asset. The bug-like shape and expressive front end gave the originally utilitarian car loads of personality. Plus, the Beetle was easy to work on, if you wanted to, and small enough to push if you didn’t.

Toyota Corolla

The only car to out-sell both the Beetle and the F-Series on this list is the Toyota Corolla. And that’s because nothing has outsold this Japanese compact with over 50 million units sold worldwide. Sometimes exciting, as in the case of the JDM classic AE86 or today’s GR variant, the Corolla’s popularity has largely been the product of its quality and reliability. If you want to get from A to B without much fuss and (virtually) never a breakdown in between, your best bet has long been a Toyota Corolla.

Ford Model T

Yet another best seller, the Ford Model T changed the automotive industry. Before there was a Beetle or Corolla in every driveway, heck, before there were driveways for the most part, there was the Model T. Between 1908 and 1927, Ford sold 16.5 million Model Ts, demonstrating Henry Ford’s greatest achievement was turning the car from a luxury item and novelty into a basic consumer product. Today, the Model T is beloved by classics collectors and by hot rodders alike. Just don’t ask us how to get one started…

Porsche 911

The Porsche 911 is an icon among icons. In its sixty-year existence the 911 has evolved without ever giving up what makes it instantly recognizable. Equal parts power and grace, the 911 has sometimes been unruly (930 anyone?) yet always rewarding and consistently setting the benchmark for other sports cars to aspire to. The 911 has given generations of enthusiasts something to pine after from afar or something to squander their children’s inherence on.

Chevrolet Corvette

The Chevrolet Corvette is the Great American Sports Car. It began as a Harley Earl-designed beauty queen and was transformed, thanks to Zora Arkus-Duntov, into a racing legend. From C1 and C2 all the way to today’s thunderous mid-engine C8 generation, the Corvette has been Chevy’s standard bearer. It looked good going fast, and fast is what the Corvette has always done best. Just ask the guy at the country club who’s always assuring you their V8 Corvette is faster than your car, whatever it is.

Mazda Miata

The answer is always Miata. And that goes for what car should you buy now that the kids are out of the house? Or what car should I get to have a weekend of easy-going fun in the canyons? Or what car should I lift and slap on off-road tires for a poor man’s version of a Safari 911? What sporty and spirited Japanese two-seater consistently puts a smile on every driver’s face? The answer is always Miata.

Ford Mustang

The GTO might have been the first muscle car. And the Barracuda, the first pony car. But when it comes to either category of mid-to-late 60s American two-door, no other can touch the devoted adoration bestowed upon the Ford Mustang. A list of the greatest Mustangs of all time is one classic after another from Shelby GTs and Boss 429s to Bullitt fastbacks and Fox bodies. Whatever your automotive allegiances, every muscle car is judged against the Mustang for a reason.

1959 Cadillac Eldorado

The 1959 Cadillac Eldorado was the absolute pinnacle of the sometimes gaudy, always engaging styling of the 1950s. The chrome grille and the quad headlights, the massive fins and bullet taillights, the long, long swaths of cherry red sheet metal in between. The ’59 Caddy was what all other 50s cars had been evolving toward. That it was over-the-top was the point and what makes this car beloved today. You can drive any number of the abovementioned cars and people on the street won’t bat an eye but roll up in a ’59 Eldo and folks (including lots of non-car people) will flag you down just to tell you how cool your car is.

Chevrolet Bel Air and Impala

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air - media.chevrolet.com

1964 Chevrolet Impala - media.chevrolet.com

This entry is a two-for-one. The 1957 Chevy Bel Air and the 1964 Chevy Impala. They are paired because the Impala began its run as a top trim level of the Bel Air. First the ’57 Bel Air. I know I said that the ’59 Caddy was the final Super Saiyan evolution of 50s styling, but the Bel Air might have gotten there first, and all the more noteworthy for not costing more than a year’s salary. The Impala debuted in 1958, but it was the third-generation Impala that became the quintessential lowrider. And there are few better ways to show your love for a car than an in-depth, bumper-to-bumper lowrider conversion.