Ford Mustang

The Ford Mustang began as Ford's answer to the muscle car trend, and has evolved into one of the best selling sports car models of all time. Older mustangs are often valuable collector's items, and highlights of car shows nationwide. Newer models have traded carburetors in for fuel-injections, but haven't lost the large engines and great lines that have made these cars so iconic. This car has been a movie star, a race car, and one of Ford's long-standing bestsellers.

In the seventies, the race car guru Carroll Shelby put his own magic touch on the Mustang, and created a version that became a regular winner on the race circuit. The rental car company Hertz commissioned a number of these vehicles, which became famous as weekend rentals who found their way on to nationwide racetracks to be returned on Monday having earned a trophy. The Shelby Mustang earned more notoriety in the early 2000's as the elusive car "Eleanor" in the car-theft movie "Gone in Sixty Seconds."

Today the Mustang has much of the allure of the early days, and is a great choice for those looking for an American-made sports car. The engines have become larger, but overdrive and fuel injection have decreased their gas-guzzling tendencies. Modern luxuries like leather seating, heated seats, and great sound systems have brought the car into the twenty-first century. However, the car still gives its owners the same fast ride that has drawn people to buying one for years, and the feeling of driving a race car.