Famous cars of the 1950s.

The Tri-Five that became the postcard of the decade. Two-tone paint, gold-anodized grille, and a 283 small-block that rewrote what an affordable car could feel like.

Harley Earl's farewell statement to the decade he shaped. Twin bullet taillights, jet-age fins, and 345 horsepower of cross-country cruise.

Tubular space frame, dry-sump straight-six, and the first fuel-injected production car in the world. The doors open up because the frame won't let them open out.

Three hundred hand-built cars, every one of them Polo White over red. Harley Earl's answer to Jaguar, and the first chapter of a model that still ships every year.

Two seats, a 292 V8, and a porthole hardtop that became the most copied roofline of the decade. The original personal car.

A 392 Hemi making 375 horsepower in a two-door hardtop the size of a small yacht. The letter cars invented the formula that Detroit spent the next decade chasing.

Ten thousand dollars in 1956 money, every panel hand-finished, every chassis run twice through the test track before delivery. Ford lost money on each one and built it anyway.

Alec Issigonis turned the engine sideways, drove the front wheels, and shrank the car around the people. Every modern hatchback is a footnote.