The 50 Hottest Cars Of The Past 100 Years

Cars may be machines, but they can still touch the heart and provoke strong emotions.

Curving lines, powerful engines, and outrageous luxury can draw people in just as much as a pretty face.

People have been falling in love with their cars for 100 years.

That's why we've assembled this list of the 50 sexiest cars of the past century.

We've got American muscle, Italian speed, and British luxury. We even have Swedish power.

Some of these cars were lemons, some were total flops. Others were wildly successful and are still on the market today. But every last one is packed with sex appeal.

[An earlier version of this story was written by Alex Davies.]

50. A rather hefty ride, the Hummer H2 has none of the sleek characteristics that often note a sexy car. Its appealing, brawny look marked the heyday of the big American SUV.

49. A product of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Miura was one of the first cars Lamborghini built to rival Ferrari (Ferruccio Lamborghini founded the car company after making his money in tractors). The model pictured here once belonged to Frank Sinatra.

48. Maserati was founded in 1914, but it didn't build a grand touring car (for luxury and long drives) until 1957, when the 3500GT went into production. With room for four and a straight-six cylinder engine, it was a beautiful machine.

47. In 1969, Pontiac took the Firebird and added handling, suspension, and horsepower, resulting in the Trans Am. The Firebird decal gave it one of the most iconic hoods in auto history.

46. The Dino name was used for the smaller, lighter end of Ferrari's lineup, and the 1966 Dino 206 S fit the bill. The mid-engined rear wheel-drive car took first place in 1966 in Italy's Enna City Cup and the Sierre Montana-Crans Hillclimb in Switzerland.

[Source: How Stuff Works]

45. Before the sports car became a true art form in the 1960s, there was the 1951 Jaguar C-Type. The two-seater was made for racing, and Peter Walker and Peter Whitehead drove one to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1951.

[Source: Jaguar Heritage]

44. Land Rover has done an excellent job updating the Range Rover, from the first generation in 1970 to the latest version. It may not have the reputation for being the most reliable vehicle, but it always looks good.

43. Produced in the early 1950s, the Porsche 550 sports car (pictured is the Spyder version) is best known as the car James Dean dubbed "Little Bastard" and fatally crashed in 1955.

42. Despite its stupid name, Ferrari's new flagship supercar, the Laferrari, which debuted in 2013, is a beautiful beast — with nearly 1,000 horsepower.

41. Cars like the Continental Mark IV are proof that Lincoln once made fantastic luxury rides, which makes the current state of their lineup all the more depressing (though it's gotten better this year). Here's Neil Young with his 1959 Mark IV, which he converted to run on electricity and natural gas.

40. A big competitor of Lincoln's Mark series, the Eldorado is one of the cars that helped make "Cadillac" synonymous with quality.

39. Introduced in 1966, the Alfa Romeo Spider is the epitome of a sexy little sports car. No wonder it stayed in production until 1993.

38. The sexiest car ever to come out of Sweden, the Koenigsegg Agera R debuted in March 2011 at the Geneva Motor Show. Its 5-liter twin-turbo V8 engine uses biofuel to produce an astounding 1,115 horsepower.

37. Not every car on this list is a post-war creation. Mercedes-Benz made the 540K from 1936 until 1940.

36. Cars like the Ford Thunderbird serve to remind us that some stunning rides have come out of Detroit.

35. These days, the best work is being done overseas. Between 2001 and 2010, Lamborghini built 4,099 Murcielago's at its Sant'Agata factory near Bologna.

[Source: Autoblog]

34. Named for the racecar driver and founder of Ferrari, the Enzo Ferrari was built using the best Formula 1 technology of the day. That included a V12 engine that produced 660 horsepower. Only 400 Enzos were built, between 2002 and 2004.

[Source: Ferrari]

33. Before it could make a profit selling the relatively practical Model S, Tesla Motors had to prove it could build an electric car that worked. The result was the gorgeous Roadster, produced from 2008 to 2012.

32. To mark the debut of the roadster version of the LP 700-4 in January, Lamborghini took over a runway at Miami International Airport and raced five of the new cars at 210 mph.

31. The oh-so-beautiful Shelby Daytona was an especially successful racecar. It won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1964 and took first in three Grand Prix races the next year.

30. The strangest-looking car on this list, the 917 secured Porsche its first overall win at Le Mans in 1970. It took first again in 1971.

29. The 2001 Morgan Aero 8 was the first car England's Morgan Motor Company produced in half a century, and it did not do a whole lot to update the vehicle's look. The two-door convertible may have an old-school vibe, but it's powered by a modern V8 engine that makes it a formidable sports car.

28. The little 507 roadster was not a financial success for BMW, but it was a visual winner. Only 252 were built, from 1956 to 1959.

27. The very first Porsche sports car, the 356 hit the road in 1948 and entered series production in 1950. The next year, the 356 SL won at Le Mans.

26. The scissor door-equipped Lamborghini Countach — named for the Piedmontese exclamation often used when a beautiful woman is seen — is one of very few cars that can be accurately described as "trapezoidal."