Debating and listing favorite vehicles from a given period of time can be fun, but forming such a list can be fraught with challenge. Opinions are subjective. How you interpret the word "best" — best track performer? most engaging driver's car? car that was most commercially successful? — may be even more subjective. And if you can get past those questions, there's the small matter of how exactly one compares a Bugatti to a Toyota.
This week at Gear Patrol, we're putting a different spin on the "best cars of all time" list. We're looking at the 50 most influential cars of the past 50 years, the cars that mattered. Each of these vehicles broadened our mindsets about what the car could be and played an indelible role in creating our automotive present.
We'll be counting down the 50 cars through five posts chronicling each of the past five decades over the next week. We hope you'll enjoy the ride.