The Cars Men Lust After Most

This is the prettiest Jaguar ever built, and that's saying something. The XKSS was little more than a Jaguar D-Type with a windshield and a full interior. It was loud, obnoxious and expensive when new. (Fittingly, actor Steve McQueen drove one.) Just 16 were built before a fire at Jaguar's Browns Lane factory in Coventry, England, destroyed the tooling required to make more. The daring required to put a world-class racing car into production is no laughing matter, but even if the XKSS had no history and offered no speed, its sultry, world-beating looks would make it a lock on this list.

View Slideshow:  Exotic Cars & Their Everyday Equals

GM engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov created the Chevrolet Corvette in the early 1950s as a response to the twee sports cars then coming out of Europe, but the model has since transcended its "me, too" origins and become one of the most respected machines in the world. America's most successful sports car is still the only real choice when it comes to purpose-built Detroit speed; other cars might be faster and more well-rounded, but few offer as much style and speed for the price. Want a durable, drag-race-winning, road-course-eating American monster? Having a midlife crisis and need something to sin up the driveway? The Corvette is your answer.

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It's been said that the Shelby Cobra is the most copied car in the world, and it's not hard to see why. The Cobra's unique blend of American power (a Ford V8 engine) and British style and handling (a 1960s AC Ace body and frame) make it nearly irresistible. That it won countless races in the hands of Carroll Shelby's eponymous motorsports team is just icing on the cake. There are different flavors of Cobra — 289, 427, competition-ready or road-prepped — but all are amazing to drive and frighteningly seductive. The preponderance of copies just makes the originals that much more desirable.

Bing Images: AC/Shelby Cobra

Every lust list needs a Ferrari, and this is the most lust-worthy Ferrari of them all. The Ferrari 250 GTO is the epitome of what the Italian marque has come to represent: fast, outrageous, competition-worthy. That it looks good in red is no small thing, either. Just 39 were produced, and each one is worth more than the average American makes in 10 years. This is the ne plus ultra of Ferraris, the barely tamed road racer that happens to look good on the street, and nearly everyone has heard of it. And if that isn't enough, it's difficult to drive quickly and makes you feel like a man every time you think about it. "Lust" is an understatement.

View Pictures:  Ferrari 250 GTO

The Ford Mustang is arguably the single greatest stroke of product-planning genius in the history of the automobile. The first Mustangs were little more than rebodied Ford Falcon sedans, but they offered flash and power in a relatively compact and affordable package. With the Mustang, Ford all but created an industry segment — a 2-door machine with more looks and speed than its window sticker would lead you to believe. Almost all Mustangs are great, and even the lackluster ones entice. Most men like a bargain, and nowhere else do you get as much bang for the buck.

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In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler tasked Ferdinand Porsche with designing a car for the masses. The machine that resulted, the air-cooled, rear-engine Volkswagen Beetle, stayed in production for half a century and eventually spawned the Porsche 356 sports car. The 356, in turn, spawned the Porsche 911, a 6-cylinder, rear-engine jewel that went on to dominate both motorsports and the sports-car sales race. No car is more quintessentially German, and no modern exotic does so much so well. The 911 is sex, speed, history, feedback and comfort — everything a guy might want.

View Pictures:  The New Porsche 911

Yes, we know "a big truck" is a little vague. But really, who doesn't want a big truck? Whether it's a Ford, Chevrolet, Chrysler, International or Mack, the brand isn't important. All that matters is cargo capacity and cylinder count. You can tow with it. You can haul anything. You can stick Aunt Edna's couch in the back and move all of her stuff across town, and no snowstorm or muddy road will stop you. The day after a man wins the lottery, he buys an exotic sports car. The day after that, he buys a truck.

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You have probably seen this car before. It was in "The Matrix." It stars in the opening scenes of HBO's "Entourage." Tragically, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in one. The 1960s Lincoln Continental was the last of the great Detroit style sleds; it offers presence in spades, comfort out the wazoo, and more sheet metal than a pie-tin factory. It doesn't handle or stop all that well, but those things are beside the point; when you swan down the road in this thing, you feel like a king and a rock star all at once. Think of it as an old-school Cadillac without the glam.

View Slideshow:  World's Most Infamous Vehicles

The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, also known as the Gullwing, is one of the most recognizable cars ever built. The car's nickname comes from its upward-swinging doors, a feature Mercedes engineers dreamed up to get around the space limitations of the SL's revolutionary steel-tube frame. When this car was new, it was the fastest production automobile on the planet, topping out at a whopping 161 mph. Only 1,400 were built, and nearly all of them survive. If you want one, bring a few kidneys to pawn: Even a beater Gullwing will run you almost half a million dollars.

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Deep down, everyone wants an exotic car. The Lamborghini Miura is the quintessential exotic — a machine that values speed over practicality, beauty over thrift. It is gorgeous. You cannot buy one unless you are wealthy, and even then, you may not be able to afford it. Its maintenance costs would bankrupt a Rockefeller. Its road manners would kill an Andretti. And somewhere, some woman is crying because her fiancé just bought a new Miura engine and not a wedding ring. This is exactly why men — or women, dogs, aliens from Mars, whoever — want it. You should, too.

Sam Smith is a journalist, a Southerner, and a reformed Alfa Romeo mechanic who spends most of his time mooning over leaky old motorcycles and small-batch bourbon. A multiple International Automotive Media award-winner, he has covered cars for Automobile Magazine, Car and Driver, and Esquire, among other publications. He once drove 4000 miles in a weekend for a hamburger and has only been threatened by the German police twice.

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Bing Images: Lamborghini Miura

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