If you love cars, you have probably made up lists of your favorites. The best cars, the fastest cars, the most beautiful cars, the most affordable cars, the most reliable cars … the different lists can be endless.

Well, Paul Ingrassia has written Engines of Change: A History of the American Dream in Fifteen Cars and takes the idea of a car list in a whole new direction. Rather than naming the top cars, he’s come up with what he considers the most influential cars. These are the 15 cars that best reflected the culture of America when they came out.

The author admits there is no way to make this objective. That’s what is so much fun about it — we can all make up our own list and argue forever about it! It’s a brilliant idea is sure to create all kinds of fun arguments among car enthusiasts.

But a few cars are obvious. The Model T put the horse out of business. No realistic list of cars that influenced America would be without the Model T. You could say the same for the Volkswagen Bug, which introduced small affordable cars to America. But Ingrassia has offered his own controversial picks. Here are his 15:

The Ford Model T
The LaSalle (which set “luxury” vs. “practical” into play)
The Corvette
The 1959 Cadillac (for the big fins)
The Volkswagen Beetle and Microbus
The Chevy Corvair (for how it changed the way we view corporate America, etc.)
The Ford Mustang
The Pontiac GTO
The DeLorean
The Honda Accord
The Chrysler Minivan
The BMW 3-Series
The Jeep
The Ford F-150 Pickup
The Toyota Prius

Each one reflected it’s age — whether baby boomers coming of age in the 60’s and looking for a fun car like the Mustang, or Soccer Moms utilizing the mini-van for everyday living. Even the “red state” F-150 Pickup reflects an era of good ole boy partisanship in our current politics. It’s actually a great list — one that I’d have a hard time arguing against (except the DeLorean…it shouldn’t be on the list in my opinion).

This is a fun book that car lovers will enjoy. Makes a great Father’s Day gift, too!