Anniversaries give old nameplates a reason to step back into the spotlight, and 2026 has a crowded calendar. Three of these vehicles turn 60, while the rest mark 50, 40, 30 or 20 years since their debut. Here are ten nameplates hitting milestone birthdays this year.
1. Toyota Corolla: Sixty Years, 2,500 Units
Toyota’s Corolla turns 60 this year, having debuted in Japan in 1966, and the automaker marks it with a 2027 60th Anniversary Special Edition limited to 2,500 units in the U.S., according to the Toyota press release.
The release lists the base LE grade at a $23,325 MSRP. Only 2,500 of the special editions will reach American buyers, so the anniversary version will be scarce, even though the Corolla name itself has been familiar for six decades. Anniversary editions like this one turn a familiar compact car into a collectible, and the 2027 designation shows that Toyota is already looking ahead to the next model year.
2. Ford Bronco: The Sport-Utility Coiner
The Bronco turns 60, and Ford’s anniversary article recalls that the company introduced it on August 11, 1965, and coined the phrase ‘sport-utility.’
A 60th Anniversary Package on the 2026 Bronco wears Wimbledon White paint and ‘1966’ wheel caps. The details nod to the model’s earliest days and to a term Ford coined that later became common for a whole class of vehicles. Ford’s announcement is the source for both the 1965 introduction date and the coinage, so the 60-year count rests on the company’s own account of its history.
3. Dodge Charger: Celebrating at Sixty
The Charger turns 60 in 2026, and Dodge is marking the milestone with celebrations, according to a July 2026 Classic Cars Journal report.
Motor Illustrated’s anniversary list also places the Charger among the 1966 debuts, alongside the Bronco and Corolla. Three nameplates from three automakers, Dodge, Ford and Toyota, thus share one birth year, and each is using the moment to lean on its heritage. Anniversary years are when automakers lean on heritage, and a nameplate lasting 60 years gives Dodge plenty of history to draw on for that purpose.
4. Honda Accord: America’s First Japanese-Built Car
Launched in the U.S. in June 1976, the Accord turns 50 and was the first vehicle from a Japanese automaker built in America, at Marysville, Ohio, where production began November 1, 1982, per Honda’s anniversary release.
Honda reports nearly 15 million Accords sold in the U.S., a total expected to pass 15 million later in June 2026, across 11 generations. Fifty years on sale makes the milestone as much about durability as about that early American factory. The Marysville plant’s 1982 start is why the Accord’s anniversary carries an industrial milestone as well as a sales one.
5. Volkswagen Golf GTI: Fifty Years of Hot Hatch
Volkswagen celebrates five decades of the Golf GTI in 2026, and its GTI anniversary press release is headlined ‘The original turns 50.’
The anniversary includes the Edition 50, which Volkswagen presents as the most powerful production GTI. A performance hatchback reaching 50 shows the formula’s staying power, and the top-power edition lets the birthday double as a showcase. Volkswagen’s release frames the celebration as a 2026 theme, so the anniversary is spread across the year rather than tied to a single date.
6. Acura Integra: Born With the Brand
The Acura Integra turns 40, having debuted in 1986, the same year as the Acura brand itself, according to a Motor Illustrated list of 2026 anniversaries.
The shared birth year means the nameplate and the badge celebrate together, and the list counts the brand as a 40-year milestone of its own. That January 2026 roundup gathers models ranging from 20 to 60 years old. That makes the Integra a natural anniversary pick, since two separate 40-year milestones apply to it at once.
7. BMW M3: Forty Years of M3
The first BMW M3 arrived in 1986, making 2026 its 40th anniversary, according to the same Motor Illustrated anniversary roundup.
The M3 shares the 1986 date with the Acura Integra, so two well-known cars from rival brands reach the same age together. Its place on the list shows how a single performance model can outlast several generations of everyday cars around it. Automakers often use such anniversaries to remind shoppers of a model’s heritage, and the M3’s 1986 date gives BMW a clear starting line to reference.
8. Porsche Boxster: Three Decades Open-Top
The Porsche Boxster roadster launched in 1996, so 2026 is its 30th anniversary, as Classic and Sports Car marks in a gallery titled ‘Porsche Boxster: 30 years.’
The Boxster is the only nameplate here at the 30-year mark, sitting between the 40-year-old pair and the 20-year-old pair. A gallery tribute from a British classic-car outlet suggests the model already draws collector-style attention. That makes the Boxster the middle rung of the milestone ladder, younger than the Accord and GTI and older than the Ridgeline.
9. Honda Ridgeline: Twenty Years on the Job
Honda’s Ridgeline pickup arrived in 2006 and turns 20 this year, according to Motor Illustrated’s 2026 roundup.
It is one of two 20-year birthdays on the list, sharing the milestone with the Range Rover Sport. The Ridgeline adds a pickup to a lineup otherwise dominated by cars and SUVs, and it turns 20 alongside Honda’s own Accord at 50. Honda thus has two anniversaries in the same year, the Accord at 50 and the Ridgeline at 20, which spans much of the list’s age range.
10. Range Rover Sport: Twenty Years of Sport
The Range Rover Sport was first sold in 2006, and the Motor Illustrated anniversary list counts it among the vehicles turning 20 in 2026.
It shares that birth year with the Honda Ridgeline, making the two the youngest milestone nameplates here. The Range Rover Sport rounds out the list as the second British name, joined by no others among the ten. Its 2006 debut puts it in the same age bracket as the Ridgeline, and both were listed in Motor Illustrated’s January 2026 roundup of anniversary models.
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