Back in 1992 the world was swooning over the just-revealed 1993 model year Chevy Camaro, a bold, aerodynamic car with a powerful 5.7 liter LT1 engine under the hood. Ford meanwhile was getting ready to phase out the Fox-body Mustang, but not before celebrating with an exceptional sendoff. That sendoff was the 1993 Mustang Cobra, a product of the newly-formed Ford Special Vehicles Team, or SVT.

20 years later, SVT is still going strong and is in many ways better than ever, cranking out two top-notch vehicles, the Ford Raptor pickup and the 2013 GT500 with a 650 horsepower engine and 200 mph top speed. This month is SVT’s 20th birthday, so let’s take a brief trip down memory lane and remember some of SVT’s best hits.

The whole SVT team was an evolution of Ford’s SVO team of the 1980’s, which gave us the famous four-cylinder turbo Mustang. But SVT’s first effort would be the ‘93 Cobra Mustang with 235 horsepower and 280 ft-lbs of torque. From this humble start came the ‘93 SVT Cobra R, a lightweight racing version of the Mustang Cobra, of which just 107 were built.

But as much as the SVT team loves Mustangs, they also love their trucks and 1993 also brought us the F-150 Lightning sport pickup. The Lightning would return at the turn of a millennium, wearing a sportier body and a supercharged engine. SVT even tuned the Ford Focus, giving it a tuned suspension that helped it carve through the corners.

Through 2004 SVT relied on the Cobra name to designate its high-performance Mustangs, (including the 2000 Cobra R, another track-prepped specialty) but 2007 saw the return of the Shelby GT500 to the Ford lineup, tuned by SVT. Today SVT offers the Raptor off-road pickup and the 2013 GT500, which has set a new bar for American supercars.

Here’s to hoping for another 20 years of SVT excellence.