NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - What are you getting your dad for Father's Day? A necktie? A card? Maybe some cologne?

But is that what your dad really wants? Of course not. That's right -- he wants to trade in his Ford Taurus for a far sweeter ride. Of course, few of us can actually afford to buy Dad a car -- though he certainly deserves it and, admit it, the look on his face would be pretty darn cool.

So here's the shopping list.

If your father's pushing 50, he should hope to be doing as well as the Corvette. The legendary Chevrolet sports car turns 50 next year. Corvettes have been tearing up American blacktop for a long time, and now they handle like real sports cars, too. The new ones look very nice to boot. Good old raw power with broad, muscular lines.

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Hi-tech touches like traction control and magnetic ride control will make it easier to keep the Corvette Z06's 405 horsepower under firm control. And, to make this Father's Day dream a little closer to reality, it's relatively affordable. The Z06 costs about half what you'd pay for a European sports car with comparable performance.

Base price: $50,430

Cylinders: 8

Engine Size: 5.7 Liters

Horsepower: 405

Miles Per Gallon: City 19/Highway 28

If Dad owns an SUV, he'd probably love a Hummer H2. Easy to drive, easy to park, while still carrying the garage-built Armageddon death-machine looks of its big brother, the Hummer H1.

Really, you can't go wrong here. All of the macho, none of the inconvenience. The H2 is narrow enough to fit in one lane on most roads but high enough to climb over a pile of big rocks. Everything Dad needs.

Base Price: $48,065

Cylinders: 8

Engine Size (liters): 6.0

Horsepower: 325

Miles Per Gallon : N/A

From the outside, it looks like a Mercury Grand Marquis, one of the most supremely forgettable cars ever made. (Seriously. You've probably seen at least one Grand Marquis in the past 24 hours. Do you remember it?)

Now, looking like a boring car might seem like a bad thing. But really, it's kind of neat. Think about it. Your eye catches the Marauder sitting at a stop light. Looks like another big, boring family sedan. But there's something just a bit different about this one. For one thing, it's all black. Then there are those wheels. And it seems to sit just a bit firmer on the suspension than a Grand Marquis. And the driver looks like he might actually be smiling.

Then the light turns green and you know. The 302-horsepower engine comes to life with a mean growl and carries the big machine away like a hot rod. "Oh," you say to yourself. "That was a Marauder. Cool."

Base Price: $33,790

Cylinders: 8

Engine Size (liters): 4.6

Horsepower: 302

Miles Per Gallon : City 17/Highway 23

Your father would look just great in a new Ford Thunderbird. Any dad would. This is the car that was made to be seen in. Modeled closely after the '50s classic, intended, in those days, as a competitor to the Corvette, the modern 2-seater T-bird is no sports car. (Frankly, the old one wasn't much of a threat to the classic 'Vette in its day, either.)

It's certainly not bad to drive, though. He'll never feel a lack with his T-bird's 252 horsepower V-8. He'll get to 60 mph in seven seconds, just two seconds later than he would in a Corvette with 50 more horses. And he'll look less like he's having an extra-large mid-life crisis and more like he has really admirable taste.

Base Price: $35,390

Cylinders: 8

Engine Size (liters): 3.9

Horsepower: 252

Miles Per Gallon : City 17/Highway 23

Your dad might well remember the Datsun 240Z of the early 1970s, but maybe he wasn't old enough to own one then. Too bad. Wait until you see what he gets for waiting, though.

The new 350Z (you can order one for him now, but he can't actually get his hands on it until August) has a 3.5-liter V6 pumping 280 horsepower (compared with 150 on the perfectly respectable original) through a 6-speed manual shifter. Dad can get his in one of eight colors, including LeMans Sunset, Pikes Peak White, Daytona Blue, Brickyard, or just plain Super Black.

Base Price: $26,269

Cylinders: 6

Engine Size (liters): 3.5

Horsepower: 280+

Miles Per Gallon : N/A

So, your dad's a sensitive guy. He wears jeans and Birkenstocks. He eats puffed millet for breakfast.

But we're talking dreams here. In his dreams, he wants a turbo. There's nothing wrong with that. They don't add much to fuel consumption. They don't hurt the environment. They just give a nice little Volkswagen Beetle 181 horsepower and fairly wicked acceleration. And that's OK, isn't it? Sure it is.

Besides the turbocharger and the spoiler (with integrated fog lights), the Turbo S has a six-speed manual shifter and an "Electronic Stabilization Program" to keep the little fireball going where it's aimed.

Base Price: $23,400

Cylinders: 4

Engine Size (liters): 1.8

Horsepower: 180

Miles Per Gallon : City 23/Highway 30