Ugliest Cars of All Time

vallarta

I think that the Mercury Turnpike Cruiser was the
ugliest looking car of all time. Close runner-up
would have been the Isetta.

esneed

My thoughts...

1960 Plymouth Fury - gosh what an ugly car! Chrysler made some stylish cars during this period too - the Fury wasn't one of them.

1974 AMC Matador Coupe - the overall design really wasn't bad, but those ridiculous head/tail lights? Blew the whole design.... yuk!

1958-1960 Lincoln Continental Mark III - thank goodness for the clean lines of the 1961's. It's predecessor was huge, had lines which were out of proportion, and again - ugly. Lincoln buyers at that time must of dropped their lower jaws after seeing the change from 1960 to the 1961 models.

Mr_Shiftright

Speaking of AMC, remember the Marlin fastback... pretty bad!

1959-60-61 Chrysler Imperial

1958 Oldsmobile

Daimler SP250 Roadster

The Henry J

sbarer

When talking ugly, one must name the 1934 Tatra 77 and the Lotus Europa MKI (although at 1700lbs and 100+hp the ugly fiberglass is almost (but not quite)excusable due to the amazing performance)

Mr_Shiftright

Well, at least in defense of those two rather unattractive cars, one can say they were technically very interesting. NOthing worse than being ugly AND dull.

hhkim

How can you guys leave out the AMC Pacer?

Not just ugly but distinctively ugly.

esneed

Yea, the Pacer wasn't much to look at.

What about the Citroen 2CV? They built it for years in France, and it resembled the look of a dehydrated VW Beetle.

Some others... 1978-79 Buick Century and Olds Cutlass Salon fastback coupe/sedans... suddenly switched to notchback 4-door in 1980 after realizing the 'faux pas'... the 1980-84 Cadillac Seville 'bustleback'. 1971/72 Olds Toronado - what's the deal with that front end?

Mr_Shiftright

Awwwww...the 2CV is cute, don't you think?

isellhondas

How about the Citroen station wagons?

esneed

Nope - sorry Mr.S...

The original Bettle is cute.
The VW Thing was cute.
The Nash Metropolitan was cute.

IMO, the 2CV does not qualify in the cute category. It apparently does though in Europe - they sold them long enough.

Mr_Shiftright

Okay, I'll let you say a 2CV is ugly if you let me say a VW Thing is REAL ugly!

Metros are cute, I'll agree, even if they are faily dismal failures as cars...they would make excellent coffee tables and yes, if I saw one cheap, I'd buy one just so I could pretend I was Donald Duck for a day. I actually like Mets, but driving one is quite scary. I did know a guy who bought one, lowered it, put on Bilstein shocks (from where, I don't know)an MGB 1800 cc engine and disk brakes and front end from something. Enormous job and the car was still scary, but in a different way. Some people.

bubukitty

How about the Trabant? That was a pretty horific design from, I believe, East Germany. Not only were they ugly, but also pretty terrible cars too. Also, some of the early Plymouth Valiants (early 60's?) were butt ugly. Then there are the Edsels with the horse collar grills. What was Ford thinking about anyway?

Mr_Shiftright

Ford was a victim of its own marketing department. My motto is "Never create a car from a Focus Group opinion"....it may work for toothpaste, but not cars...

Oh, yeah, the Trabant is very ugly...good suggestion!

FREDERICK

I've never seen any car company with it head so far stuck in the sand. I dare you to name me a really stylish AMC auto. The Pacer was such a total dog I can't even believe that the company actually brought that thing to market.

jei

More for the list:
- The AMC Gremlin (especially mid '70s models with the huge bumpers). You get the rest of the car when you make the last payment.
- The Bricklin. The mid '70s strike again.

guitarzan

Aston Martin Lagonda Bulldog. Ugly, or just freaky?

esneed

OK, I can give on the AMC Gremlin - but reluctantly because I owned a 1974 model (first year with the massive bumpers)

The Gremlin has a horrible reputation - but honestly, despite its appearance, it was one of the better cars I had. (No snickering, please). Rust was it's biggest malady, but with a 258 6-cyl and automatic, that car was a tough, practical daily driver to and from school. And in fairness to the massive bumpers - it was hit at least once from every side, and it proved its durability.

On the flip side, I never got many dates due to driving it though. (!)

Speaking of AMC, what about the '74-'77 Matador SEDAN (I already spoke of the coupe in a previous entry). What's up with the protruding grille and front-end? How was that 'stylish'? Were they out of their mind?

esneed

I thought of another one that some may consider ugly - although I like them myself. 1968-1969 Pontiac full size Catalina/Bonnevilles with the chrome snout nose (a la Edsel). I must be in the minority, cause I like the look of it, but most didn't seem to appreciate the look even when the car was new.

guitarzan

There is a blue one in our town that looks mint. Can't help but admire such an old car that looks so good, but also, I thought it was cool.

bubukitty

How about this one? The Checker Marathon! Probably one of the ugliest cars ever made. I also second the Diamler SP250. Looks like a catfish on wheels.

Mr_Shiftright

Maybe we could chip in and make a computer-generated Godzilla movie and put in all our favorite ugly cars for him (her?) to step on....childish, but amusing nonetheless.

I had a Checker, 1963, and prior to their use of Chevrolet engines they used Continental sixes that they bought over the counter. What was unusual about the six in my car was that it was a flathead with an OHV conversion that the factory did to "keep up" with modern times, at least in Checker's capacity to do so. You could literally see the conspicuously wider engine block that used to accept a flat head, now with an overhead valve cylinder head bolted onto it. Looked that two different motors stuck together. The car had a Studebaker overdrive (well, B-W), idled at 300 rpm and was a torture to drive. I used to enjoy hiting the brake and gas and making the car hop up and down. It was terrible in snow but an excellent cross-country (literally) vehicle, and it was often driven through the woods in the Colorado mountains...great ground clearance and a very low rear end ratio.

bubukitty

Sounds like a good idea for a movie! It's got to be better than a lot of the bad movies coming out of Hollywood these days! Maybe the Mothra can swoop down and pick up our favorite ugly cars and use them as amo to drop on Godzilla, while he steps on the rest!

Thanks for the info on Checkers. They always looked like they were a little cobbled together to me anyway, and based on the mechanicals you describe, I was right! I remember as a kid when we visited my grandparents in NYC, that it seemed that all the cabs were yellow Checkers. We used to ride in them a lot and remember how big the back seat area was and the jump seats in them. Even at a very tender young age I remember thinking how really awful looking those cars were, though today they are so rare that it's kind of cool when you see one. My wife loves them and thinks they are wonderful (then again, she thinks Studebakers are good looking cars-only the Avanti was), so she was a little disturbed when I told her about my nomination of the Checker. I do take her to car shows and point out the really beautiful cars to try to educate her a little! She is slowly coming around.

badgerpaul

I don't know, I think the Studebaker Hawk is a good looking car.

Mr_Shiftright

The "cleaner" Hawks look nice to me, but not the cluttered up ones....I personally like the 62-64 GT Hawks more than the tail-fin jobbies. The 1958 Packard Hawk was a rather unattractive car, though. They sure had their nerve putting the Packard name on it. Nothing Packard about it, the company was already looted and gone by 1958.

carnut4

Someone said the '60 Plymouth Fury was ugly-but what about the '61?? Oh my god it was bad-and the '61 Dodge as well-with those reverse slanting, ugly fins. How did Chrysler ever do those between other years of decent styling I also vote for the '67-'68 Dodge Polara, with that complex angle, hulking grill and horrible taillights. I never liked the Ciroen ID/DS 19, either. My Dad almost bought one of those in 1958, when I was especially car-style conscious, and the '57 Chev was my standard. I screamed aand kicked. I steered him out of that, along with the little Fiat Multipla mini-mini van. Remember those? I refused to go for a test drive with my family. We finally got a used '57 Pontiac, which had an ugly grill, but that motor was killer.

isellhondas

Ever take a good look at the front end of a recent Taurus?

Mr_Shiftright

The Cougar is nice-looking, though...Ford can do some things right.

The Citroen may not have appealed to everyone's aesthetics (you either like 'em or hate 'em) but when the DS came out in 1955 it was truly a revolutionary car, arguably the first truly innovative car (from top to bottom) after World War II.

I have a friend with a Multipla with the license plate SLUG (short for Banana Slug).

bubukitty

I had forgotten about the Taurus...it's a real bummer to behold. I saw some recent photos in a car mag and I believe Ford it restyling the front and back end and it looks a lot better.

How about some bad looking concept cars? The Pontiac Rageous (sp?) is one of the worst looking and stupid show cars ever. The Chrysler PT Cruiser, which is supposed to go into production, looks like a bread box on wheels. Chrysler has been light years ahead of Ford and GM on styling, but they pulled the cork out on the PT Cruiser. Going retro is OK with the New Beetle and upcoming T Bird, but Chrysler has got the concept wrong. It seems to me that a lot of cars I have seen in auto show coverage in car mags are getting uglier. No more smooth flowing lines, but weird contours and odd creases etc.

One new car that I do not like at all, though it may be a fantastic machine, is the Audi TT. Does anyone else out there think it is really bad looking? I think they took the New Beetle and squashed it a little and gave it some ugly pills. While we're on a roll here and talking about German cars, I do not like the Z3 roadster either. The proportions seem wrong to me...the back end is too short and the front end is ugly. This is coming from a long time BMW owner too! Porsche got it right with the Boxster. What a great looking car. The only thing I would change is the shape of the headlight assembly....look like Basset Hound eyes.

Mr_Shiftright

I think the problem you're noticing with the Audi TT is the very high waistline, which bothers me, too, but I sort of forgive it since the styling of the car is so well integrated all around. So even if one doesn't like the look, at least you'd have to admit the styling is sound, in principle at least.

The "retro" look gets old fast, I think...like my dad used to say when he saw something designs in the "new" form of Art Deco Retro...."Oh, great, I got to be sick of this stuff twice."

No one admires old cars (well, most of them) more than I do, but I like to see stylists and engineers push out the envelope to new things, taking old themes and shaping them for the future, like the Miata did, a very successful design that called on the past but not too heavily.

I agree, the Boxster is lovely, and the Z3 a bit too-too-tonic for my tastes...but some people think a camel's nose is cute, and if you gave me one, I'd sure drive it.

guitarzan

Too Teutonic? As in, too German? Or, too "the engineers were drinking too much tonic?"

bubukitty

I have seen the TT in the flesh and thought it was interesting, and for the design that it is, it does work and as you say, it is well integrated. But it may take me awhile to get used to it I guess. The interior is fantastic.

The Z-3 has evolved into a better design as they have beefed up the looks as they have added performance (such as the M version). As in most BMW's, I'm sure it is a great performer and handles beautifully and I'm sure I would love it if I owned one. I wish BMW's would go back to the front end look they had in the seventies and eighties....the wide grills on either side of the kidney. I had a 3.0CS and I think the front end, and the overall design, was one of the best ones BMW ever had. The older front end is not as aerodynamic as the newer BMW's, but the older front end design is better looking.

carnut4

I'd forgotten about the Taurus, which I've hated from the first look. Ovals? C'mon, Ford, you can do better than that. From the front, it looks like one of those cartoon cars sucking on a gas hose or something. And that new Audi TT? I don't like it either. All wheels. Looks like a pregnant roller skate with a football daddy. I also agree with bubukitty about the z3. My alltime favorite BMWs were the old CSI coupes and the later 7 series sedans. Actually there are a lot of new cars I don't care for. And for 30 0r 40 thou? I'll take a nice 34 Ford Street Rod and have enough left to buy an older BMW. By the way, what does anyone think of the Nash "bathtubs" from 49-51, and the Kaiser with the "eyebrow" windshield?

Mr_Shiftright

I kinda like the old Pinanfarina-styled Nashes...the Kaiser designs always stuck me as "tortured", as if the car were fighting with itself. I think that cars that look "carved" out of a solid piece are never as attractive or harmonious as cars that look like a styled "shell" that was placed over the car...they look lighter and hollower, if that makes any sense.

rea98d

The Ford Taurus look hideous! And Ford's "redesign" does absolutely nothing for it. They just swapped one ugly ront end for another. Re #20, Godzilla squashing ugly cars...He already did! I loved seeing him tear up that Caprice Taxicab! Man are those things ugly!!!

carnut4

Shiftright- " Fighting with themselves" -that's funny as hell- makes me remember a friend who found one of those old Kaisers in 1968, for peanuts, to get him around while he was putting a new motor [tweaked-up 348] in his 58 Impala. The Kaiser had had the benefit of a "paint job" meaning it had nose, mouth, ears and more, brush painted on its front, to accentuate its already unique styling. Parked in front of our neighbor's house, the Kaiser was NOT appreciated. That lady was used to her proper Cadillac and [don't laugh] a 58 Buick, [pink and white] which, in spite of itself, was in mint condition. There were actually phone calls to my house and my friends about "that awful car parked there" and what were "they" going to do about it? Well, as soon as that new 348 was in the Impala, the Kaiser got sold for junk. Just think! What a waste of a great old flathead six motor-and this one might even have had the supercharger!! Oh well.

Mr_Shiftright

Well, dry your eyes, pal, I've driven that 6 with the supercharger and it was, as the French say, "une veau". But still, it would have been nice to save the car for parts, because, like children, no matter how homely, somebody always loves them.

Oh, really, a person with a '58 Buick calling the kettle black? Amusing....

carnut4

The end of the story was that after the Kaiser went bye-bye, the new 348 motor showed it's muscle by laying long, black strips of rubber on the street where the Kaiser was parked. Amazing she never called the cops.

Mr_Shiftright

That 348 was originally a truck engine, I believe.

fezo

I never thought I'd be comparing cars for their resemblence to a catfish, but here goes -
true, the current Taurus has such a look, but Ford outdid themselves with the Mercury Sable - now THERE is a catfish. Just needs whiskers. And this from the same company that brought us the '58 Edsel - a car so ugly htat it almost retires the title....

oaklift

Hello folks, new to this site -- and just have to say that the Taurus wagon gets my vote, hands down, as the ugliest. Even worse than the front view is the 3/4 view from the rear -- getting the side and rear at the same time -- yikes. Nothing clean or classic about those lines (I mean ovals). Bad enough to make even me gag, and I have never cared that much about car styling (sorry folks, I never claimed to be a car person, just lurking on this site today looking for an answer to a specific question in another topic...)
Arlene

fezo

It's hard to argue against that one. Right up there...

By the way, is it me or are some of the styling cues from some of the classically ugly cars showing up in more recent models - such as the Edsel mouth on new Jaguars, a 90's version of the old Edsel "eyebrow" tail lights on recent Bonnevilles and the Gremlin back window that started showing up on late 80's - early 90's Camry wagons?

carnut4

How 'bout those Toyotas 4x4s a few years ago with a side window straight from a 48 Crosley station wagon? Yes I agree that alot of today's styling is ugly. Why do we need a whole wall of wrap around red plastic for tailights? Reminds me of a baboon's rear end. As for the modern wrap around "cat eye" look for headlamps, many of them look silly as hell-like they're snarling or something.

Ugly, ugly. And expensive to replace?!!

scfan1

The Pacer has them all beat!!!!!!!!!

prophet2

Distant past:
1) Citroen - an art professor had one; looked like a cockroach (the car, not the prof).
2) AMC Pacer - bulbous hot-house on wheels; lots of usable space, though.

Not-so-distant past:
1) Chevy Caprice - can't believe that Motor Trend anointed this as "Domestic Car of the Year."
2) Camry S/W - ugly rear end; no wonder Toyota dropped it.

Current: Taurus/Sable - pushing the limit on the "wide oval" aero-look; Chrysler did a better job with the Intrepid; what was Ford thinking????? hopefully, the 2K model will be an improvement!

stickguy

Even uglier than the Camry was the Corolla (tercel?) AWD wagon rear end. The tailgate looked like an ATM machine

Mr_Shiftright

With some cars, having an ATM machine in the back seat wouldn't be a bad idea.

fezo

Oh, yeah - I'd forgotten how ugly those were. Unfortunately you reminded me....

By the way what is it with the tall tail lights on the older GM minivans and recent Volvo wagons?
Are tailfins making a comeback??

jeffs

AMC Matador and latest full size GM vans.

carnut4

Thanks for reminding me about the new full size GM Vans-what's up with that rearend design?? Looks like a cartoon expression of fear trying to get away from something-maybe the stylists who "stuck" them. And those old Tercel wagons-an ATM machine?-I laughed when I read this, stickguy. Actually, now I remember the 1970 Subaru 360, and the original Honda Civics from the early 70s-ugly or what? And then there's the '70s Datsun B-210 with that "Atomic Cockroach" styling. A bunch of lines and black plastic that went nowhere. This one fathered the Tercel AWD wagon. I must say, Japanese styling from the 70's produced a lot of ugly cars....

jei

The humble Toyota Tercel wagon may not have been stylish or good-looking, but it was a very good car for those not too concerned about appearances. I bought an SR5 4WD wagon new in '85 and ran it up to almost 280,000 miles
this year before it needed any major engine work! It had great ride and handling, firm supportive seats that were next best only to those in a Volvo or Audi, an extra-low gear for use in 4WD, and was as tough as nails. Yes, it was underpowered and prone to rust (I had a complete "rust makeover" done in 1992) but it was a pleasure to drive and dirt cheap to run. It handled icy roads, deep snow and mucky construction sites with ease in 4WD.

With due respect to Subaru, the 1983-1988 Tercel 4WD was the first of a tall-wagon breed that has evolved into the car-based sport utility vehicles around today. What's the quote about those who invent something aren't the ones who make it beautiful?

fezo

No arguement with you on how dependable and useful
a car that was - came close to buying one myself.
I also agree that it was ahead of its time in concept. Unfortunately it was ugly then as now.
Like those Volvo wagons with the new age tailfins it's another example of a good but ugly car.