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Ugliest Cars of All Time

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  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    Meanwhile that Jupiter is a scream. It keeps getting shorter as you move from front to back...
    strange...
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • wilcoxwilcox Member Posts: 582
    owned a vehicle that look similar to that above. It was an Austin. A convertible, '50's type, with those swooping front fenders with little yellow flap type arms that I think were turn signals. The car had a functional back seat and was european grey. Dad had the Austin painted bright yellow for visibility purposes.
    Mechanically, it was a giant bow-wow. Hard starting and in the shop... It would leave mom and us stranded almost everywhere..
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Oh, that must have been the Austin Atlantic...here's a photo--it just makes you want to cry out in pain, doesn't it?

    image
  • badgerpaulbadgerpaul Member Posts: 219
    Ugh, and I just came back from lunch.
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    Ouch!!
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    The Panhard Dyna....the convertible is not as bad as the sedan...sort of a mutated VW bug or something...

    image
  • vmanvman Member Posts: 103
    Ugly AND British you say?

    image

    Cast my vote!
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Some people like these, but I'd say by 1957 Cadillac was on the skids with design....

    image
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    That sure says 1957 more than it says Cadillac!
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • vmanvman Member Posts: 103
    Hmmmmm.....Are you sure that's not a Chevoldsmobuick Mr_S.? It looks like a lot of stray parts bolted together. It has that strange magnetic 'ugly car' quality that I just can't resist, though.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Yeah, vman, I'm like that, too sometimes...the car is just weird enough to be enticing, but not really beautiful as we know it, and not downright ugly...the design is, as the French say (who should know!) "tormented"...I suppose you could take the most lovely parts from ten different people and mix them up and they wouldn't look very good all put together (presuming similar age and sex!)...proportion, it seems to me, is very important for a car to be truly "beautiful", and a complete lack of any sensitivity would be necessary for it to be truly "ugly".

    On this Caddy, I lik the lower fenderlline, but look at all that overhang in the back! And what on earth does the front of the car have to do with the back of it? Hello? Have they been introduced?

    But I like the windshield and the front wheel opening.
  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    is the Buick Roadmaster Convertible. White with red leather interior. Much cleaner, better proportions than any of the Cads. Those 57 Cads never did look right to me-ANY of them.
  • bubukittybubukitty Member Posts: 96
    Wasn't the Caddy you show a limited production model? I think it's an Eldorado and they made very few of them. I agree that the design is a little on the "disconnect" side! But it is still cool in a way and sure would be fun to drive down the road in on a suny day!
  • wilcoxwilcox Member Posts: 582
    the 1957 Chevy tail things sticking out like a sore thumb!
  • vmanvman Member Posts: 103
    I saw one today, on the road, and I made it my daily quest to hunt down a picture. Believe it or not, there are enthusiasts for this critter:

    image


    It's a Nissan Stanza Wagon.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    rather than ugly....completely unimaginative by the looks of it.
  • rea98drea98d Member Posts: 982
    I just can't stand the old Ford T Models. Put the top up on that car, and it looks like its slung underneath a blimp. But considering car design was in its infancy, and it is after all a Ford, I'll let it slide without alerting the fashion police this time.
  • vmanvman Member Posts: 103
    Not creative enough to be ugly, you mean? From the back, it was butt-ugly (IMO)! I know the Nissans of that era were pretty good vehicles, but what were they thinking?
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    They were thinking "Box to Put Stuff In"...like Volvo used to think.

    Model Ts were thought to be ugly even back in the days when they were being made (1909-1927)...but people loved them in spite of their shortcomings, and they were tough little cars. They were purposely made to ride high so as to clear the ruts in the roads of that time. A lower-slung car was often doomed to a mudhole in the early 1900s.
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    Vman, these are called "Wally Wagons" in the business for some reason and they do have their fans.

    But...only yesterday, I saw a good one, I had to laugh because the driver fit the car so well...

    It was (and still is) a Citroen station wagon!

    Ugly brown, filthy beyond belief, every "Save the Whale" bumber sticker known to man pasted on the back.

    Loud, falling off exhaust, clouds of blue smoke...

    And the driver? Around 60 or so, huge beard, smoking a pipe, big mutt in the front seat..!

    Shifty, I think he was heading south, down your way!

    What a sight!
  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    allright. Back in 68, I remember seeing lots of younger versions of this in the Oakland/Berkeley/SF area.
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    Out here in NJ a few years back we had a doozy of a blizzard. Now my wife is an RN in a hospital and naturally there's no such thing as calling out. She went in (in her Windstar)before the snow began. By shift's end, she calls saying one of the other nurses lived nearby (which is 20 miles from work) and had a 4WD. I figure if she's OK with it....she shows up in a Stanza wagon! I told her it was good I didn't know that beforehand or I would have told her to sleep over in the hospital (which was an option)!
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • bubukittybubukitty Member Posts: 96
    I like Firebirds, but this one got crossed up with a vat of steroids!

    image
  • bubukittybubukitty Member Posts: 96
    Now this is the best of the Trans Ams IMO

    image
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    That new one looks like it's got nostrils on the hood!
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • bubukittybubukitty Member Posts: 96
    The regular Firebird doesn't look quite as bad, but the double nostril look is pretty terrible.
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    At first I was sorry I hadn't come up with the Firebird picture as requested. NOw I'm sorry tha someone else did......
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • bubukittybubukitty Member Posts: 96
    Saw one today in the flesh! Even worse that the photo. The Pontiac stylists must be drinking some high caffeine coffee or somethin!
  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    then they must drink it too...
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    Over in the bizzare car names topic they were playing with car company slogans for a while. One guy came up with this for Pontiac: "We Build Excrement." Precisely.
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • wilcoxwilcox Member Posts: 582
    tropic blue were substituted for some of the red, we could call it the Pontiac Mandrill.
  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    "we build excrement" Well then, they must-no I won't say it. I'll have to check that car names topic. Haven't been there lately.
  • bubukittybubukitty Member Posts: 96
    That's hilarious! Haven't seen the car names topic yet. I'll have to look for it! "Excrement" is an apt description for styling and quality too. A former boss of mine rented a Bonneville a couple of years ago. While at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, he got out of the car and closed the door and the door's body cladding fell off on the pavement! He just stood there and contemplated that for a second and then picked it up and threw it in the truck. I also rented a Pontiac a couple of years before that (a Grand Prix). While winding the window, the handle came off in my hand. The car was junk. Also saw a Pontiac show car a couple of years ago called the "Rageous" (short for outrageous I guess). A stupid name and one of the ugliest show cars I have ever seen. Pontiac peaked in the '60's with the GTO's and the original Firebirds, and maybe the early 70's....been down hill ever since IMO.
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    Saw an ad today for the Chrysler PT Cruiser. Previously in this topic I said I thought it was a pretty interesting looking car (in the good sense of interesting). Well in this ad the car was actually moving - looked liek something out of a cartoon - kind of like when a character can't get any traction on ice and just keeps running in place.... just the image for a car!

    Just as well I wasn't buying one anyway....
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    But, I admit it, I kinda like them. Saw one last week at the car show. It reminded me of a 1938 Plymouth.

    It's probably just a Neon with a retro body?
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    That's just about exactly what it is! It's built on the Neon platform - don't know what all little tweaks they did on it.

    Funny thing is, until I saw it actually moving in the ad, I agree - I love the fact that it looks like it's out of the 30's, but moving it looked like a cartoon.

    I'll hold judgement until I see a real live one - might have to steal down to the Chrysler folks and try one out....
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • bubukittybubukitty Member Posts: 96
    Simply Fugly, and this picture makes it look better than it really is! In person, it really sucks.

    image
  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    Pontiac, "we build excrement," they're gonna have to come up with something even worse than that. Maybe if they put this Pontiac in the same warm, dark garage with a Subaru Impreza, PT Cruiser, and a Kia Sportage, left them for a week or so, they could produce an ugly basxxxd child truly worthy of the name "excrement." They could conduct "emissions" tests to determine the real daddy....
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    Oh my God! I didn't think even Pontiac could do that - come up with a design that makes other Pontiacs downright attractive by comparison....

    Gonna be tough searching for a topper.....
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • bubukittybubukitty Member Posts: 96
    to know if any auto maker representatives ever read posts on sites like this. I would think that Pontiac execs would garner a whole lot of insight without the need of focus groups or market researchers. Their styling. while they probably think it is on the edge, are sorely mistaken. The quality of the cars they produce is not good either. Maybe they just don't care. I used to be a Pontiac fan years ago when they produced great looking cars (a long time ago). If a division of GM were to get the axe, maybe it should be Pontiac. Going to the S.F. Auto Show soon and it will be interesting to go to the Pontiac exhibit to see what attrocities they are planning to foist on the general public this year! Hopefully if there are any Pontiac concept cars there, they are a lot better than the Pontiac "Excremageous" above!
  • spnxspnx Member Posts: 37
    Yeah, so everyone thinks the car's ugly. Actually, I'm surprised that so many of you were aware of what it is!

    As soon as you're driving the car, you don't care about how it looks at all. It has such a sweet-sounding V8 - that's about all that matters when you're behind the wheel :-)

    I may be setting a record here, for I own two cars that are considered ugly - I also have an NX2000. I'm not sure if it was mentioned in this debate though.

    SPNX
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    Congratulations on your ugly cars! Actually you make a good point about that sweet sounding engine. The good thing about owning an otherwise decent car that happens to be ugly is you are the one person on the road who doesn't have to look at it!
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • tomcat630tomcat630 Member Posts: 854
    We all hear about 50's and 70's cars being considered ugly. It's more a matter of being out dated that makes an old car "ugly".

    Here are picks from the last 20 years. Remember 1980 will be 20 years past next month!

    0. 80-85 Seville, 4 door Gremlin
    1. 83-86 Camry, rolling washing machine
    2. Any Nissan Stanza, rolling trash compactor
    3. Any Nissan Pulsar, glitzty 80's mall rat car
    4. Any GM A-car (6000/Celeb/Ciera..) 2-door with "Landau" roof, trying to keep the 70's alive
    5. 86-87 Eldorado/Riviera/Toro, definiitve GM "cookie cutter" cars (also apllies to A-cars)
    6. Chrysler TC by Maserati, is it a Century or a LeBaron?
    7. K-car 2-door derivatives with "landau" tops, golf carts
    8. 87-88 Thunderbirds, change for sake of change
    9. 91-96 Caprice, the ultimate boat!
    10. Hyundai's before 97 or so. Blobs of melted plastic
    11. Olds Achieva, Chev Corsica committee designed rental cars

    and on and on.
  • superman5superman5 Member Posts: 154
    hyundai tiburon
    nissan maxima(2000)..
  • carnut4carnut4 Member Posts: 574
    from the car shows, as seen in the latest Car and Driver...especially the Isuzus. Geez what a bunch of ugly stuff. We're back to the "atomic cockroach" styling, with "pregnant rollerskate with football daddies" mutations....anything to make it look new and different? Ugh.
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    Yeah, until the auto shows I always figure the Japanese made kind of "vanilla ugly" cars - offensive but not threatening to your retinas. If you wanted serious eyeslaghter you had to go American or European. However, as in everything else, it looks like the Japanese have caught and is some ways surpassed us again!
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • lweisslweiss Member Posts: 342
    Certainly one of the ugliest, although when I rented one it actually drove pretty well, aside from looking at the grotesque column gear shift.

    As Car and Driver remarked in the early '90's, the Buick Skylark represented everything that was wrong with GM at the time and caused their market share to fall from 45% to 29% in 15 years.
  • tomcat630tomcat630 Member Posts: 854
    The GM notchbacks of the 80's, the (too many) cars with the near 90 degree rear windows. I think this is one of the many causes of GM to lose customers then, too many of them. It as nice on the original 1976-9 Seville, but then it was overkill putting it on virtually every car in their line up.

    They thought all cars should have a "formal roof" since the fastback Centuries and Cutlasses of 1978-9 flopped.
  • wilcoxwilcox Member Posts: 582
    no wonder they were discontinued....
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    The early 55-57 models weren't too bad, fairly clean at least if a bit tortured in their lines...but soon weight and chrome and two extra seats ruined them.
This discussion has been closed.

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