Ogle @ I-Sores - 50 Most Ugliest Automotifs ...

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A Half-Century of Automotive Eyesores
By Damian Joseph

Considering how many new cars are rolled out every year, it's no surprise that a few might be just plain homely. There's a chance that certain styles might become fashionable with a dash of retro hip. (Well, maybe not from the 1970s.) But for the most part, the following 50 cars will never be anything but design duds.

 

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Chevrolet El Camino

Introduced: 1959

The front end of a car and the back end of a pickup—convenient but unsightly. The El Camino went through several redesigns, each worse than the one before. This 1982 model seemed to be wearing dental braces, and the chrome accents over its wheel housing only draw the eye to mystifying hub caps.

 

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Citroën Ami

Introduced: 1961

Design: Flaminio Bertoni

This car has fenders that drop below the tire line and a top that extends from the back like a porch roof. Add some oddly shaped windows and dot-sized brake lights for a uniquely strange-looking vehicle.

 

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Lightburn Zeta

Introduced: 1963

This Australian car was designed by a maker of cement mixers and washing machines, but that might be obvious. There are two grilles, both in a fence-like pattern, with protruding headlights on either side.

 

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Wartburg 353

Introduced: 1965

Can you find one thing you like about this East German car?

 

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Volkswagen Thing

Introduced: 1969

This is the design philosophy of the Thing: Take the basics of the Beetle—an engine, powertrain, and seats—and plop them in an unfinished metal box. There's no front grille, the bumper is an afterthought, and nobody bothered to round the fenders.

 

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AMC Gremlin

Introduced: 1970

Design: Richard A. Teague

Introduced on April Fool's Day, the Gremlin was ugly, but it's had its fans. Still, that doesn't excuse the abruptly angled back end, saucer hubcaps, and aborted rear windows. It also came in some nasty colors, like the brown-copper concoction seen here.

 

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Bond Bug

Introduced: 1970

Design: Ogle Design

No, it has nothing to do with James Bond, and yes, it was legally driven on real roads. The Bug defies car design language with three wheels, a boat-like bottom, and zip windows.

 

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Ford Pinto

Introduced: 1970

Design: Robert Eidschun

The Pinto doesn't seem so bad—that is, until you remember how sexy Fords (F) from the 1960s were. The design devolved into hexagonal headlight housings, a grille that's only a few inches tall yet wide enough to become the car's focal point, and a rear end that apparently melted from the roof.

 

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Ford Mustang II

Introduced: 1973

Somehow, Ford transformed the classic first-generation Mustang into this. Gone are the sleek lines, side intakes, and close-to-the-road profile. Instead, the Mustang II looks like many cars of the '70s: bloated, heavy, bland, and forgettable.

 

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Bricklin SV1

Introduced: 1974

This ride has a well-earned reputation for being a complete mechanical clunker—and it looked like one, too. The front end is squared like an awful dress shoe, is wider than the driver's cabin, and rises high before sloping down dramatically, giving it a front-heavy, unstable appearance.

 

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Sebring-Vanguard CitiCar

Introduced: 1974

Design: Bob Beaumont

The CitiCar might hold the record for being the most widely produced, street-legal, electric vehicle, but that doesn't make up for its looks. The sloped front end and zip-windows give it the appearance of a rolling tent.

 

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Volvo 240

Introduced: 1974

Design: Jan Wilsgaard

The overriding theme for the Volvo 200 series was safety, not looks. The front end is stretched yet barely sloped, giving the body a chunky look. The headlights and front rubber bumper are oversized and overbearing. Even the headrests could have used a redesign.

 

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AMC Pacer

Introduced: 1975

Design: Richard A. Teague

Five years after AMC stormed the world with the Gremlin, it dropped the Pacer. Large panes of rounded glass form the rear cabin, giving it an unbalanced appearance. The wood-paneled model was even worse than the two-tone brown seen here.

 

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Chevrolet Chevette

Introduced: 1975

Another car people love to hate. The dual-grid grille, shiny hub caps, and wide hatchback never won the Chevette an award, but they did earn it a place in automotive history.

 

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Aston Martin Lagonda

Introduced: 1976

Design: William Towns

Remember when you were young and sketched objects with wacky proportions? That's how the looooong Lagonda may have been have been designed. The short, wide front looks smooshed, and the grille appears to have been taken from another car. It's even uglier when you consider it was priced at some $150,000.

 

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Matra Rancho

Introduced: 1977

Design: Antonis Volanis

The French produced the Rancho to mimic the Range Rover, but they cut some aesthetic corners to cut cost. The rear cargo section towers over the rest of the vehicle, and the side and rear windows are oversized, but the bottom half of the vehicle resembles a small pickup truck.

 

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Subaru Brat

Introduced: 1978

The Brat—the name is short for Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter—ripped its basic design from the already dreadful Chevrolet El Camino. But Subaru brought the front end of the car/pickup mashup to more of a point, carving long lines and adding rubber bumpers down the sides, and a sunroof up top.

 

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Yugo

Introduced: 1980

Design: Zastava Koral

The Yugo gets rapped for being ugly, when it was really more of a mechanical nightmare. Consumer Reports told shoppers they'd be better off with any used car than a brand-new Yugo. The body's design, though, isn't too far from the language of Volkswagen and Volvo: simple, proportional, and efficient.

 

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DeLorean DMC-12

Introduced: 1981

Design: Giorgetto Giugiaro

Nothing dates the past like its impressions of the future. The DeLorean's matte look and flat shape are due to the car's stainless-steel panels that leave the factory unpainted. The rear is especially disconcerting with its window shading and cubed tail lights.