Fifty Ugliest Cars of the Past 50 Years (according to BusinessWeek)

BusinessWeek ^ | Damien Joseph

[DemforBush]

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...

[BluesDuke]

I agree with most of his picks, but the Bricklin, Volvo 240, Delorean, Plymouth Prowler, VW New Beetle, and the PT Cruiser in my humble opinion should never have made the list.

I'd take the New Beetle off the list in a hurry. I drive one now. This little beast has some giddyup (the turbo diesel model especially---this thing goes like a bat) and is not a bad little styler. (It beats the living hell out of the original Beetle for style points.) The Plymouth Prowler looks like what happens when you send a blind man to make a hot rod out of a rusty Model A.

The Pinto in it’s day wasn’t a bad looking car either.

If you're looking at a Pinto parked next to a Chevrolet Vega, then yes, it wasn't a bad looking car in its day. ;)

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

There was only a single Volvo wagon - another ugly car maker.

Agreed -- I neglected to mention Volvos, but they're an eyesore as well.

[Clinging Bitterly]

Well they got the Nissan Cube and the Honda Element in there - maybe they didn’t want to offend ALL the gay people.

[10Ring]

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...

Wow, the Type 181 has no front grille...it must overheat constantly! I'm so glad BW has such a competent team of editors and writers. Near the top of 50 Worst Auto Articles of all time.

[Clinging Bitterly]

If you look at all the Business week galleries, there's one called “Best of the Tokyo Auto Show”, and it has a bunch of those 660 cc Styrofoam tater cars. If you mixed them all up with this “ugliest” gallery, you wouldn't know which was which.

[Clinging Bitterly]

The deal killer on the Prowler was that front bumper.

[Clinging Bitterly]

No front grille, wow. I don't care - I liked the type 181 the first time I saw one, and I still wouldn't mind having one some day.

I don't know if they have the ZF locking diffs, but I don't think they had the portal gear hubs like these: