O Scale Motor Vehicle Chronicle Sept. 20

In my mind the most beautiful car ever put into production is the original Aston Martin Vantage - before the subsequent versions with cooling ducts, flares, etc.  It was a graceful, balanced, gorgeous shape.  I had this one for three years and really miss it. There was not an angle you could view it from that it was not breathtakingly beautiful.  My wife reminds me at least once a week that she told me not to trade it, but I did. 

The ugliest was the Pontiac Aztek.  I won't sully this forum by including a picture.

I said I would post pictures of the Stout Scarab I got, finally, from Diecast Direct.  Here it is. Some people might claim that the Scarab was a candidate for ugliest car ever, but I think it is actually a bit plain - if quite interesting

Lee, I always have like it. It reminds me of an extended Airflow.

I have always felt that the 1962 Oldsmobile Starfire is a very beautiful car.  Back in '62 (14 years old) I had a friend whose older brother had one.  Used to sit and look at it dreaming that someday we will own one also.  I never did.

The ugliest car, I feel, was the American Motors Gremlin.

There have been several beautiful production cars.

Despite its quirks, I always liked the Porsche 928, especially the GTS.

Also liked the aforementioned Aston Martin Vantage

If I had about $15-$20 Million lying around, I'd have a Cobra Daytona in the garage. Saw two of the six cars produced at the Concous De Elegance in Rancho Palos Verdes last weekend. Three are in North America. The other three are abroad.

By the way, if you want a "skin job" Cobra Daytona, you can get one from Superformance replicas. I don't know what they paid for licensing, but the GT40 replica I saw was beautiful.

As for the ugliest, between the AMC Gremlin, AMC Pacer and Pontiac Aztek, the Aztek is the hands-down ugliest. It was so ugly, that when it was born, not only did the doctor slap the parents, the doctor slapped the entire family. There wasn't a single attractive part on that...whatever it was. Like Lee, I will not violate your eyes with a photo.

I must agree with Lee on the ugliest: Pontiac Aztec, although that Nissan Juke sure is a close second.  My all-time favorite best looking has always been the original Jaguar XKE coupe, c. 1961.

It's awfully difficult to single out one car as "the most beautiful" or "the ugliest" - but here are some contenders. 

Beautiful

Jaguar XKSS - the street-legal version of the D-type Le Mans car.

Maserati A6GCS roadster 

The quintessential classic Ferrari, the Testa Rossa:

And finally, the ultimate teardrop, the Talbot Lago coupe by Figoni & Falaschi:

Ugly

There are many, many contenders, but it's hard to top the '58 Olds:

Although if you wanted to try, this 1947 DeSoto (or any of the main battle tanks of the immediate postwar period) could give it a run for its money.

I have the Yat Ming Daytona myself. Nicely done.

The Cobras and GT40's (and their replicated progeny) weren't really designed for creature comforts. I've heard that the GT40 was really noisy as well. They were designed for uncivilized speed. That's what you get when you go that high in the food chain, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Yeah, they were ful-outl race cars, although they made a half dozen GT-40s for the street I think, and record producer Phil Spector had a Daytona coupe he just drive on the street sometimes (that must have been fun)but it was apparently very hot and rough to drive.

I have had several real high horsepower cars, a couple that were really drag racing cars, that I drove on the street. They all had a lot of road and drivetrain noise, buzzes and vibrations, and odd resonances.

The original question asked about landmark cars that changed the industry.

c1900 De Dion-Bouton introduced the sliding-pinion gearbox, basis for all later manual transmissions, even today.

The Oldsmobile curved-dash c1904 was the first mass-produced car - and it was reliable.

1904 Mercedes introduced the layout that was to set the pattern for most cars; radiator/engine/gearbox with H change driving through a propellor shaft to the rear axle.

The Ford Model T - high quality materials yet low price showed what could be done to democratise motoring.  The flywheel magneto and planetary transmission based upon those of the British Lanchester.  Anybody could now change gear silently!

The 1912 Cadillac, first to have electric starting allowed motoring to be enjoyed equally by women.

The 1924 cross-plane V8 Cadillac wholly solved the former V8 vibration problems - leading to that engine form becoming nearly universal for larger cars.

1928 Cadillac introduced syncro-mesh enabling anyone to change gear.

1928, the British Daimler Co introduced the combination of 4-speed pre-selector epicyclic gearbox, fluid coupling and steering column selector, all developed in the 1930s by GM, following their purchace of one example in 1931 at the London Motor Show, into the 4-speed Hydramatic , in its turn the precursor of all automatic transmissions for the next sixty years - and counting.

1949 Cadillac introduce the first high-compression engine, taking advantage of high-octane fuels, giving simultaneously more power and better economy.  This was then further developed, most notably by Chrysler with the "Hemi" - a cylinder form now universal, albeit now with four valves.    

The 1959 Austin Se7en  & Morris Mini Minor, first of the modern transverse-engined cars, set the pattern that would progressively sweep the World over the next 40 years - and counting.

Toyota Prius, Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and Tesla cars demonstrate we are nearing the tipping point to a new era by increasing the electrification of the powertrain of the automobile. 

1974 GAZ CHAIKA MODEL 13 Russian Limo. Built from 1959 through 1981.  Looks very '54ish.  This one brought $43,000 at auction.

My vote for butt ugly.

It kind of looks like Ford with Packard trim. It may have been styled by Joe Stalin himself.

Anyway, there are models available for someone that has an embassy or consulate on their layout.

The Cisitalia Coupe by Pinin Farina. Elegance and refinement personified.

I had a 1956 Nash Ambassador with Pinin Farina badges on the front fenders. I don't know how Nash got permission to use them It may have something to do with the Nash Healey.  That Ambassador was ugly but it was comfortable and with a 352ci V8 and a stick shift it was fast.

The 55-64 Chrysler 300s front ends are the ugliest things I can think of.

The Beetle was..well interesting in many ways. For one, using Bosh D-Jettronic fuel injection in regular production numbers in the sixties. It was the first successful production use of electronic fuel injection.   

Race cars have all that and more.  In the 70's, briefly, I drove a competition Alfa Montreal for Autodelta.  That car was nothing but buzz and resonance - that overwhelmed even the exhaust of an unmuffled 2.6 liter V8 - just an amazingly rattlely, buzzy car, (but unfortunately not quite fast enough otherwise.)

But speed alone is no excuse for noise and uncivilized manners.  From 2005 through into 2007 my daily driver was a '02 Corvette ZO6 with a built Chevy C5R (427 cid) engine and 10 lbs boost from a centrifugal supercharger.  A lot of work went into tuning it, first at Lingenfelter and later at a local Nascar shop, but after a bit of sorting out, in street trim I could do very low tens in it, and my youngest son could get it into the very high nines without using slicks.  It had AC, leather, stereo, and no vibration, buzz, or annoying noise. Production cars carry an extra 200 lb or more of noise and vibration reduction but it's worth it if you have to drive them daily.

Don't have pictures, but for "timeless" design: the Studebaker Avanti and the Mercedes Gullwing. I think it was only in the 90's that the "Big Three" finally caught up with the Avanti (and even then it still looked more like imitation).

I always liked the Avanti.  I thought it was clean, handsome, and graceful.  but there are people who think it is very ugly. 

The gullwing I always regarded as simply a good clean industrial design - like the Porsche 356 of that era, too.

Another beautiful design, I recall, is the Maserati Ghibli.

The Studebaker Avanti.

In the '80s they replaced the '60s chrome bumpers with urethane making the styling  more contemporary.  You could put it in a new car showroom today, and it would not look out of place

Monon Jim: That was my favorite color for it, but with the tanned leather interior (extra $$ option). The first year's run had the round headlights.

 Richard E. : They also reworked the fibreglass molds to make a four-door back then, too (UGLY as S---!). The last owner of the name and molds SCRAPPED them to make a Jeep-clone SUV under the Avanti name. Don't see any of those around, do ya? 

Such a sin. 

It looks very modern.  I guarantee you, if you put the picture above in the newspaper with the Headline "Chyrsler Announces New Electric Sports Coupe with Italian Styling" two-thirds of people would not even blink.

I had a Avanti II and South Bend is 30 miles from my house and I rebuilt mine 2 times, had it 22 years.  Used to go to the factory and get the parts and they let you watch them being built.  A team of 5 men hand built the car from start to finish. 

I feel the 1942 Buick was a styling trend setter for cars to come. Because of Pearl Harbor, production stopped on all '42 models in Feb. '42. This basic Buick "look" lasted until the '54 Buick models came out.

Except for the Chevy, GM made some truly ugly cars in 1958.

Yes, Joe.  When my neighbor came home with his new '58 Buick I remember thinking, "What was he thinking?".  The chrome - I'd never seen so much chrome on one car.

My Dad had a '50 Buick coupe.  I don't remember much about it, he got it when I was a year old.  All GM cars were pretty chromed up in '58.  None wasa favorite, but I liked the Cadillacs most of that lot.

I had a 1961 Borgward Isabella TS.  Matt

You have MY vote for "Most Honest Person" on this forum

Wow, a Borgward. It takes a lot of character to admit you owned a Borgward.

Borgward's proved and ugly isn't skin deep - it went all the way through on them.

I'm thinking you might like the 1:43 Borgward Traumwagon Version II dream car at $96.99 currently listed on eBay. It would give your layout a truly unique car.

Lee, I have about 30 1:43 non-US car models from the '50s. Most ugly is a Panhard Dyna X that I'm actually quite fond of. "Neatest" model is a '55 Renault 4 CV 4-door with the canvas top folded back.

My wife and I just got back from 10 days in France. I was impressed that I saw very few "imports". It seemed 90% of the cars were Renaults, Citroens, and Peugeots. A number of them looked big and expensive.

Yeah, Panhard Dyna - that was an ugly car. (see below).

I'm not going to spring for the Borgward Traumwagon on e-bay - more of a mightmare than a dream by the way.  But you can buy it new for $56 plus $12 shipping from Amazon.  I do have a Borgward Isabella though - looks sort of like a big, ugly VW Karmann Ghia.

That thing looks like a fat salamander with its tongue out...A happy salamander, but a salamander non the less.  

How about the other VW Ghia, the Type III. Not exactly pretty.

i understand it was a pretty good car though. And if they had put a good looking front end on it, it would have been acceptable, but VW always had to make a statement about "no radiator" and all and draw that to the world's attention. 

But back to Borgward: the thing about that name is that is sounds like an ugly car.  I expect it to be uglyjust based on the sound.  It was really a pretty pitiful company - sort of the Wolseley of German cars.

The Pacer is not the ugliest car of all time. It isn't even the ugliest AMC product - not compared to the Gremlin! A buddy of mine in Monterrey, Mexico had a Pacer and it actually was a pretty decent little car. 

I agree. Instead of 1958 "Over-chrome" we have 21st Century "over-sculpture" and "headlight insanity".