10 Ugly Classics & Why We Love Them Anyways

Team Evil, what is "decent auto journalism" these days? Another boring fluff piece about how cool the charger is with specs? Our car culture is dying, kids aren't interested because we're BORINGGGG!!!!!! We need to stop going to car shows and start actually using our cars. "Sports car" turning into "collector car" is a prime example of how boring we are. Also why American Top Gear sucks. I'm glad to buck your status quo. Did you know in Germany the Ring is open to all for a price? Come and drive it! Could you imagine in our bubble boy safety culture doing the same? No, and now our local track PIR is yearly in danger of closing. We are killing ourselves. Start thinking critically about your hobby and be willing to engage in some lively debate. Not one of you have formed a logical debate. "You're stupid" is as boring as the way you treat your cars if you do own one and don't just dream about it while you drive some japanese blob. Oh, and ironically I'm too lazy to scroll up and see your name but if you want to know what I think looks good read the blog before this one.

I found it to be an interesting collection. And truly, while some of these cars have gained classic status and get a bye on their looks, they really are pretty quirky. I find I disagree mostly with the cars at the top of the list. The Charger is a gorgeous design. The Cobra--beautiful from any angle. But really, I can see the ugly in all the other ones.

Wow, I really didn't expect to see the kind of responses this thread produced, at least not from this forum.

Of course, I'm always right and you are all wrong. All of the time. I think I have a list somewhere outlining the details

In reply to Isaiah:

Honestly, if you are trying to "rile up" people in the car culture to get the automotive juices flowing of the younger generations, you're going about it to the wrong way and to the wrong people.

You can't just join a forum and expect everyone to give you high praises on your blog, especially when the blog post you link to basically craps on cars that many people like.

That being said, the one post I liked on your blog was the one about Neon Signs.

Ha but it wasn't to rile people up! Did you read the blog? I said they were awesome but their lines were not pretty. And I sincerely believe that. Not one of those cars have what I'd consider good lines. Everyone keeps mentioning the Cobra for example, I just don't think a lot of you get that a big block late model cobra looks a lot different than an earlier one. They had giant fender flares and scoops and fans and... just blah. There's a design element that was lot... a glorious subtlety. They became more like a JC Whitney catalog with extras. Instead of anyone arguing my points, I've seen a lot of people just write, "you're stupid". Well, not really. Perhaps more thoughtful than most. And the Charger... it's not pretty. It's like a bull. It's awesome and strong... but not pretty. It's too big and it's got too weird a front end. After reading the responses I'm also starting to wonder if the Charger has so engrained itself as a classic that people accept it as pretty now without truly considering the body shape. It's not. Oh, and SyntheticFluid, I didn't post to get praise. I posted to get people talking. That's what's fun. And yeah, I probably could have used a word other than ugly but than people would have agreed with me. And you know how many responses I got for the neon signs post... one? Maybe two? Nice of you to skim them though. You count as one of near 50k reads now. Got some subscribers too. So I guess someone enjoys them.

I can understand that you don't find those cars pretty, there's just a lot of more hideous cars out there in my opinon. Thanks for sharing your blog, and don't take all of the comments to hard. We like a lot of strange cars here.

Yeah, but the blog was "ugly but awesome". These are the best of the not pretty cars. I'd own every one of them. It'd be a very different blog if it was about hideous cars. If you just checked out the pics, I'd encourage anyone to read what I actually wrote.

In reply to EastCoastMojo: And thanks for the good words ha!

Isaiah wrote: Yeah, but the blog was "ugly but awesome"

True. I think most of our brains melted down after the word "ugly" and therefore didn't fully process the "awesome". I did read it, but I think some, nay most, of those cars are actually quite beautiful, so my brain was trying to self destruct. What can I say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Ha yeah im getting that impression. The article was all about how they're brutally strong and not girly man stylist pretty. No ferrari designer could have ever come up with one of those cars. And thats good. Some of us need cars that dont require u to wear designer sunglasses when you drive them - what i call ugly but awesome

In reply to Isaiah:

I noticed that you have a few "ugly" posts. Since that seems to be your mantra, a suggestion for a post is an "Ugly Yet Functional", that talks about vehicles from past and present that weren't the most attractive vehicle, but their functionality was beyond words.

For example, the Checker Marathon. They weren't seen as attractive, but yet made an exceptional taxi cab and passenger vehicle.

That type of thing would definitely get you a better response than your latest post.

Your blog isn't bad by any means. Just like ECM said, your presentation to us just came out in a way that didn't process the way you thought it would.

Yes I did read your blog post, actually several of them. I understand what you are saying about the Charger, but I don't consider the 68-70 Charger ugly because it looks Masculine. To be honest, I think it's the most Masculine looking car ever. It has that "Don't Screw With Me" look about it, like a bull, as you stated before.

Isaiah wrote: In reply to spitfirebill: Ha ha, "a new job". Yeah, no one pays me to write these! Surprised?

Nope

Just a reminder to keep it civil around these parts. A car being "ugly" has never stopped me from loving it, and I think we can all agree with that on some level.

The front view of the Jensen CV-8 is idiosyncratic, but other drivers rarely see anything but the back end on the road.....

Yeah, you're high.

I'd gladly own and drive every single one of the cars you mentioned.

Worth noting that a segment of the online population (hi) doesn't respond well to posts looking for click-throughs.
I only clicked because of the volume and flavor of responses you were getting.

no edsel, no nomad, pinto, gremlin, pacer, cimmeron, mustang2 and every car you chose was attractive and has a following.

next time you attempt to make such a list i hope that your internet has an outage.

Considering I've owned half of the cars on that list....I guess I need some glasses. :)

Seriously, There are a lot uglier cars out there that are pretty awesome. I'm not really sure the point of the list but if you were looking for an ugly but awesome volvo, that would have been the 122 or 242. I'm sure the type III's fall in there too.

for what it is worth.. the Abarth's engine lid being propped up was not due to cooling or even fitting the engine, It was their way of adding rear down force to the car without being penalized for a wing. The front radiator mount functioned well as a splitter, but made the rear engine abarth light in the ass.

Pretty.. not at all.. but awesome in it's functionality

As for the 510.. I think the BMW 1602/2002 is higher on that list.. and for the worst of the worst of the boxy style, the Fiat 128 sedan