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50 Years of Ugly Cars --You Be The Judge! - READ ONLY

54 messages,  Last post on Nov 10, 2010 at 6:09 PM

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What is this discussion about? Car Buying, Automotive News, Classic Cars, Coupe, Convertible

Messages Page 4 of 6

#25 of 54 Re: .... [uplanderguy] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Nov 09, 2010 (3:09 pm)

Replying to: uplanderguy (Nov 09, 2010 11:00 am)
The 58 Packard Hawk is uniquely grotesque to me because it destroys a formerly attractive car. I'm amazed anyone would buy one, but then I'm constantly amazed at what people buy. You can get pretty good money for a 58 Buick or Olds coupe and well over $50K for convertibles of these cars.

#26 of 54 Re: Staying within the past 50 years: [lemko] by uplanderguy

Nov 09, 2010 (3:21 pm)

Replying to: lemko (Nov 09, 2010 12:29 pm)
Lemko, you and I often agree on one of the other forums and I almost entirely agree with your assessment here!
 
I have to say, I pretty-much agree with the big '70 Pontiacs. It sort-of pains me to say so. I really like big '60's Pontiacs, ending with the '68's. I think the '70 Bonneville looks a 'teeny' bit better than the Catalina and Executive, only because of that colored panel between the taillights.
 
I left out the '90 and '91 Eldorado from my list, only because I thought they got more palatable with the extended little 'fins' in the back, although honestly I can't remember what year those started. I remember looking at new '86 Eldorados and being aghast at how thin the seats were.
 
Guilty pleasure: I actually like '74 and later Matador coupes, if they don't have a padded top and little opera window! In one model year, they went from the tallest intermediate to the lowest! But they still had the old unfortunate AMC interior and instrument panel, and with no filler panels between the body and bumpers, I remember that you could see the unfinished/rusty inside of the bumpers on the cars!

#27 of 54 Re: .... [Mr_Shiftright] by fezo

Nov 09, 2010 (4:13 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Nov 09, 2010 3:09 pm)
Tail fins have saved a lot of cars from oblivion.
 
What a frightening thought!
 
The fact that 1958 was 52 years ago drastically affects this list. You could pretty much walk down any street and see a dozen ugly cars back then. in some ways that's why the 58 Edsel always sticks in my head. it took a lot of work to be distinctively ugly in 1958.
 
I hate to admit it but I liked the Packard Hawk when it came out. My alibi is I was only 7 at the time.
 
There's a lot of those that aren't terribly ugly - the Pinto was a rolling ball of death but it looked OK. Not great but OK. It got better looking if you were cross shopping it with a Gremiln.
 
That BMW 7 isn't ugly. Disappointing? Sure.

#28 of 54 Re: .... [fezo] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Nov 09, 2010 (4:30 pm)

Replying to: fezo (Nov 09, 2010 4:13 pm)
Oh you were 7 at the time? Well, in the Catholic Church that's the cutoff age for being liable for committing sins.
 
But we forgive you my son.
 
re: 50 years---oh I don't know, I don't think cars suddenly starting getting beautiful in 1960.

#29 of 54 Re: .... [Mr_Shiftright] by fezo

Nov 09, 2010 (4:45 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Nov 09, 2010 4:30 pm)
Yeah, i remember the nuns telling me I was eligible to go to hell now....
 
if I went I might see some of these cars.

#30 of 54 Re: Staying within the past 50 years: [uplanderguy] by andre1969

Nov 09, 2010 (4:49 pm)

Replying to: uplanderguy (Nov 09, 2010 3:21 pm)
I have to say, I pretty-much agree with the big '70 Pontiacs. It sort-of pains me to say so. I really like big '60's Pontiacs, ending with the '68's. I think the '70 Bonneville looks a 'teeny' bit better than the Catalina and Executive, only because of that colored panel between the taillights.
 
I think the last big Pontiac that truly excitesme is the 1967 models. I just thought they totally screwed the style up for 1968....almost overnight the car went from hip, swinging, youthful, and sporty, and transformed into sort of an old man's car. It redeemed itself somewhat for 1969, with a less beaky front end, smoother lines overall, and what I thought was a really attractive rear. But then, for 1970, they screwed it up again with that neoclassic front-end with the too-small grille and the horn ports that gave it a 6-headlight look.
 
I'm really not all that fond of the redesigned '71 Pontiacs, either. The overall shape I find attractive, it's just those front-ends. I think it looked better in '72, but I really didn't find the big Pontiacs attractive until 1975-76. And the downsized '77's I really love, especially the Catalina. But by that time, the public had pretty much deserted Pontiac when it came to bigger cars, so they weren't strong sellers.
 
I gotta admit, the '74+ Matador coupe is sort of a guilty pleasure of mine, too. Hideous, but I love it! One added bonus on the base coupe that didn't have the padded top was that it had one feature very few 2-door cars did by that time...roll down rear windows. And I kinda like some of the Matador interiors of the time. A bit tacky, even for the 1970's, but they seemed pretty plush. I always theorized that since AMC really didn't have the resources to put money into engineering or making the cars truly modern, so instead they tried to compensate by sprucing up the interiors. Some of the Concorde models, and the nicer trim level of Pacer were pretty nice inside, too.

#31 of 54 Re: Staying within the past 50 years: [andre1969] by fezo

Nov 09, 2010 (4:58 pm)

Replying to: andre1969 (Nov 09, 2010 4:49 pm)
The car I learned to drive in was a 67 Tempest wagon with the dreaded OHC engine that died at 56K. Had a Buick 6 after that.
 
It wasn't an exciting car but it looked great and other than a nasty habit of randomly stalling at the worst possible moment it was cool.

#32 of 54 Re: Staying within the past 50 years: [fezo] by andre1969

Nov 09, 2010 (6:07 pm)

Replying to: fezo (Nov 09, 2010 4:58 pm)
It wasn't an exciting car but it looked great and other than a nasty habit of randomly stalling at the worst possible moment it was cool.
 
My grandparents' first non-Ford car was a 1967 Tempest. They followed it up with a '71 Tempest and then a '75 Dart Swinger. All three of those cars had problems with stalling, but the Dart was so bad that it sent them running and screaming back to Ford with a 1977 Granada, and they never strayed again.

#33 of 54 Ugly by gsemike

Nov 09, 2010 (6:34 pm)

Many of those cars aren't ugly. Sure, the Chevette was garbage but what we really ugly about it? I think that the writer's perception is clouded by what was a bad car. For ugly, I think that we need to include 62 Skylark/Tempest and many 60s oddball Plymouths, the 1970s Matadors, the 1970 (I think) Thunderbird (the one with the schnozz) and the new CTS coupe

#34 of 54 Re: Staying within the past 50 years: [lemko] by berri

Nov 09, 2010 (6:34 pm)

Replying to: lemko (Nov 09, 2010 12:29 pm)
Interesting list Lemko. I think 1960 put out a lot of ugly. I wasn't as offended by the 62 Fury and Polara, but think they would have probably looked better if they had stuck with the originally planned full sized platform.
 
I don't care what others say, the Yaris is just about as ugly as the Echo was.

Messages Page 4 of 6

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