I can't find a picture to do it justice, but when I was car-shopping this past August, the lot full of unsold 2008 Ford F-150s and F-250s seemed like the ugliest thing ever.
― kingkongvsgodzilla, Thursday, 4 December 2008 21:56 (fifteen years ago) link
I think I've only ever seen one of these on the street in the US, and am only familiar with it from browsing the model kit aisles in K-Mart as a kid:
Ah, Merkur. That was Ford's attempt to compete with BMW and Mercedes in the US, by importing German-made Fords and giving them a German-sounding name. Didn't work.
― Sara Sara Sara, Thursday, 4 December 2008 21:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Even uglier... A lot of unsold Hummers
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/08/01/business/01gm2-650.jpg
― Chris Barrus (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 4 December 2008 21:58 (fifteen years ago) link
Better unsold than sold.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 21:59 (fifteen years ago) link
Chevrolet SSR: The redneck roadster.
http://www.desktopcar.net/chevrolet/ssr/Chevrolet-SSR05.jpg
― SongOfSam, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Omnis, Colts & LeCars (which I actually sorta like) have nothing on the early-to-mid-90s Geo Metro, easily the most turdish of all unfortunate sub-compacts IMO:
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/2008/06/23-End%20of%20Month/Geo%20Metro.jpg
― The Most Photographed Barn on the Internet (Pillbox), Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:03 (fifteen years ago) link
All circles and squares
http://blog.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/1973travellall_01_resized.jpg
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:04 (fifteen years ago) link
When gas went up over $4, people were buying old Metros like crazy. 40mpg or something iirc.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:05 (fifteen years ago) link
anybody a fan of the fiero? I am not
http://dtcc.cz28.com/85FieroL36/85fieroL36b.jpg
― mizzell, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:05 (fifteen years ago) link
There's a salvage yard in N. Alabama that's strictly Fieros. I'll take a pic when I'm there at xmas.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:06 (fifteen years ago) link
I remember having a crush on someone who had a Fiero. A red one. I don't think anything ever came of that crush, though.
― One Community Service Mummy, hold the Straightedge Merman (Laurel), Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:07 (fifteen years ago) link
In the HBO show Entourage, the character Turtle had a yellow Fiero in high-school. He blames it for his inability to get girls.
― mizzell, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:08 (fifteen years ago) link
I've always been torn over the Avanti
http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/123059/2156496/2156497/070613_GB_AvantiEX.jpg
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:13 (fifteen years ago) link
I'll see your Fiero and raise you an additional Reatta
http://imgs.getauto.com/imgs/ag/ga/09/93/1/1G4EC13L0MB900993-1.jpg
― Chris Barrus (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:14 (fifteen years ago) link
Johnny the Fiero Factory in Toney, AL has a websitehttp://www.thefierofactory.com/gallery/index.htm
― mizzell, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:15 (fifteen years ago) link
Ha! I guess everybody has a website. That's about 3 miles from my uncle's house.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:17 (fifteen years ago) link
I love that the Reatta is a "Make Offer" car.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:18 (fifteen years ago) link
I've always liked the original 60s-era Avantis, but later attempts to keep the marque going post-Studebaker and increasing NHTSA-hostility weren't so good.
This is downright painful
http://www.ssip.net/upload/avanti-convertible-1_30.jpg
― Chris Barrus (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:19 (fifteen years ago) link
http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/06/conti-k-car.jpg
― velko, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:21 (fifteen years ago) link
OMGWTFLOL
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:22 (fifteen years ago) link
that's kinda so bad it's good
― gabbneb, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:23 (fifteen years ago) link
Ugh, no argument there.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:23 (fifteen years ago) link
this is apparently some car from 78, but it must have influenced a lot of young car designers. it's looks new.
http://www.carsandtuning.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/midas-coupe.jpg
― mizzell, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:29 (fifteen years ago) link
it's the velvet underground of cars.
http://www.motorauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/Mercedes_Benz/Spy_Shots/GLK/2/MB_GLK_v_update.jpg
― gabbneb, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:32 (fifteen years ago) link
I fear this is gonna be huge, but that's because COME ON, PEOPLE, WAS THERE EVER AN UGLIER CAR?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Austin_Allegro_Brown_1.JPG/800px-Austin_Allegro_Brown_1.JPG
Also: SQUARE STEERING WHEEL.
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:32 (fifteen years ago) link
it's cute
― gabbneb, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:33 (fifteen years ago) link
WAS THERE EVER AN UGLIER CAR?
Actually: the estate was even worse:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Austin_Allegro_Estate_UK.JPG/800px-Austin_Allegro_Estate_UK.JPG
You wouldn't be saying that if you were wrestling with the SQUARE STEERING WHEEL.
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:35 (fifteen years ago) link
Squ-- what? WHAT?!?
― One Community Service Mummy, hold the Straightedge Merman (Laurel), Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:35 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/classics/austin-allegro/03-large/allegro-colin-cork-007.jpg
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:36 (fifteen years ago) link
Stupidest. Fucking. Car. Ever.
And y'know what? I really want one :)
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:37 (fifteen years ago) link
Awwwwwww that's not rly square. It just kind of...suggests a square. I like it.
― One Community Service Mummy, hold the Straightedge Merman (Laurel), Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:37 (fifteen years ago) link
Awwwwwww that's not rly square. It just kind of...suggests a square
HAHAH. If only British Leyland had come up with that as a slogan!
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:38 (fifteen years ago) link
It's called a Quartic steering wheel. Supposedly it's that shape to give a better view of the instruments. All bloody four of them...
― snoball, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:55 (fifteen years ago) link
Anyway, I see your Allegro and raise you a Renault 14...http://www.leblogauto.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/Joest_O/pub_renault_14_poire.jpg...nicknamed the pear, although really it was a lemon. My dad had one, it was a backfiring corner-rolling rust magnet.
― snoball, Thursday, 4 December 2008 22:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Also I've just noticed that the guy driving that Allegro is a priest. For some bizarre reason every other Allegro I remember seeing was driven by a priest.
― snoball, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:02 (fifteen years ago) link
They had a cross-promotion deal with the Pope.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:02 (fifteen years ago) link
...which segues nicely onto this, the Rover 213/216http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Rower_213SE_white_vl.jpg/250px-Rower_213SE_white_vl.jpg
― snoball, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:04 (fifteen years ago) link
This thread is some bullshit. The ugliest cars by a goddamn street are the identikit family saloon plastic comfortmobiles. I give you:
http://www.webwombat.com.au/motoring/images/ford-focus-2008-3-big.jpg
― country matters, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:07 (fifteen years ago) link
And the ugliest Allegro model ever, the "luxury" Vanden Plashttp://www.channel4.com/4car/media-legacy/featpics/topten/w1allegro.jpgBasically a standard Allegro with a huge chrome grill stuck on the front. Sort of looks like the kind of thing that teenage lads who customise their crappy cars would do, if they wanted their rides to look a little bit like Rolls Royces rather than Mitsubishi Evos.
― snoball, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Nah, that's not so bad. I wouldn't buy one, but I wouldn't spontaneously vomit if I saw it on the street. xp
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Ford are consistent offenders, truth be told. The Mondeo was mediocrity itself, and the Ka is unspeakable.
― country matters, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:10 (fifteen years ago) link
ughhh it is the rodent of cars squash it squash it
http://www.thatcanadiangirl.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/ka_big.JPG
― country matters, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:15 (fifteen years ago) link
Anyway, I see your Allegro and raise you a Renault 14...
No way! I love the 1970s Renaults, every last one of them. The 16, in particular, was a sheer joy.
http://www.leblogauto.com/images/renault16_tl.jpg
Cf also the Citroen GS and CX, cars that make me weep with joy. (I'm not mentioning the DS because it's a bona fide classic; the later GS and CX are always overlooked.)
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:16 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah, the Ka was posted somewhere above. Thank goodness it's not being marketed in the US.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:16 (fifteen years ago) link
The 16 is a cool cucumber!
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:17 (fifteen years ago) link
It's a genuinely beautiful car, and actually has no place on this thread ;)
― grimly fiendish, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:19 (fifteen years ago) link
I'm generally anti-chrome, but make exceptions for old, small Euro/Scandinavian cars.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:21 (fifteen years ago) link
The 14 is dreadful. Mechanical and rust problems aside, the back end just looks like the designers got bored and said "oh well, whatever" (Gallic shrug), and drew in that huge bulge. And precisely why I think it's so dreadful is that with a little more thought it could have looked amazing. The view from the side is so almost there, but instead of looking like a sleek shark, it's a beached whale.
― snoball, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:23 (fifteen years ago) link
And the complaint about new small family cars - that they all have that same bloated look - starts with the 14. The rot can be traced right back to the pear.
― snoball, Thursday, 4 December 2008 23:26 (fifteen years ago) link