The Ugliest Cars In Britain

I've seen that site before. Most of what they list does deserve to be there but there's a few that genuinely done, like the Citroes DS abd the Marina. I wouldn't have said a Marina was in the least bit ugly. It's styling isn't dramatic enough to make it ugly!

I'd have said a Morris Minor was uglier than a Marina by far. I'd have though the Datsun 120A FII would have got itself a mention there too and just about everything to come out of BMW in the last 5 years ;D

When I saw the thread title, I was expecting it to be about the barry boys website ;D

Yeah, it's a good laugh that site! Although what were they thinking with the Ciroen DS?! One of the most beautiful cars of all time I reckon (especially the later ones with the longer headlamps....yummm.....)

Volvo on the whole has always produced pretty unoffensive vehicles. While many are not high points in terms of styling few are actually ugly. Some are even beautiful like the P1800.

I think the P1900 was close to being ugly but even that still manages to charm it's way out of it. The only really ugly Volvo I can think of it that 1950's military jeep that looks like a 40's sedan on a 4x4 chassis with the front off an old yankee army truck grafted on. I think it's a called a Suggan (sp?). There's one of those sat unloved at a local garage near me.

I think it's a real credit to Volvo that they have always managed to produce decent looking cars IMO.

I don't know, there's never been a really ugly Volvo as far as I can see, (not ugly like a new BMW anyway! ) even the military 4x4 (Whatever they called it, it translated into "The Pig", I suppose it was a little ugly. I'm happy too that the Imp never got on there, although the NSU1000 did, which is a dead ringer for an Imp, but the Imp looks a bit better.

The Imp is a good looking motor IMO, but the Sunbeam Stiletto is ugly to me - it just looks wrong somehow.
Chris Bangle at BMW should be sacked! UGLY CARS!

The reason the Stiletto looks different, besides the different dashboard and 4 headlights as opposed to two, is that it has a a different roof, with the fastback shape and no opening back window, (I insist that the Imp was the daddy of all small hatchbacks! ) which is two inches lower than the Imp saloon's, so the doors are different, and the windscreen is tilted back at a different angle than the saloon's. To me the Imp saloon is a nicer looking car, as it is better proportioned than the fastbacks (Stiletto, Hillman Californian, Singer Chamois Sport, and a few others in some countries) The Imp based Huskys and Commer Imp van were nice too, these had a higher roof than the saloon to accomodate a high load, but had the same saloon windscreen and doors, so the proportions are quite good.

These pics are courtesy of The Imp Site:
www.imps4ever.info/family/impdelux.html

This is a picture of a 998cc Rally spec saloon:


This is a slightly modified Stiletto (fastback):


And the middle one here is a van, with a saloon and a fastback at either side:


The Husky had the same body as the van, but rear side windows, a less basic interior with four seats, and often the van had a low compression 875 engine designed to run on two star, but I think most Huskys ran on a regular 875 engine.

It's all very subjective isn't it! The Allegro Vanden Plas I can't really argue with, or the Citroen Ami, but I'd say that if you saw a Princess for the first time, and didn't know its origins you'd guess it was Italian. Has an alfa-esque look to it, to me.

The Tagora is too bland to be ugly. I've got quite a 'thing' for those, I've never seen one in real life!

As for Volvos - you're right RatDat. But I'd argue that the early 700-series is almost wilfully ugly. That transatlantic vertical back window and flat bootlid, the appalingly detailed rear pillar and the unbalanced proportions have never looked right to me!

Oh, I've been in quite a few 740s with interstellar mileage and the things are still running great! I think they're really solid, reliable motors, just ugly is all! ;D

I always thought they were American inspired, because the 200 series was so successful over there. In fact, the August 1982 "What Car?" review says that "in the severity of its lines it is unhappily reminiscent of the latest in American design"... I just happened to have the mag near to hand, I don't have photographic memory I should point out!