50 Ugly Cars / 50 years (relax...)

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Mark
See my 5 and raise you.
See my 5 and raise you.
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50 Ugly Cars / 50 years (relax...)

Post by Mark » Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:53 pm

Business week has announced a list of the 50 ugliest cars of the past 50 years.
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/10 ... /index.htm
Relax... there's not one Mazda there.
There's a few inclusions in that list I dispute:
The Hummer H2 and Lamborgini LM002 shouldn't be there. They aren't cars pretending to be trucks (or vice versa) like Cayennes etc. They are just very ugly trucks, and deserve honours for that elsewhere.
The Nissan Escargot. Yes - it's ugly, but it's perfection in ugliness, and quite functional as a little carry-all. Nissan managed to design something unique and IMO kind of funky without cheating by using design cues from the past (like the new Beetle and PT Cruiser - both of which did very deservedly make the top 50 ugly list)
There's a few that they missed:
Austin Princess, Mk IV Zephyr, and a vast array of Japanese domestic market sedans that the rest of the world never saw, except we saw far too many as used imports back in the '80s and '90s. There are others? What are all the ugliest cars which have been on the roads here?
One that they really missed is the BMW Z3. A car. and particularly a sports car is always female gender ("she's a great car"). Even "muscle" cars are female, perhaps just the fast type, or sometimes add in a bit of "feline" character - but it's never the lion king. Nobody in history has ever said anything like "I love my V8 Commodore HSV, he's just such a hunk". What the hell happened at BMW when the designed the Z3? They took the pattern for a beautiful girl, and added a 5 o'clock shadow, some male-pattern baldness, and blended it all with a dead fish. It truly deserves a top place in the ugly 50.

Ben.Nakagawa
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Need, more, 5-ing, time....
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Post by Ben.Nakagawa » Sun Nov 01, 2009 12:35 am

And I found MX-5 in here in "25 Most Iconic Cars of the Past 20 Years".

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/05 ... /index.htm

Re: ugliest cars.
I remember the Subaru Bert was quite unique existence in Japan, very popular among surfers. It had 4WD option as well.
Ben

1989 Red NZ New (100746) - sub grade paint and many small ding

Mark
See my 5 and raise you.
See my 5 and raise you.
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:04 pm

Post by Mark » Sun Nov 01, 2009 1:52 pm

Ben.Nakagawa wrote:And I found MX-5 in here in "25 Most Iconic Cars of the Past 20 Years".

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/05 ... /index.htm
I wonder about the "new" Mini's inclusion in that list, as well as the "new" Beetle. The new beetle also made the 50 ugliest list - perhaps explained by the fact that it's a 100% triumph of retro design form over substance - the "old" VW looked the way it did at least partly because of rear-engine design, but the new one didn't need to look like that - it was 100% marketing tricks and nothing more. When first released the new VW seemed kind of funky, hairdressers and the other ladies who lunch at the local cafes loved them, but the look hasn't aged well - they are very boring cars.
I suspect that the "new" Mini will have the same fate once the novelty has worn off, regardless of any performance merits of the Cooper S.

Ben.Nakagawa
Need, more, 5-ing, time....
Need, more, 5-ing, time....
Posts: 159
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 1:46 am
Location: Nelson

Post by Ben.Nakagawa » Sun Nov 01, 2009 5:27 pm

I agree about belate. It like "Nissan S Cargo" which was fist targeted to the those small shop who using for delivery service and full of ad on the side. It was certain success and quite good around the busy city like Tokyo. it was the first car that designed by entirely female tram,. I remember that was on the news back then. (Tokyo).

Mini handling is quite well balanced and some people quite like it but I do not like the club-man version I saw other day on the magazine. It little early to say as it kind a still warm if it's not hot, but you may be right.
Ben

1989 Red NZ New (100746) - sub grade paint and many small ding

Grant
Need, more, 5-ing, time....
Need, more, 5-ing, time....
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50 Ugly Cars / 50 years (relax...)

Post by Grant » Sun Nov 01, 2009 5:45 pm

The S Cargo was designed by people with a sense of humour. There must have
been a French influence there when they named it! It was very successful
with the target matket and still is here in NZ. It's different but I don't
consider it ugly. Certainly not like a Ssangyong Stavic is. I was pleased to
see the Ssangyong made the list. Their whole model range should!

Grant.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben.Nakagawa" <chat@mx5forum.co.nz>
To: <chat@mx5forum.co.nz>
Sent: Sunday, November 01, 2009 5:27 PM
Subject: [MX5Chat] Re: 50 Ugly Cars / 50 years (relax...)

I agree about belate. It like "Nissan S Cargo" which was fist targeted to
the those small shop who using for delivery service and full of ad on the
side. It was certain success and quite good around the busy city like
Tokyo. it was the first car that designed by entirely female tram,. I
remember that was on the news back then. (Tokyo).

Mini handling is quite well balanced and some people quite like it but I
do not like the club-man version I saw other day on the magazine. It
little early to say as it kind a still warm if it's not hot, but you may
be right.

------------------------
Ben

1989 Red NZ New (100746)
[Posted via external email]
Red 2006 NC Tiptronic
FIX A PC

Mark
See my 5 and raise you.
See my 5 and raise you.
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:04 pm

Post by Mark » Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:48 pm

There should also be a category for "plain Jane" cars that are uninspiring and uninteresting. I have one - 97 Nissan Pulsar CJ1 sedan in metallic silver, with matching bland grey interior, 13" pressed steel rims with 155s, pea-shooter exhaust, and broken aerial.
It's much harder to find in a supermarket car park than the MX5, because there's usually at least a dozen others parked nearby which look exactly the same. On one occasion I thought the door lock was broken, and struggled in vain for a few minutes until I got a tap on the shoulder from the owner - who didn't seem to think my excuse was even slightly funny. Another time my son jumped out to go in to a shop, came out and jumped in to the back seat of someone else's silver CJ1 parked behind us - we could have lost him forever if I didn't have an eye on the rear view mirror. I've gotten into the habit of checking the number plate before I get in these days, even when it's in my driveway. If something like the "Miata wave" was practiced by Pulsar drivers, you'd get RSI.

Ben.Nakagawa
Need, more, 5-ing, time....
Need, more, 5-ing, time....
Posts: 159
Joined: Fri May 19, 2006 1:46 am
Location: Nelson

Re: 50 Ugly Cars / 50 years (relax...)

Post by Ben.Nakagawa » Sun Nov 01, 2009 11:01 pm

Grant wrote:The S Cargo was designed by people with a sense of humour. There must have been a French influence there when they named it! It was very successful with the target matket and still is here in NZ. It's different but I don't consider it ugly.
Ah, yes, I would say it's unique and as they decorated for the business. In Japan lots of flower shop use this car for delivery service so as the pizza shops, IIRC.
Ben

1989 Red NZ New (100746) - sub grade paint and many small ding

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