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The issue with the engine in a Yugo was not so much a flaw with the design as it was in the owners. The SOHC Fiat 4 that Zastava used (the Yugo was just a restyled Fiat 127) required a cam belt change every 36,000 miles. Most owners didn't do it on time and so most Yugos could be seen in the junkyard with odometers reading some multiple of 36,000. Granted, it was a short interval (my 3 cylinder Geo Metros which were contemporary to the Yugo require it every 60,000 miles) but the owners should have known and taken better care of their cars.
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Calling the TR-7 one of the ugliest cars is certainly a disservice. Perhaps not as swoopy as one of the earlier Michelotti-styled Triumphs (or the Karmann-massaged TR-6) the TR-7 was truly a product of it's time and still looks distinctive (and fast) today. As a 6'5" tall guy, I fit very comfortably in a TR-7 -- moreso than many more conservative cars such as the Mercedes 190 or Volvo 740.
Besides, any list of this sort that does not include the "designed-by-committee" Pontiac Aztek is rendered moot...
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The car that raised fitness levels of passengers by forcing them to push it, the Yugo GV was actually imported from the Soviet Bloc to a world that really didn’t want them
Yugoslavia was not a part of Soviet Bloc.
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Sorry to say, this post is not the DRB quality we used to know..
Factual errors, exaggerated statements, poor sense of visual style. Most cars mentioned are not even remarkably ugly, some of them are downright cool, stylish vintage/retro ones.
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As ugly as it may look, the Fiat Multipla is still a quite common sight on the italian streets. Not a commercial success as the Punto, but not a fiasco as the article would imply AFAIK.
I drove one myself for a couple of days and it's a quite goood vehicle: too bad Fiat never had the marketing power to convince everyone that the Multipla looks cool even if it doesn't - basic principle of marketing...
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This really makes a good collection, and reasonably well done, compared to most of the other such lists found on the internet. Most of the cars really ARE ugly, respect there..but, some aren't..Renault Dauphine hardly fits here, and the Peel, I think, is quite cute too, although I've never seen it live...ami 6 is definitely not ugly..it is strange, and unconventional, but that's what Citroen is about, Ami being the finest example..it's just special, and it takes getting used to, opposed to the box-shaped cars that have become standard. As for Yugo(slavia), it was not the part of any Soviet block, at least not after 1968, if ever..but, all in all, nice work..
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the weird Japanese item appears to be a lightburn zeta. it's what happens when a company that makes cement mixers decides to make a van. no sliding side doors, no rear door, and to reverse you need to stop the engine and then start the engine backwards
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Six-wheeled cars were a very niche market. Daimler-Benz produced the G4 "heavy personnel car" from 1934 to 1939, with around 150 produced, deriving what popularity they had from Adolf Hitler's choice of it as a personal car because of the impressive showing it presented, which made them a 'prestige' vehicle for high-ranking officials. Although designed to be capable of off-road use, the lack of power to the front wheels limited its mobility, and its 42mph top road speed kept it as a vehicle whose utility was for showmanship, not transport.
The Amphicar resurrected another concept from WWII Germany, the Schwimmwagen, which was a VW Kubelwagen with a rounded displacement body and a shrouded propellor which could be folded down to attach to a shaft from the engine. The Amphicar did have doors, unlike the Schwimmwagen, which required the driver and passengers to clamber over the side, although the fold-up propellor kept it up and away from damage from objects on the ground when not in use, unlike the Amphicar.
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re: Peel
WTH does TopGear's Jezza know about cars?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJfSS0ZXYdo
Jeremy drives the smallest car in the world at the BBC
TopGear:
Jeremy drives the Peel P50, the world's smallest production car to work and even takes it into the lift in this hilarious clip from BBC's Top Gear. Watch out for cameos from John Humphries when he kidnaps the car and Fiona Bruce in the lift!
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The Overland OctoAuto did have a purpose at the time. Remember, in 1911, roads were not paved, except for a few cobblestone streets in cities.
Tires were not steel belted, and were a much softer rubber than is used today, so tires often wore out in hundreds of mines, not tens of thousands.
By having eight wheels, each tire was subjected to much less pressure, and hence, wear. Plus, with a lower ground pressure, the car was less likely to get bogged in the mud that passed for roads at the time.
Finally, with one flat, you could still make it to the garage pretty handily, I'd imagine.
This is some of the reasons why big military wheeled vehicles use six or eight wheels today.
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That Sbarra Autobra looks like an enormous Tazer...
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There was also the Zeta Lightburn, an Australian car built by a firm known for (no kidding) washing machines.
http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/car_info_lightburn_zeta.htm
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You missed the Nobel .... had full gearing in forward AND reverse in a sad package, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/belfast/A1067988.shtml
BC
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The Renault Dauphine have NOTHING to do in this list. It was a much needed modest car essential to post war-recovery in France. Dozen of lists already included it, that's why it certainly appears here too few years after everybody else. But for young families and working class people this car was a godsend.
And be honest, the racing version called Dauphine Gordini was a kick ass racer. The Dauphine was also the base for the coupe and convertible Renault Floride and Caravelle
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I kinda feel sorry for that poor UAZ 452 truck in the last picture. While Soviet trucks may not have always been the prettiest things on the road, that just looks terrible.
Also, as far as it goes, the Yugo isn't really an ugly car. Like the Trabant 601 or Lada 2101 it's more of an example of plain in the extreme. You wouldn't be aghast as to how ugly it was if you saw it in traffic for the first time like you would the Multipla. No, you'd probably not even notice it was there. If anything it deserves to be on a list of the most bland cars ever designed rather than the ugliest. I actually wish there was a car like the Yugo sold in the US today (but with better switches and build quality). It seems that no one sells a very basic, economical, low priced hatchback anymore.
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It depends too much on the taste and culture. I guess this list was written by an american, cause listing cars like the Dauphine, Yugo or UAZ as the ugliest and worst cars on the world is just simply a joke if you know something of theese cars. Think rather about Pontiac Aztek, AMC Pacer or the Ssangyong Rodius!
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YOU FORGOT THE NEW BMW 1 SERIES!!!!!
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FIAT S76 (and not F) was not a car for the masses but a prototype that did the mile at a top speed of 290 Km/h in Long Island, it sported a 28 litre engine with a power output of 300hp. It's like listing the Wright brothers' plane in the ugliest planes in history post.
Renault Dauphine had instead a brilliant design for the time, remember that in Europe needs were different, and taste different too. In actual fact the Renault 4CV had a very similar design, was very popular too and was also used in motor sport. And I personally love both of them.
Yugo 45 isn't ugly, just really plain, I second Jim-Bob (btw Jim-Bob, are you the same from BaT?)
...overly souped up Porsche is actually a RUF CTR2, that it is unconventional but neither "worst" nor "ugliest".
At 580hp and 4 wheel drive traction I would take it any day, thanks. Yes, in yellow.
Citroen Ami 6 is honestly brilliant. It's a car designed in the 50's by an Italian sculptor (yes, an artist) and it's very well studied. The rear window with the unusual rake was designed like that to have a greater access to the boot/trunk, to leave extra room to the rear passengers' heads, and not to have rain on the window itself limiting the visibility. Same feature was found on the Mercury Monterey and in the Ford Cortina.
At the time were very common in France and best selling car for few years and reasonably well sold in Italy as far as I recall. Being born in 1972 I saw some of them still around when first I could distinguish the different models (quite early admittedly).
As for the Fiat Multipla, I'd +1 Fabrizio. I was working in a Fiat dealer in Italy when it first came out, and I'd say it's like Marmite. I honestly don't like it but many people do, and I admit that it is a brilliant car to drive. Inside it is very spacious, and the dash isn't ugly either. As said it's not my type of car but I wouldn't list it as universally ugly as it has been sold, hence it means that some people paid money for it.
As some1 already said, the list is very much American but on your own side of the pond you have more contemporary cars that are equally bad looking if not worse than some of them cited here.
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Yup! I am the same person who uses this name over at BaT, Hooniverse, Englishrussia, (formerly I was a regular poster on some Gawker sites under this name too) and a number of other blog sites I visit on a regular basis. What gave it away? Surely there must be plenty of other Geo Metro loving, Eastern European Automobile apologist intellectuals who deliver pizza on the internet...
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When will you people learn some geography and consider that Yugoslavia was not in Soviet Block ?! And Yugo, as the name says it, was made in Yugoslavia, actually Serbia today. Also, Jim-Bob said, it wasn't that bad, some people still use it today, especially in Serbia.
To Anonymous - I also agree not only BMW 1 series but almost whole BMW range has some serious styling issues, personally - they are very, very ugly !
Greetings to DRB from Croatia !
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To add to the list of bad ideas, the Fiat Multipla had three-abreast seating, and for a car so tall the internal space was ridiculous. I'm 6'3" - tall, but not freakishly tall - and I was physically unable to fit into it because the roof was so low.
On the other hand, Sbarro vehicles have always been utterly bonkers and all the better for it...
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The Amphicar is quite collectible and two recently sold at Barrett Jackson in the $30-40,000 range.
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Who made this list? The Dauphine may have been slow, but it is one cute car. I have one that was made in 1963. It has sat outside year around, in Northern Minnesota, since I bought it 1978. The body has minimal rust and it still runs.
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Thank you guys! Great discussion - I updated the post, and added some other abominations that we discovered in the meantime. Plus, more of the ugly breed will be covered in the next part of this series.
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Hey Avi,
you definitely need to add Velorex - type into google and see the pictures, this will beat any other car :)
http://img.katalog-automobilu.cz/files/produkty/cz/4/4881/velorex-oskar-54.jpg
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The Mohs Ostentantienne is undergoing restoration right now, so it will be ready to collect awkward glances soon :)
http://autorestoration101.com/2011/04/06/the-mohs-ostentatienne-restoration-part-12/
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Peel cars were made in the Isle of MAN.
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i drive a fiat multipla...
ok the 2004 restyle without that carlino dog face as front
its realy pratical 6 places 3+3 compleatly customizable and the dashboard too if you imagine it in different colors than the pink in the photo is good, with a lot of usefull space
the concept is realy good but the first external design has made by a heavy druged team
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Some clever person should photoshop hammers into the fists of all those people standing around the Yugo
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"Somebody shoot these wheeled abominations" - Well, gosh darnit, 'lemme get ma shotgun... Them there car designers shouldn't have made them cars so ugly!
Seriously, what went wrong with DRB? What happened to the weird and wonderful concept?
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Nice article, some ugly beasts indeed. But why oh why did you put in the Lagonda Shooting Brake? That has to be one of the most awesome vehicles ever to be put on the road. Yes, I know the Lagonda wasn't that good a car, but what a looker... I know there were only a few made and the rarity makes it even nicer. I have to own one eventually!
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The photo of the last car (russian UAZ - ural auto) is a fake) It is ugly in real life but not that badly. It has headlights at same level in reality.
Realy noisy because it has engine inside the cabin, slow and unsteady.
PS Sorry for my poor english, DM
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"the Amphicar wasn’t watertight and therefore only floated for as long as a pump held out or passengers could bucket the rising flood overboard."
Totally untrue. An Amphicar in good condition takes on no more water than an equivalent boat (they too have bilge pumps). It's OK to be snarky—it's true that the Amphi is neither a great car nor a great boat—but you must tell the truth.
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Most of those are not ugly and several of them actually look pretty cool. I always thought the El Camino (an aesthetic abomination which combined car and truck) was ugly.
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Dauphine) considered by many to be "the Slowest Car of All Time"
Obviously they have no clue what they are talking about. I've a VW bus from early 60s that top speed is about 50mph (and you don't want to know how long it takes to reach that, even when empty) and the Beetles at time used at least same 23 seconds to 60mph.
Also there was something called World War 2 which left France in ruins and everyone very poor: Even a very small car was a luxury, similar than a Cadillac would be in US at same time.
Obvius US bias also here: winged monsters from late 50s and early 60s are totally missing, esp. Cadillac.
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"Hilariously, the back seats were rear-facing so the red-faced passengers could watch congestion build up behind them while being serenaded with an irate cacophony of car horns."
This is BS to anyone who has slightest idea of situation in Europe in 1958.
50mph wasn't a lot but adequate at that time and it's painfully obvious that the list maker has no knowledge at all about conditions in post-war Europe but thinks that everyone in the world was driving 390ci V8s with 300hp and 125mph top speed.
It's OK to be stupid and ask things but it's not OK to be stupid and assume things instead of finding out.
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"(Amphicar) here was a certain sinking feeling about this bizarre concept car, seemingly thought up by a drunk car designer who had watched far too many Bond films."
Yeah. Except the first Bond film was made in 1962. And it took about 5 seconds to find that out: Obviously too much for you, eh?
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"The 1977 Volkswagen prototype by Luigi Colani (definitely not the high point in the career of the master):"
Lack of knowledge shows again: Colani has constantly drawn "fun" cars, designed to be ridiculous looking. On purpose.
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Multipla yes: That's hideous.
But no wonder, the designer is Mr. Bangle, native US citizen, lately doing design for BMW.
I've no idea why either Fiat or BMW hired this monstrosity.
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(Yugo) "unwelcome box-shaped eyesore on the side of the road "
Actually much less boxy than most of the US cars at time. Which is easy to see if you bother to look.
Basically a Fiat 127 like the others noted: Reliable family car if maintained but "maintenance" is something unheard of in US, isn't it?
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before drawing car, fiat become drunk
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What about the Ssangyong Actyon. Ugliest car ever.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/SsangYong_Actyon_front_20080303.jpg
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My parents have a hedgehog in their garden in Sheffield, they're funny little things! That Green Monster jet-powered car is pretty cool too.
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The king of the 'BBC bird's eye' vids has got to be the Gos Hawk from a few years back... (possibly featured here, I can't remember - long time fan ;))...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-_RHRAzUHM&t=103
I liked it so much I mixed it with Star Wars :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH6VXQWLT-g
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Wonderful! By the time I was a kid in the 70s in the UK the scene was very homogenous, it was all about the Bedford CF (as chosen by Banksy - and The KLF) - even a Ford Transit ice cream van was a relatively uncommon sight.
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(N)ice!! I lived for a few years in Utrecht, and often saw that cute icecream truck, it's right on the middle of a bridge below the Dom-tower. Supercool to see it here on DRB!
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Those are some pretty sweet(lol) icecream trucks!
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Mr Whippy vans were common in Melbourne during the 1960s, but there must have been a dispute over naming rights. The local Mr Whippy became John Creamy (I think) but kept that pink and white colour scheme.
There's still one rolling around Perth in pink and white today. I think he's stalking me - first I'd hear that damn Greensleeves around the neighbourhood at home, then he started cruising the industrial area where I worked. Would he go away if I bought an icecream?
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yeah, nice picture, little bit kytchy, but nice, oh, not to many people know that the colors are not true....
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you cannot see this with your own eyes...something yes, but not everything..
http://www.universetoday.com/11863/true-or-false-color-the-art-of-extraterrestrial-photography/
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Black Holes don't exist. They are only a theory.
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Gravity is also just a theory.
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That black holes DON'T exist is also but a theory.
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Beautiful pictures you've posted, It's all just so overwhelming .I get that feeling even when Im in the garden with my small telescope a tiny ant looking up at the sky and wondering whats out there.
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Mountain begone! Yield to the power of human ingenuity and the spirit of enterprise! Fist pump yeah!
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There's nobody living inside that stadium in Osaka - it's just an annual exhibit by the construction and real estate industries, like the Ideal Home show in London.
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Sorry, but among the "Miniature Stirling Engines" ther is alos a vacuum engine (the big and the last picture, i.e. the one that looks a bit like a raygun)...
Berhard
P.s. Thanks for the blog..
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Nice post Avi, but I am totally creeped out by that Wolf Spider and her babies!!!
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I actually removed one image, it was too gross. So now you only have one photo, instead of two :)
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2 Comments:
The Russian version of Munchhausen is fantastic. Yankovsky also starred in Tarkovsky's Nostalghia.
So good to see pics of French comedian Louis de Funes.
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