499 replies to this topic

[Duc-Man]

I don't think anyone's mentioned this one yet, ugly to many, but I think it's rather cute, though not sure I'd want to be seen behind the wheel.

I'd say you might be able to pull some chicks with it. Chicks like cute cars. See Mini or 2nd generation Opel Corsa.

[Beamer]

Was this one already in here?


Lambo Veneno

[Paolo]

The Consulier GTP. Even the builders admitted it was ugly

I actually like it.

[arttidesco]

Seems like the maxim of speed being dependent on how much you want to spend also applies to ugly, if you have £2m spare you can but this, it's not a car but IMHO by gosh it is ugly.

[GMACKIE]

I'd give that a score of 144.....GROSS!

[Lee Nicolle]

I'd give that a score of 144.....GROSS!

x12

[Ralf Pickel]

The idea for the design is not quite as new as it might seem : Colani truck 1978

[arttidesco]

The idea for the design is not quite as new as it might seem : Colani truck 1978

We live in a post modern world Ralf

[Ralf Pickel]

I know I know !

[kayemod]

The idea for the design is not quite as new as it might seem : Colani truck 1978

Seems to me that the two designs are too similar not to be connected.

[king_crud]

Citreon C5's are awful, a big fat lump on little wheels

[arttidesco]

Seems to me that the two designs are too similar not to be connected.

Seek an ye shall find

Edited by arttidesco, 13 June 2013 - 08:48.

[Ralf Pickel]

Well done !
It had to be him - it is too obvious !

[arttidesco]

Well done !
It had to be him - it is too obvious !

I didn't realise he had been so busy since the Eifelland

[kayemod]

I didn't realise he had been so busy since the Eifelland

Like most of Colani's work, that one looks as if it's been left out too long under a hot sun.

[Russell Burrows]

Seemingly no earlier mention of this beauty.

[Ralf Pickel]

I didn't realise he had been so busy since the Eifelland

Just look at all those variations of the truck design.
A very busy man indeed !

Edited by Ralf Pickel, 13 June 2013 - 16:43.

[Dipster]

Just look at all those variations of the truck design.
A very busy man ideed !

Yet one sees so few on the road........

[arttidesco]

Yet one sees so few on the road........

I did see one parked up in Halle an der Salle in 2006, unfortunately I was on a tram and had train to catch so I did not take a snap

[Lee Nicolle]

Seemingly no earlier mention of this beauty.

There has been a lot of conjecture about the Ugly P38.
The new accessory needed is the blow up 44 gallon drum. I saw one recently with a P38 at the Cavalcade of Cars at the Yorke Peninsula.

[Duc-Man]

Seemingly no earlier mention of this beauty.

Ain't worse than any japanese car from that period.

[kayemod]

Ain't worse than any Japanese car from that period.

True, Datsun 120Y anyone? A woman friend had one many years ago, as well as looking horrible, it was the nastiest thing I've ever driven as well. And to make things even worse, the colour was a pale mauve.

[Duc-Man]

A neighbour of ours had some odd looking Toyota coupe in the late 70s. Can't remember the model. It wasn't a Celica. Any suggestions?

[David McKinney]

Trueno?

[Duc-Man]

Trueno?

No, it was something older and also bigger. European model from the mid 70s.

[BRG]

No, it was something older and also bigger. European model from the mid 70s.

Datsun Cedric?

[Garagiste]

Crown perhaps? I recall a few of these knocking around in the UK.

[jcbc3]

Crown was a sedan, not a coupe.

What about the Cressida?

Edited by jcbc3, 15 June 2013 - 06:45.

[RCH]

Not so bad as Japanese cars go. As a matter of principle can I nominate ANY Japanese car before say 1980? With the possible exception of the Honda S800 and Datsun 240Z.

I used a Datsun 180B for about a week, maybe not too ugly, but without doubt the most horrible car I have ever driven...

[Lee Nicolle]

Datsun Cedric?

240 or 260C in Oz. I have traded a couple.
The Crown pictured is MS55. I have traded a couple of those too. Both ok cars to drive but dreadfully thirsty. As it seems all the top of the range Jap cars of the period were. And not very powerful either.

As for the 120Yuck they still seem to have a following. In their days younger women loved them, though these days it is kids either with the granpa look or power them with an SR20! I had a pile of old stock new parts for them an had enquirys from all over the world for them via Ebay.
I have owned a few, even a wagon!

I still own a few Cressida parts, enquire within!

Edited by Lee Nicolle, 15 June 2013 - 09:07.

[kayemod]

I used a Datsun 180B for about a week, maybe not too ugly, but without doubt the most horrible car I have ever driven...

I drove one a couple of times and agree wholeheartedly, the worst feature I remember was the steering, but I knew a guy who swapped a Lancia Beta for one. I don't think he'd had rust problems with the Lancia, it didn't look at all rusty, but he thought the Datsun was wonderful, he drove it from the south coast to London most days and it never let him down, which was of course a major part of the appeal of Japanese vehicles back then, but what a price to pay.

[Lee Nicolle]

I drove one a couple of times and agree wholeheartedly, the worst feature I remember was the steering, but I knew a guy who swapped a Lancia Beta for one. I don't think he'd had rust problems with the Lancia, it didn't look at all rusty, but he thought the Datsun was wonderful, he drove it from the south coast to London most days and it never let him down, which was of course a major part of the appeal of Japanese vehicles back then, but what a price to pay.

I have fed many of those L series engines ring sets and more than the occasional headgasket/ head too. And what rusts worse, a Lancia or a 180B ? Close thing I feel. Though the Ratsun is cheaper to fix.

[kayemod]

I have fed many of those L series engines ring sets and more than the occasional headgasket/ head too. And what rusts worse, a Lancia or a 180B ? Close thing I feel. Though the Ratsun is cheaper to fix.

I think that the Lancia's problems were mainly electrical, but I had a Mk4 Cortina at the time, and it steered like a go kart compared to that 180B. There was some discussion about what that 'B' stood for, my guess was 'Boring'.

[Ray Bell]

I find it difficult to understand where Lee's (obviously) firmly entrenched fixations about some things come from...

The 180B wasn't too bad in Australia, there was a lot of them here and they seemed to serve a lot of owners well. They didn't do too badly in rallying, though the 1600 was lighter and responded well to the bigger engine when it was transplanted.

Rear tyre wear was a problem as they splayed the rear end under load, something the later 200Bs overcame due to the fitment of a live axle after several months of production with the independent rear end. Wagons had the live axle in both models all along.

Certainly they had some rust, just as pretty much everything of that era did. I don't recall that it was to any extent more evident than the others had and they were a sturdier car than Escorts

I once drove a 180B SSS from Sydney to Adelaide in 10 hours and 20 mins and it didn't seem to mind being flogged like that, automatic transmission and all. It really didn't seem so bad to me.

Much later I owned a 180B wagon, it served me well too. No problems at all. About 14 years old, it didn't have any rust at all that I recall.

[Duc-Man]

No, it was something older and also bigger. European model from the mid 70s.

I punched in 'toyota coupe 1977' on google and found a picture of it:

Toyota Corona Mark II (X10) Hardtop-Coupé 1977.
Our neighbour had two of them. The first one was a bit darker red than the one on that picture. The second one was beige.
Looking at the picture...I believe it was mostly the beige colour that ruined it for me.

[RCH]

I drove one a couple of times and agree wholeheartedly, the worst feature I remember was the steering, but I knew a guy who swapped a Lancia Beta for one. I don't think he'd had rust problems with the Lancia, it didn't look at all rusty, but he thought the Datsun was wonderful, he drove it from the south coast to London most days and it never let him down, which was of course a major part of the appeal of Japanese vehicles back then, but what a price to pay.

The one I had was a relief car when a lorry driver in Slough decided to rearrange the back end of my company Mk. 4 Cortina. Everyone kept telling me I was lucky to get it, how it was better than the Cortina etc., etc. It reminded me of my 1958 Hillman Minx, but that had the excuse of being 10 years old when I got it and having been a taxi at some point probably meant the 62,000 on the clock was the second time round! The Datsun felt really sloppy and worn in the suspension and steering department even though it was brand new. The worst thing though was the shoddiness of the controls, I believe I dislocated the indicator switch on the first day and from then on was terrified of touching any switches because they felt like they were about to fall apart in my hand.

[Lee Nicolle]

I find it difficult to understand where Lee's (obviously) firmly entrenched fixations about some things come from...

The 180B wasn't too bad in Australia, there was a lot of them here and they seemed to serve a lot of owners well. They didn't do too badly in rallying, though the 1600 was lighter and responded well to the bigger engine when it was transplanted.

Rear tyre wear was a problem as they splayed the rear end under load, something the later 200Bs overcame due to the fitment of a live axle after several months of production with the independent rear end. Wagons had the live axle in both models all along.

Certainly they had some rust, just as pretty much everything of that era did. I don't recall that it was to any extent more evident than the others had and they were a sturdier car than Escorts

I once drove a 180B SSS from Sydney to Adelaide in 10 hours and 20 mins and it didn't seem to mind being flogged like that, automatic transmission and all. It really didn't seem so bad to me.

Much later I owned a 180B wagon, it served me well too. No problems at all. About 14 years old, it didn't have any rust at all that I recall.

Ray, I have owned a LOT of those 180B 200B Bluebird devices. They rust badly and often smoke badly. Though usually rering ok. They went ok, drove Japanese boring. The 1600s were almost as bad but being lighter,, and more attractive are still moderately plentifull. 200Bs are very rare as they all rusted out and smoked, as did the Bluebird.

[2Bob]

Ray Bell: "I once drove a 180B SSS from Sydney to Adelaide in 10 hours and 20 mins and it didn't seem to mind being flogged like that, automatic transmission and all."

Didn't know that Datsuns could fly Ray. Average of 135kph (84 mph)? 3 of us (sharing driving) once did the trip in 14 hours and thought that pretty good.

[GMACKIE]

I believe there is a 'Special' clock [only available to certain people] used for setting inter-state record runs.

[wagons46]

I believe there is a 'Special' clock [only available to certain people] used for setting inter-state record runs.;)

And wouldn't you know Ray would own one!

[GeoffR]

They didn't do too badly in rallying, though the 1600 was lighter and responded well to the bigger engine when it was transplanted.

The works 180B rally cars were all SSSs and were a far different animal from any 'standard' 180B, ie exhaust exiting through the LH sill panel from what I recall, quite apart from the other extensive mods (engine, suspension etc). Probably bore as much resemblance to a standard 180BSSS as a RS1800 did to a standard Escort. Back in 1973/4 a good mate of mine traded his XT GT Falcon for a 180BSSS (!!), which had absolutely nothing in common with the car Bob Watson was running in Vic events at the time as a warm up for the 'Cross.
200Bs were commonly described as 'a 180B with 20 more mistakes!'
1600s (or P510s as the w*****s called them) were made competitive with 2.0 / 2.4 litre engines and 5 speed boxes, which were made 1:1 top with the appropriate diff.

[Flaminiasupersport]

One of the ugliest cars must be the Lancia Flaviasport by Zagato!

The front looks good if viewed from a certain angle, the rear is "special" and the sides are HORRIBLE from any viewpoint.

It's soooooooooooooo ugly it becomes attractive in acertain way...

[Duc-Man]

One of the ugliest cars must be the Lancia Flaviasport by Zagato!

The front looks good if viewed from a certain angle, the rear is "special" and the sides are HORRIBLE from any viewpoint.

It's soooooooooooooo ugly it becomes attractive in acertain way...

I have to say that Zagato came up with some questionable designs through the years.
Alfa Romeo SZ/RZ for example... WTF!

[jcbc3]

Has this beauty been up yet?




Rear shot with redeeming faeture attached.

[Dipster]

Has this beauty been up yet?




Rear shot with redeeming faeture attached.

My ignorance is probably shameful but what is it?

[Duc-Man]

DeTomaso Qvale.

[kayemod]

DeTomaso Qvale.

And a small prize for anyone able to pronounce Qvale.

(It's something like Kuh-vah-lay).

[jcbc3]

It's from after Bruce Qvale bought the rights from de Tomaso which makes its rightful name. Qvale Mangusta. Here's a link to Bruce's more famous father Kjell.

And to us Scandinavians Qvale is pretty easy to pronounce. So I hereby claim the price kayemod!

[kayemod]

It's from after Bruce Qvale bought the rights from de Tomaso which makes its rightful name. Qvale Mangusta. Here's a link to Bruce's more famous father Kjell.

And to us Scandinavians Qvale is pretty easy to pronounce. So I hereby claim the price kayemod!

Well done, but no need to get too excited, the prize is én marinerede sild, a single Danish pickled herring, I'm just getting my own back for the ones I was offered last time I was over there.

[jcbc3]

mmmmm, pickled herring. An exquisite Danish specialty.