In case you hadn’t heard, Jaguar is planning on offering for sale 10 fully restored to new-car-smell fresh E-Types. When the company first made this known I was a little worried over just which E-Types they’d choose to restore. So far it seems they did the right thing and chose to rejuvenate only two-seater Series 1 cars. Those are quite possibly one of the most beautiful automobiles the world has ever seen, and a far better choice than the star of my nightmare scenario, the 2+2 coupe. Holy cow but that’s a silk purse to sow’s ear transformation.
As a matter of fact, most two-seater coupes that are extended to include occasional back seats end up looking funky as a result. Consider if you will the Mercedes SL and its more capacious brother the SLC, which one would you date?
Today we’re looking for the most undatable of 2+2s, the cars that were unfortunate recipients of an unsuccessful transformation to car pool duty. Which do you think is the world’s most ungainly 2+2?
Image: MOMENTCar
Hooniverse Asks: What was History’s Most Ill-Proportioned 2+2?
By Robert Emslie
Apr 21, 2017
Jeff Glucker
Lotus Elan 2+2
https://motorbase.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2010/06/27/fs_lotus_34.jpg
But I would still take one.
I think they look good, better in real life than pics.
But the two seater does look better.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Lotus_Elan_%282723404335%29.jpg/1280px-Lotus_Elan_%282723404335%29.jpg
I thought the exact opposite on teh 2+2, look better in pictures than real life.
Of course the 2 seater is perfection, but the 2+2 ain’t a bad looking car.
I would say that is possibly the best 2+2 ever made. It almost looks better than the two seater which is a real beauty.
If Chrysler would’ve had the money to rework the b pillar(s), the mid 60’s Power Wagon crew cabs would have been awesome. Instead they’re hands down champs in ugliest pickup contests
(I guess technically this would be a 3+3, but I’m in no mood for technicalities)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xpcf5LKltJk/VVaxsD10txI/AAAAAAAA7sY/gJNbrenBrb4/s0-c/1965-Dodge-D200-Power-Wagon-Crew-Cab.jpg
Isn’t that a 3+3?
Technically
Does the 308 GT4 count as a 2+2 of the 308, or a different model altogether?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/1975_Ferrari_Dino_308_GT4.jpg
It’s not a terrible looking car, but it lacks the beauty of the GTS/GTB. That may have as much to do with Bertone v Pininfarina as it does with the proportions, though.
Wow, if that’s out of proportion, I must have Marty Feldman eyeballs. Now this car (Marcos Mantis) is out of proportion. Most Marcos products were pretty great but this thing fell out of the ugly tree, the ugly tree fell on it, and then a gorilla clubbed the whole failfest like a baby seal: http://www.thewheelsofsteel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/mantis-m70-007-w800.jpg
If that was a Hot Wheels it would be recalled as a mistake by the factory.
It’s like an off-brand Hot Wheels that got run over on the driveway.
How intense!
https://rlv.zcache.com/puke_bag-re319a59ae550424d93f82dd6cb3b0b03_v9wtg_8byvr_324.jpg
Made in a dark workshop? On drugs?
It was the 60s in the UK, quite likely.
The funniest description I’ve read for this is “if you think this is good looking, you’re probably the sort of person that fancies the Queen”
Whoa I think we have a winner.
Technically the GTS/GTB replaced the GT4.
The Mondial replaced the GT4.
As usual, everyone forgets the Mondial. To me the Mondial always looked like a poorly executed kit car copy of the GTB. The GT4, GTB/GTS, and Mondial all share a common architecture though.
Is that really any worse that this?
[Disclaimer: I personally don’t mind the 308 GT4, and I kinda crush on the Mondial 8]
http://cars.definitivelist.com/wp-content/uploads/ferrari/mondial-qv-quattrovalvole-coupe/ferrari-mondial-qv-quattrovalvole-coupe.jpg
I have come around on the Mondial. Only took 29 years.
The Ferrari more likely than any other Ferraris to be found in this condition. Or to find a new role as a banger racer.http://www.aol.co.uk/cars/photos/ferrari-mondial-banger-racer/
http://bigbrowser.blog.lemonde.fr/files/2013/05/Ferrari-Mondial-abandonn%C3%A9e-%C3%A0-Dubai-Danny-McL-Flickr-CC-530×397.jpg
http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims4/GLOB/16a39bb/1492920000/resize/640×426/http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogcdn.com%2Fcars.aol.co.uk%2Fmedia%2F2013%2F09%2Fphoto-4-1379321705.jpeg
It’s a really nice car, but it’s the Emily Deschanel of cars, only under appreciated because of a more more popular sister.
Bristiol 412 https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dd4fdabd4f92f9dc5e48236a51ef7022a903bcf91c07f89d483afb7c55adfc08.jpg
It’s strange how GB’s worst styled products have a distinct Soviet look. And I’m an automobile cubist who would like this one if you had described it without a picture.
I was thinking the same thing: it’s like a British designer’s idea of the kind of car that a wealthy communist party apparatchik would have hidden at his dacha
I’ve always thought of Bristols from that period on as the motoring equivalent of those expensive Barbour jackets, functional clothing back in the day, long surpassed by more modern, better, cheaper, stylish alternatives, but continues to trade on an aristocrat image. The fact that the car was an underdeveloped, overpriced, just plain ugly 50s relic (especially compared to earlier cars) is dismissed as us proles just not being cultured enough to get it, even LJK setright was suckered by them. It’s sort of like rolling class trolling.
Don’t get me wrong, it’d be pretty interesting to drive one and enjoy its quirkyness, but I can’t help think that Tony Crook was a bit PT Barnum in his later years. The “exclusivity” and only selling a handful of cars to the “right” people was just trying to camouflage the lack of investment that even the likes of Aston Martin just about scraped together.
Similarly:
“Nice Ford Capri!”
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Bristol_Brigand_car_front%2Bside.jpg/1920px-Bristol_Brigand_car_front%2Bside.jpg By No machine-readable author provided. Kierant assumed (based on copyright claims). – No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1777909
It’s fortunate the top can be dropped…
and in that case only looks like a pickup truck cabrio.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Morgan_4_Seater_-_Flickr_-_exfordy.jpg
Eh, could be worse.
http://i2.wp.com/hooniverse.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/42014111162838361.jpg
That doesn’t even look like a real car… more like a ride at the county fair.
Lots of small companies riding that stretch:
https://i2.wp.com/hooniverse.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140509_123018_JAK.jpg?resize=700%2C393
https://i1.wp.com/hooniverse.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140509_123459.jpg?resize=700%2C393
Saw plenty of similar things in Prague, some original Skoda’s but many more fiberglass replicas built on a Hilux chassis or something.
Yeah, exactly. Quite funny sight to behold. I tried to find the manufacturers site again, but my Google-fu let me down. Original comments on the Prague-article were victims to the IntenseDebate/Disqus-apocalypse.
Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2 Aerocoupe. Not ill-proportioned because of the back seat, but still clearly ill-proportioned.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1b95d03e92056272ad77d023e09e2d09078e76f1b7d63d54f6f3b9592f92cc55.jpg
Easily fixable:
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Form following function which makes it less worse.
BMW 600, a 4 seat BMW Isetta.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/BMW_600%2C_p1.jpg/1280px-BMW_600%2C_p1.jpg
Especially because the 2-seat Isetta was so elegantly proportioned to begin with.
I think this actually works better, but it’s not saying much.
The daddy of all putrid 2+2 editions has to be the XK-E. Not sure which series is the ugliest but they’re all disgusting.
“A squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous.” – Captain Beefheart
http://cdn.barrett-jackson.com/staging/carlist/items/Fullsize/Cars/137684/137684_Side_Profile_Web.jpg
Came here to post that, leaving satisfied.
upvoted for the Pachuco Cadaver quote
It appears to be a hatchback, never noticed that before, but British cars was never my strong side.
While technically a hatch it doesn’t open like you’d expect. Typically British.
http://www.lakewell.com/images/stories/products/large/Jaguar/XKE/S2/2plus2/Interior_restoration_kit/Pictures/XKE_S2_2plus2_-_001.jpg
I will admit to liking any E-Type but, due to the narrow footwell, my feet can’t work the pedals properly.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always thought the 2+2 version of the original S30 Z-car doesn’t deserve it hate it gets. I still would rather have a 2-seater, but I thought it was admirably done and worked pretty well, visually.
http://www.windycityzclub.com/images/2016/2016_Misc/280Z50000.jpg
Even the ZX in the lede photo isn’t terrible. The t tops don’t help it though. When I had one I liked to think of it as a slightly more aerodynamic shooting brake.
Imho this one is actually very nice. And I guess it’s cheaper to get? My kind of 2+2 then.
Had one like that even the same faded blue,lots of fun for little money.
Concurred, agreed, supported, and seconded.
Agree, I’m going to end up over using the Emily Deschanel of cars analogy in this thread I think..
What’s the Zooey of cars, I wonder?
Isn’t it obvious? the more diminutive, better known sister http://zcarworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/7862_rw2_1152.jpg
In the case of the 308 GT4 mentioned above it’s the Dino, and yet it’s easy to overlook the appeal of the lesser known sister.. I remember when 308GT4s could be picked up for as little as €5000 and were sneered at as the car you bought simply because you were desperate to have a ferrari badge, but couldn’t afford a “real” ferrari. https://youtu.be/SZ9s3P34v9s
Thanks. Instead of thinking popularity and arriving at the logical conclusion my brain derailed at “what’s the kooky version of this” and got stuck in a ditch.
Once upon a time she seemed unique and refreshing. Then she got popular. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6b803b84a6a8f7f89faa2024e601fd89299835516e43848b86fc8d0ef3e9c27c.jpg
Darker shades helped hide some of the bulk of these, as did replacing the budget-spec wheel covers with decent wheels. Dad had one in Emerald Green with wires that was pretty.
Not a 2+2 but perhaps we can include the opposite of today’s high beltline. Fiat Multipla.
https://hobbydb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/processed_uploads/catalog_item_photo/catalog_item_photo/image/412555/Fiat_Multipla_Cars_316ca4a4-e97d-4423-b4ae-5ce4ef4a8c94.jpg
That’s a 3+3, and if were a person, this would be how bothered it would be about how you think it looks.
http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4c472dfb7f8b9a5157f60100-506-253/how-bad-is-the-italian-economy-really.jpg
Yeah the IH anteater was a little disproportionate wasn’t it.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3fdac3cd3df6b75ff8acf0767d0555d9e4e295ea61d5e9cb3e2c8fec3a4dd05b.jpg
https://octanepress.com/sites/default/files/CX6A2423.JPG
The phallic jokes practically write themselves on this one.
Who’s up for some plowing?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fa33c576f73d16ac74e7b5a4a798ee1bd467e08e927af967bd6da7bff0b14062.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/47b2e11cbac910de5330fff4692e6565be27b32bd84aee36b3753462bc626d18.jpg Am i really the first to come up with this?
Somehow that T-Bird duo makes me think of a high school football team’s quarterback’s picture at age 17 followed by his picture at age 57.
Hey now… (note the avatar) 😀
The buying public of the day certainly disagreed, it outsold it handily.
I’d also note that you found one of the most ungainly looking Squarebirds. A hardtop (convertibles look cleaner), no skirts and the 59’s awkward door trim.
How does the 65 and 67 T-birds fit into this analogy? Facelift and a major session in the gym? I may be alone here, but I actually like these two more than the original car. They’re a better execution at the personal luxury idea that the T-Bird unintentionally started than the T-Bird was an attempt at a sports car. A bit like Jamacians trying to sing R&B but it getting lost in translation and ending up with Ska/Reggae instead.
http://www.americanoldtimercars.com/kepek/ford-thunderbird-1965-convertible-01.jpg
http://momentcar.com/images/ford-thunderbird-1967-6.jpg
This Lagenthal-bodied 1947 Delahaye 135 MS.
http://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Delahaye/47-Delahaye-135MS_DV-12-PBC_0000.jpg
http://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Delahaye/47_Delahaye-135MS_DV_12-PBC_m08.jpg
But…. I LOVE that car
It’s fantastic.
Between said E-Type and the photo of the Datsun, you nailed it for me.