Car & Driver had an article a number of years ago, in which they compared the Spitfire (WW2 fighter plane) to the Messerschmitt (car). I believe their conclusion was that the Spitfire was faster and had better acceleration, but the Messerschmitt was more manueverable and easier to park. The Messerschmitt also won hands down on mileage 
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I came across Jay Leno’s Tank Car in Gran Turismo 4 on the Playstation:
http://www.myclassiccar.com/MCCTV/2004Season/9001/jayleno.shtml
It’s really ugly, imho. But in GT4 you do get to see some of the inner prats moving when you drive it, which is quite impressive.
From googling for this car, I also came across Big Bertha:
LOL Those are all great! The designs are hit-or-miss, but at least they’re unique. Today’s cars all look alike.
Indeed. Most of today’s cars are uninspiring. It’s not surprising, though. It seems that today form more closely follows function than it did in the past. Since about 1968, there have been tougher and tougher EPA and other Federal requirements. The first example that comes to my mind (obviously, given the number of posts in which I’ve mentioned them 
) is the MGB. Until 1974 they had nice chrome bumpers. In 1975 Federal regulations required that they have ‘5 mph bumpers’, and the bumpers had to be a certain height. So British Leyland came out with the ‘rubber baby-buggy bumpers’ and raised the car an inch or two (to the detriment of handling!). In the '60s, the B-series engine put out 94 hp. By 1980 (the last year of production) the engines were strangled by emissions equipment and put out (IIRC) a paltry 65 hp.
The 1970s were a tough time for carmakers. Emissions controls were rather primitive, and sapped power from the engines. After the 1973 oil embargo, people demanded better mileage as well. One way to do this is to make the car as aerodynamic as possible. After the 1979 oil embargo, it seems as if every carmaker was coming out with very similar designs. Gone were the days when the designers really had a free hand. Now the cars had to be a certain shape. Given the constraints required by aerodynamics, cars tended to look more and more alike. Low oil prices in the late-1980s through the late-1990s allowed the SUV craze to happen, and there were some interesting retro styles. Now that oil prices are at record highs, I think we’ll see the decline of big gas-guzzling SUVs and ‘muscle’ cars and start seeing more of the same look-alike economy cars.
I think that there is room for better-looking designs though. Remember that some of the cars mentioned in this thread – the Isetta and the Messerschmitt, for example – were designed to be economical. In the 1950s and 1960s, Europe already had high gas prices. Their economy cars had tiny engines. The first Triumph Spitfire (and the Herald, on which it was based) had 1200cc engines. Fiat made a roadster with am 850cc engine. Minis, Midgets, et al had small engines. Fiat made the 500, which had – you guessed it – a 500cc engine and which is still seen in respectable numbers on Italian roads.
The problem with small engines is that in the US, especially here in the West, things tend to be spread out. We have to drive; and long commutes are easier and more comfortable in a car that has some power. IIRC, the Fiat 500 has a top speed of 70 mph. Not enough for American freeways! But still…
With hybrids and more-efficient, more powerful small engines, I think that cars can be made that would be useful on U.S. freeways and in cities, that get great mileage and are comfortable to drive. Although aerofynamics will require certain shapes, I’d like to think that better engines might inspire different designs. Some of the be may be ugly (the Scion xB was mentioned – I think it looks cool) and some may become ‘classic’. No matter how they turn out, I’d like to see more diversity of design on the roads.
That Fiat looks like John Huston in his Chinatown role.
Hey, it looks creative. And unique. And original. And shiny. And…
…ah, who am I kidding, that’s the fugliest thing I’ve ever seen.
I’ve seen pictures of some car that’s sort of a four-wheeled enclosed Segway. The designer must have been a Dr. Who fan; it looks like a cross between a Dalek and a blue police box.
the Austin Allegro http://www.austin-rover.co.uk/index.htm?ado67indexf.htm long held the crown for Britain’s ugliest car. The “All-Aggro” appeared in 1973 at a time when British Leyland desperately needed a winner - and this wasn’t it. My father had one, and thought it one of his least likeable cars
According to The Ugliest Cars in Britain, the Ford Anglia and the Austin-Healy Bugeye Sprite are both uglier that the Allegro. The Allegro is simply guilty of looking like an Opel Kadett.
Aha! I found a picture of that stand-up vehicle I mentioned earlier. Behold the Honda Fuya-Jo!
I always thought the Frogeye Spridget had a certain charm. Of course, they are worth more than an Allegro will ever be.
And that in turn reminds me of the Toyota POD, with it’s waggly tail, seats that look like modern toilets, funny sounds, and colors that are supposed to indicate its mood.
http://www.cardesignnews.com/autoshows/2001/tokyo/highlights/h09-toyota-pod.html
Huh…I think the Aurora is pretty neat looking myself. Helluvalot better than many of the boxes-on-wheels I see on the road every day.
Awww! The MiniCAT may be an ugly car, but it makes a really pretty kitten!
Come to think of it, the absolute ugliest car I’ve ever seen was on the back page of some Road & Track magazine. It had apparently been assembled that way on purpose because it was a Frankenstein’s monster of body parts. The roof was from some Beetle but I don’t remember the other parts. The front end may have come from a Checker and the rear from a '50s Cadillac.
That was most likely one of Barris’s creations he did for a bank in the late 60s/early 70s. He did two or three of them as I recall.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t submit this for consideration as an ugly car.
Ahh! The styling! It burns!!!
I would drive that car in a heartbeat. 
It’s even worse than you think. At one point in time, that was a boattail Rivera, but one of Preston Tucker’s descendants had it customized to look like one of the early prototype designs for the Tucker. Why he did that and not this prototype or this (since those were prototypes of follow up models) is beyond me. Hell, he could have done what one guy did and customize a Corvair convertable to look like a Tucker, and it would have been better. Of course, it could be worse, he could have taken an actual Tucker and done this to it.
Oh, and if anyone’s interested, there’s a Messerschmitt for sale on eBay.
