Most beautiful: The Lamborghini Diablo (even better than the Countach!)
Ugliest? Without a doubt, the AMC Matador. Ugly from the front, back and side!
Yep, there was a street version. This site has a copy of the sales brochure. They recommend the prospective purchaser travel to the factory to have the car fitted specifically to him, and so he can decide what gear ratios he wants. 
Eric
Has to be a '57 Chevy Nomad Bel Aire.
Gonna come from left field here and nominate the Mazda MX-6. It looks exactly what a sporty yet affordable 1990’s-vintage coupe should look like. Classically simple and flowing without looking like a jellybean. On the other hand, I’d never buy one.
1957 M/B 300SL Gull wing coupe.
Straight six engine. Direct mechanical fuel injection.
I agree with Spritle on the Pantera, although I’ve always known it as a DeTomaso, not a Ford. I also think the earlier Volkswagen Sciroccos and the DeLoreans were pretty cool.
Hello, Elanor.
Corvair Corsa convertable
dodge viper
I’d have to go with the '37 Talbot Lago http://www.web-cars.com/pbeach/Talbot_Lago/index.html or the 1960 Aston Martin DB4 Zagoto http://www.amoc-na.org/db4gtz/index.shtml
They both have curves that are downright sinful!
Very true, but IMHO the 240 looks nicer. The only really nice looking things the British ever put out IMHO is the Lotus Esprit and Elizabeth Hurley.
Olds’ 442 W-30 Convertable
good lord yes…
ummm…that would be the 69 442 btw…
dang preview button
I"m terribly disappointed that no one mentioned the Porsche 911 Turbo - any year. The fact that their design hasn’t changed (drastically) is the best part.
If I were forced to pick a second one, I’d probably go with the Mitsubishi 3000GT Spi(y?)der. I had tears in my eyes when I found out they weren’t being made anymore.
93+ Mazda RX-7 twin turbo
Porsche 993/996 (aka 911 1995-98/99-present)…especially turbo versions
Ferrari 550
Saleen S7
Porsche 944(turbo/s2)/968 (though no one I know would place them even in the top 20, for some reason)
Newer Vipers
As far as Panteras go, it was a joint effort between Ford and DeTomaso, with most of the parts, including the big engine, being Ford. I think.
Yeah, I know, I said I could beat any Mach 1, and they never came with anything larger than the 351C. Of course, a Boss 302 or a Boss 429 is another story. And they aren’t Mach 1s either.
I know I can stomp a 351C because I once passed a '70 Mach 1 with the 351C that was trying to stop me from passing by driving at top speed on a dangerous 2 lane road. He’d get up to about 110mph on the passing zones and then slow down below 45 on the no-passing zones. What an asshole. I finally managed to get the better of him, I got in the passing lane and just as we both had our accelerators floored, doing about 110, and I was doing about 3mph better than he was, a farm tractor towing a hayrack pulled onto the road from the shoulder in the incoming lane, I had to stomp on the brakes, I did a double-360 spinout in the middle of a cornfield, coming to rest about 2 feet from a telephone pole. Darn it, I knew I should have had those disc brakes balanced, it always did pull to the right. When I came to a stop, the silence was deafening, I thought I’d killed the engine but I discovered I had my foot on the clutch and it was still going. My passenger was astonished, he said he’d never seen anything as masterful as my driving through that spinout, handling the clutch and not even killing the engine. I never ever did anything that crazy again. Well, maybe once when I crossed Kansas at an average speed of 135. But that’s another story.
Is the masterful driving you putting the clutch in when you hit the brake (which should be instinct) or getting into a spin in a cornfield in the first place? :rolleyes:
The original Mustang. Good, well balanced lines that still look perfect some 40 years later.
While the Talbot had a VERY innovative design for 1937, (Heck only the Auburn company in the US dared try anything that drastic) I cringed when I read that it had Stromberg carbs. I was almost in tears when I read that it had three of them. The TR-7 has two Zenith-Stromberg carbs and they are difficult to adjust and real tough to synchronize. Further, being single piston carbs, they aren’t the most responsive units or the most powerful. I guess this is why most British Leyland auto owners exchange them for Webers.
Pushkin, I am hurt to the core! If the TR-7 wasn’t truly the “Shape of things to come”, how would one explain the Fiat X-19 Bertone? The Toyota MR2? The early Datsun Z series (280 in particular)? Indeed the TR-7 was the start of the World Wide Wedge!!!
It certainly has it’s share of problems, but no more than any other BL production car. The major problem with British cars is American drivers. We grew up with GM 350s and other big V8s that could handle being ignored. If your big ole V8 was a bit out of time or the 4 barrel carb was a bit off on the ratio there was no discernible effect in the operation of the car. This was not so with the British cars. They are much more exacting and show non-maintenance more than other cars. They run well, but can’t be ignored.
Anyway, this is not about the technical aspects of cars but the sheer visual appeal. Since the TR-7 “wedge” shape has been copied by many other car manufactures since 1975, I’ll have to stick to my original statements, your “BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA” notwithstanding.
The 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, in Italian Red, is the single most beautiful car ever produced in the history of the universe.