OK then - what's the most beautiful car (all time)?

In My Humble Opinion
41

In order of preference:

  1. 1957 Cadillac El Dorado
  2. Rolls Royce Silver Ghost
  3. 1910 Stutz Bearcat

…and two cheats:

  1. the TV series Batmobile
  2. The Batmobile from the first movie. (Hey, David Cooperfield! If you don’t want yours, give it to me!)
42

I’ll second the Lamborghini Miura, especially the show version with all the glass. Wish I still had the magazine that had the show car on the cover.

Practically everything from DeTomaso should also be on this list. That has got to be the world’s most beautiful police car!

43

1963 Split Window Coupe Corvette
Red with White Interior

or

1967 Pontiac GTO
Convertible, top down, black with maroon interior

44

Chas E., not to burst your bubble but you’re incorrect on Mach I’s coming with nothing larger than a 351. They didn’t come with anything SMALLER than a 351 in '69 - '71 (they did come with a 302 in '72 and '73).

The 351W was the baseline for '69-'71, but options included the 351C, the 390, and a couple of varieties of the 428 (including the Cobra Jet and Super Cobra Jet), and even a 429 in '71. They started to downsize in '72 and '73, offering the 302 as the baseline and nothing larger than a 351 as an option, so I guess if you restrict it to 72 and 73 you’re correct about Mach I’s coming with nothing larger than a 351.

They never did offer a 427 in a Mustang. Too bad.

And no disrespect, the 65/66 Mustangs are my absolute favorite cars in the whole world and I hope to be in the market for one very soon, but I frankly doubt that a '65 convertible could outrun a Mach I with a 351C unless the 351 was out of tune or thrashed. You’re giving up some horsepower (assuming you haven’t made any mods), and lots of drag because of poor aerodynamics for the convertible.

Any my picks, in no particular order:

'66 Mustang (nearly identical to the '65, just changed some trim, but I like the '66 trim better)

Any Pantera - very cool car with a 351C from Ford

GT-40

Any Duesenburg (however you spell it)

45

The car from Remington Steele.

I thought it was the 1932 Auburn Roadster, but I keep getting conflicting results when I search.

It appears there was only a 1936 speedster.

Here’s a picture I found that is close, but I don’t recall the car looking this way: http://store3.yimg.com/I/autoswalk_1647_7803922

Still, just about all the Auburns I looked at made me drool.

46

Any Duesenberg…

The most beautiful cars, ever. Custom coachwork, racehorse motors, it just doesn’t get any better.

47

I believe that the 240Z was a knockoff of the GT-6.

48

Hey, Venkman, check my DeTomaso link above for a pic of a Pantera patrol car!

49

You may have a valid point but from what I know about the GT6 (albiet very little) that “style” didn’t really come around until the MK3 which was released in 70 model year, the same year as the 240 (which actually shipped in 69 I think)… which would make it difficult to be a knock-off. The MK2 had many of those styling cues to, but not as much. That came out in 68(?), a time when 240Z design was pretty much set.

While I am not saying you are wrong, I have always understood it too more cues from the Jag than anything else. That big snout being the largest contributor.

50

Good point, bernse. The earlier Spitfires/GT-6s still had that funny British sports car look.

Then again, if you were the designer and people were saying that your car looked like a Jag, would you want to admit that you were looking at Triumphs instead? :slight_smile:

51

Studebaker Avanti: A car from an alternate future; somewhere our timeline took a wrong turn. So lovely that they were still building them in 1995.

http://www.motorcities.com/contents/00B9H123107795.html

Cord 810/812: Took the classic elements (free-standing fenders, long hood) and put a new and beautiful spin on them.

http://www.ncwebsurfer.com/goodrich/1936_Cord.html

(For an indication of just how radical and lovely the Cord design was for 1936, take a look at a 1936 Plymouth.

http://www.autogallery.org.ru/ply1936.htm

The Plymouth looks like a potato by comparison.)

1953 Studebaker Starliner coupe: A beautiful sleek design, especially compared to the concurrent Chevy. Studebaker used this same basic bodyshell until the end, gradually slapping more junky styling elements on it.

http://www.familycar.com/53stude.htm

1964 Rambler American: Clean and simple, much sleeker than its contemporaries. (I have to confess to Owner’s Prejudice on this one…)

http://www.motor-life.com/americanmotors/rambler1964_hm176a.htm

(The one in the picture is not mine.)

52

The GT-6 and 240Z both copied the MGB-GT, first sold in 1964.

53

I’ve always thought that two 50’s semi-race cars are the most beautiful - the Mercedes 300SL and Jaguar D-Type. Both were honest 150mph street cars long before Enzo Ferrari built anything that fast.

For American cars, my pick is the first-generation Oldsmobile Toronado. The 1969 Hurst Olds looks great but just doesn’t quite match the elegant lines of the Toro.

The Porsche 959 still looks futuristic, all these years after its release.

Of the Japanese cars, the 240Z may be a landmark design, but the first car penned by its designers, the Toyota 2000GT looks much better.

Among Italian cars, the Ferrari 512BB gets my vote. Everything since looks overdone.

There are no good looking French cars. Goofy looking, yes. The Renault R5 Turbo did have a certain appeal, though, if only for its diminuitivity and impression of power.

54

sewalk, the racing Mercedes you’re thinking of is probably the 300SLR. I think they built about 10 of them in 1955, 8 roadsters and 2 gull-wing coupes.

Also worth a prominent place in this thread is the Bentley S1 Continental Fastback. (This page and then scroll down to the third picture.)

55

I have several favorites:

  1. My 1971 Chevrolet stepside pickup. I spent 9 months rebuilding it with my dad, and it is sweet looking.

  2. '68-'69 Dodge Charger R/T. Just because of Bullitt and The Dukes of Hazzard.

  3. My buddy’s 1969 bright yellow Mustang. Even though she drove it into a ditch to avoid a van and had to wait almost a year to get it back.

  4. A 1968 Impala 2-door with a 427. I love older Chevys, and the Impala is a personal favorite.

-Brianjedi

56

Germany’s sharpening their pencils these days…

but for now (as its been for some time now):
Porsche 911
From the first one all the way up, including the cheapies as 4-cylinders (912’s) to the point that we are currently… and I will blanket the whole thing- whaletales, verts, turbos, 930’s, targas, carrera… I could go on. Never met one that I didn’t like.

…and, nope. Never had one.

But we’re on looks, yeah? :slight_smile:

57

For most of the 90’s my automotive desires were ignited by the Nissan 300ZX. I thought that vehicle was the peak of aesthetic perfection.

Then about 1999 my lust was captured by the Lexus SC400 (called the Soarer overseas). Odd, I thought when I found out they’d been in production since '92 or so. Why haven’t I ever noticed them before? Such a luxurious and refined work of beauty, this machine is. Inside and out. 290hp under the hood from a 32 valve 4.0 liter V-8, leather everything, factory Nakamici sound system.

And if I play my cards right, I’ll get one for Christmas.

58

I give you the Peugeot 404 Cabriolet, heathen! Also, the Citroën DS and SM were already mentioned.

For the all time best, I gotta agree with Jet Jaguar: it’s the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO. Only 37 remain, and they’re worth a fortune.

Honourable mentions: Talbot Lago, Lamborghini Miura, Ferrari 512BB, Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing, and of course, the Peugeot 205 GTI. :slight_smile:

59

Since you love the '68 Implala, see what you think of the '57 Chrysler Imperial.

60

Sorry but I must go with customs

The 1949-1951 Merc “Leadsled”- Chopped Top, Shaved, Frenched, Dropped, Drop in a bigger block, glasspack, Suicide rims and whitewalls, Business Metallic Gray.
The babies growl and practically melt into the road they are so sleek looking.
Good Example: The car from Cobra.