Can A Car Ever Be So Ugly That It's Beautiful?

When I put my political hat on, it's easy to determine that the far-right and far-left are exactly the same thing – they just hate different people. The moment people see them as anything other than equals is the moment they start to see one form of hatred as more valid than another. And really, you can't get much more bigoted than to discriminate against the eligibility of hate itself. Hatred is hatred – plain and simple.

They say hate is the closest emotion there is to love. While nodding one's head in agreement to this statement cannot be confused with an invitation to draw one's own incorrect conclusions regarding the similarities between hate and love, there is no doubt in my mind that both emotions are fuelled by an intoxicating passion that imbues us to act beyond the boundaries of our usual rationality.

With this theme of opposites sharing common attributes, I haven't been able to stop wondering whether a car can ever be so ugly that it's beautiful? I've heard a number of journalists use this description for such cars as the original Porsche Cayenne, the Mitsuoka Orochi, and the SsangYong Rodius. After hearing that, you'll have probably diagnosed these journalists – who I won't name, but who have been/are currently on the TV – with some kind of incurable retinal disease.

It's at this point that I'd usually waffle on about some nuances that I'd plucked straight out of my arse, but for this topic, I feel that won't be necessary. You see, all you've got to do is look at what I and many others consider to be the ugliest car ever made – and perhaps even the ugliest car that it's possible to design – the Sbarro Autobau, and see if its concentrated quantities of ghastliness can appeal to you before it makes you vomit all over your computer.  

Not so much a car as a defiled creature on wheels - the Sbarro Autobau.

Not so much a car as a defiled creature on wheels - the Sbarro Autobau.

So no, a car cannot be so ugly that it becomes beautiful. So where on earth did such a crazy phrase originate? Well, sometimes when a car gives the appearance of ugliness, it's because it's unusual. Not unusual in the same way as you could describe the Autobau, but something more mildly unorthodox and different.  

We have an involuntary fascination with unusualness that often manifests itself with more satisfactory emotions. Think of the mystique of the Joker that made Harleen Quinzel fall in love with him, and apply that to an automotive oddball. 

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When thinking about it like that, the Abarth 1500 Biposto BAT 1 comes straight to my mind. While the phrase "looks only a mother could love" may be one you'd recite in reference to this three-eyed-monster (if you were in a polite mood), I can't help but find it rather attractive for reasons that can only be related to its unusualness.  

What I would like to know however is: are there any cars that YOU would describe as so ugly that they're beautiful? Or if not, any cars that appeal to you aesthetically because they're unusual? Be brave and let me know in the comments...  

Written by: Angelo Uccello

Twitter: @AngeloUccello

Tribe: Speed Machines

Facebook: Speed Machines - DriveTribe