A blog devoted to RANTS ON AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN, car reviews, and - above all - fugly autos. whether looking for vehicular plagiarism or rides of extreme tastelessness, you've come to the right place.


Monday, August 01, 2005

Star Struck


I highly doubt that helps exhaust airflow...

Art Trucks




They're called Art Trucks. Picture all the neon artwork in downtown Toyko compressed, concentrated, and applied to huge Hino semis. And that's pretty much it. It's almost like American art cars, but with slightly more style and organization. And lots of airbrush paintings. And chrome. The "artists" seem to prefer box trucks and dump trucks, however, as it ads a lot of vertical space in which to mount more paintings, chrome and lights.

Excessive Camber Syndrome



This trend seems to be getting bigger and bigger. To me it just makes them look as if their rear axle has broken.

Smooth Criminal Fug


Unlike most Scamota this one appears to have it's velour or velvet on the outside. The official car of the velvet mafia?

Tin Foil Fug



I've heard of aluminum bodywork to aid in weight reduction, but this is the first car I've seen to be constructed of aluminum foil.

This interesting car also has a W shaped, toothlike hood extention up front. I doubt it would comply to the new European pedestrian safety laws.

Tri-Wing Fug


A couple examples of extreme tri-spoilers. The LS has a stacked effect, while the Q45 has a sorta "spoiler-within-a-spoiler" on top of a ducktail type spoiler.

Viscera


I'm not sure what this car is painted to look like, nor do I want to know.

Club Final


Not sure what the core of this car is. The front has TWO sets of headlights, complete with turn signals (the main ones lifted from a Mercedes). The hood features various types of inlet and louvers, while the rear has some kind of extended bumper below Supra taillights.

Team Risky


Don't mess with Team Risky. The extremely flared rear appears to have unexplained notches along the top, a large rear wing and two skewers. A gold chrome grille ads some class.

Fug from Beyond


I'm not sure what this car is made from, but it looks like an alien breed of AMC Pacer.

The interior features a nice mucus lined look, and a steering wheel that looks as if it was made of yellow semi-opaque dildos.

LS, Pt. 1


This widboby LS wouldn't look to bad, but unfortunetly has a unique form of cancer in which multiple lights sprout and grow like tumours.

Q45, Pt. 1



Another trend in the Japanese car scene are cars that have both widebody kits and multiple headlights and/or foglights, and this car is a fine example. Although the widebody kit is relatively simple, it does have 6 foglights and is painted an interesting hue of fuschia.

So it's even more strange that the interior looks like a Ferrari threw up. Red and yellow and fuschia do not match. Well - not that that interior would match any car anyway.

Are they even trying?




Given the sketchy looking quality of most of the cars I've been posting lately, it's surprising that you can find vehicles that have worse quality issues than the rest of them.

The first canditate retains it's stock blue colour but ads pink accessories. Of these, the wheel well extensions are horrible. For one, they're just stuck on. Note that up front you can plainly see through the gaps between the body and the extentions. It even bisects a reflector. In the rear, the mounting points have deformed the extention itself. What are these made of - plastic? Also - it has a cut out for the gas door, leaving a gaping hole. I don't know whether this was created as a mockery or not, but looking inside the dash appears to be red velvet or velours. Mounting this would take time and effort, suggesting some for of pride in the cars appearance.

The second candidate looks better and more cohesive, but the rear extetion is also deformed and dented. Also you can see the mounting points, which look as if the flares were bolted onto the body.

I'm beginning to think this is all part of an elaborate joke I'm not getting, because these can't be real...

Crosseyed


A relatively normal looking 300ZX/Fairlady. Except it has something funky going on with the headlights. The right one appears to be up, but has a blocker in place at the bottom. The left one is as it would normally look while down.

Volkswagen Fug Zephur


The range of Volkswagen Bug modifications is seemingly endless. Here's a Bug based Lincoln Zephur rip-off.

Fisher Fug


Fisher Price enters the lucrative interior aftermarket industry.

De-Forrestation


I think this was at one point a Subaru Forrester.

Old Meets New



I really don't think a microcar really needs 8 tailpipes. Another classy touch are the seriously dated chrome 2 spoke rims.

Just a Hero, Pt. 1


A member of the "Just a Hero" racing team.

Style-setter


This car combines two bizarre Japanese modification traditions, and pierces the rear wing with the extended tailpipes.

Entertainment on the Road



Posted this one for it's falling apart look. Not the strange texture of the bodywork, and how the wires attached to the air dam up front pull it up in the middle.

The Checklist


I've noticed that quite a few cars I've been posting lately follow what seem to be quidelines for modification. Few cars have all the modifications listed, but if there was one that had them all I'm sure that car's owner would be elevated to a god-like status. Only to be overthrown by the person who has all the said modifications but in a bigger and therefore better form.

The checklist is as follows:

1. Large, elongated chin spoiler / air dam up front.

2. Some sorta of widebody kit, preferably home made. Can consist of wheel well extentions and sill extentions as pictures, or in some sorta of blocky cardboard-esque bodykit.

3. Large an inappropriate rear spoiler. Can be either of the airfoil variety or ramp type. This modification allows for anything actually, as long as it is attached to the trunk and tall. Large sharks fins for example, or possibly a fish tail or even just a large upright box, would also apply here and be appropriate.

4. Headlamp covers, preferable covering only one lamp.

5. Intercooler mounted externally.

6. Miscellaneous stars, whether in vinyl or rendered in shapes in the bodykit itself.

7. Crooked headlights or taillights. Ultimately, one of the crooked headlights should have a cover (see 4).

8. Extended exhaust pipes. To include two items in one - bend the pipe into the shape of a star.

9. Hood extentions (part A): Hood scoops and/or vertical triangular pieces for optimal airflow.

10. Hood extentions (part B): Extending the hood and/or fenders forward.

11. Gaudy paint. Optimally two tone, with stars and stripes, and of two clashing colours.

Made of plywood?



Not to be outdone by the pink Skyline, this homemade convertible features several extreme Japanese modification standards (air damn, hood extentions, exterior intercooler, crooked headlights, homemade widebody kit, extended tailpipes). AND has a spoiler to outdo all spoilers - a dual tiered affairs with giant shark fins. AND the shark fins have stars attached to the top!

Note that the poor girl in the top pic appears to be in some sort of fug induced shock.

Sunset (Pink Skyline)


What poor Skyline gave up it's life for this? Besides for the two tone pink paintjob, the front end is shockingly normal. To balance out the equation, the rear end is fugly to the extreme. I think these people's designs are inspired by Lego.

Taurus wagon + Rolls Royce = Fugly


I found this unholy combination searching for ugly Japanese cars. This thing was made in Japan I presume. It baffles the mind why you would import a Taurus wagon into Japan, let alone transform it this unGodly creation.