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.


Saturday, May 15, 2010

J Mays - Retro Recycling




So they don't look exactly like each other, but I find the VW New Beetle and the last Ford Thunderbird share quite a few similarities. Enough so that you can tell the same hand was behind the look of both of them. Which is strange for two vehicles from completely different companies.

Attack of the Clones: Isoghini Lelerama



The Iso Lele and the Lamborghini Jarama are almost mirror images of each other. I can't really blame this clones on any of the manufacturers - both were styled by Bertone. So I guess the fault lies with Marcello Gandini, whose pen drew up both designs. Running out of idea at the time? These cars debuted months from each other as well, so there was no hiding the fact.

Wouldn't say either are ugly again (as is the case with most cloning - who would clone ugly?), but the Jarama is slightly better looking in my eyes. Looks beefier, and the it doesn't have the strange beltline that abruptly turn up and meets the roof after the rear wheels. Plus a Lele sounds like some kind of Hawaiian bird (it's named after the wife of the son of Iso's founder).

And then of course there's the Isuzu Impulse, which showed up to the cloning party a couple decades later.