Who need Carbon Fibre when you can use Carbonite

Someone call Luke Skywalker - Han Solo is trapped under the hood of this car.

K-Car Envy

This one is interesting… These early Daewoo cars were essentially GM of Europe products. The Imperial was basically an upscale Daewoo Royale, which itself is little more than an Opel Rekord with the front end of the larger Opel Senator stuck on. However the Imperial is featured here as the designers oddly decided to style the upscale version of the European GM product as if it were an American Chrysler. A K-Car at that… Even the name is shared with the last K-Car based Imperial of the early 90s. Strange fact – the Daewood Imperial production began in 1989 (and ran through 1993), while the K-Car Chrysler Imperial was built between 1990 to 1993. However, the very similar looking New Yorker / Fifth Avenue were produced throughout the 80s.

Why was Daewoo selling GMs in the first place? A little back story… It all starts in 1976, when GM partnered with Shinjin Industrial Company to sell GM cars in South Korea, under the name Saehan Motor Company. However shortly afterward the fell into financial problems, with Daewoo group taking a large stake in the company in a 1978. Saehan Motor Company was renamed Daewoo Motor Company in 1983. So I guess GM buying Daewoo 20 years later was just a matter of things coming full circle.

 Devolved Inspiration: Daewoo took the K-Car route with it's upscale product - sharp creases and loads of chrome and vinyl.

Spawn of Spohn

Carosseriebau Hermann Spohn was a German coachbuilder, founded in 1920. Due to it’s formation coinciding with the launch Maybach brand, and it’s close proximity to it’s manufacturing plant, Spohn soon became Maybach's favored coachbuilder. In it’s early days, these cars were indeed beautiful, sporting low rooflines with typically flowing fenders of the periods most attractive cars.

Above: 1952 Spohn Palos, based on a 1940 Ford. This picture was taken during restoration, but returning it to it's original glory won't fix it's awkward lines. Below: A Lincoln rebodied by Spohn.

But as the 50’s drew near, Spohn began to favour aerodynamics and excessive ornamentation, resulting in some very strange looking cars. Trademarks include heavyhanded styling: thick front fenders with low set headlights on either side of a low and steepy sloped front end (usually featuring a garish almost horizontal grille), and gigantic but heavy looking fins out back (usually trailing way behind the rear wheels on an lengthened rear end). Although these were early attempts at aerodynamic aids, they definitely didn’t look sleek. One of the worst offenders was the BMW powered Veritas roadster – an attractive car without the Spohn costume. Another you may recall from this blog previously are some of the gaudy and unfortunately named Gaylord cars. Spohn closed down in 1957.

 The Spohn BMW Veritas roadster.  Also in a state of restoration, but also also extremely fugly regardless of whether it was in pristine condition.

This period photo of the Spohn BMW Veritas roadster when new really shows it's awkward front grille.

The Chevy Chevy

Yes, you're reading that right (again). I was recently introduced to these on a recent trip to Mexico. Not sure of the reasoning behind the repetitive name of the Chevrolet Chevy (possibly a half-assed attempt to assure public that this car is actually a Chevrolet), but it's basically continual rehashes of outdated Opel products, not unlike the Soviets tended to do to Fiats.

Immensely popular down there, the Chevy Chevy began life in 1994 as a simple rebadge of the Opel Corsa B, which debuted in 1993. However, where the Corsa evolved into the Corsa C in 2000, the Chevy Chevy soldiered on unchanged. That is, until 2004, when it received a slightly updated face. This look lasted for 4 years, and was more heavily revised in 2008 to the horrible looking car you see here. Similar to what Chevrolet attempted with the Aveo (but less successfully, if that's even possible), they managed to graft on the now corporate "gigantic Chevrolet split grille".

Things will change soon, however. 2012 is the last model year for the Chevy Chevy, as it's slated to be replaced by the Spark. The gigantic split grille will soldier on, albeit in a more attractive body.

2012 Chevrolet Cobalt

Yes, you are reading that right. Chevrolet has decided to further drag the Cobalt name through the dirt and attach it to an ugly little car destined for South America that looks a lot like an Aveo with a Malibu nose uncomfortably shrink wrapped to the front. Luckily, we'll never see it.

1979 Kanzler

I can’t find much info on this car, other than the fact that it’s an Opel GT stretched to the limits of sanity. It’s powered by a 351 Ford V8 (not sure if it could even sustain forward motion with the original powerplant as it now weighs over 4400 pounds), and somewhat ironically Liberace owned one of this vaguely phallic looking cars. The grille breaks ground in the neoclassic world, in that it appears it could have been had without one.

Leata Cabalero

Leata started off innocently enough, producing microcars in the 1975 with an innocent 1940’s era look to them, much less offensive to look at then the sudden influx of microcars that appeared 20-25 years prior. Sadly things went awry, and a total of 22 cars were produced in what ended up being it’s only model year. The main issue was mostly likely price – this hand built car was tiny and pricy. At $3,295, it cost $500 more than a Pinto, a car that dwarfed it and to most offered a lot more for less money.

Then things got strange. Not willing to give up, the founder restarted production with the car above. It was still small, but instead of being hand built and inoffensive, it became an offensive rebody of a car that isn’t necessarily a shining beacon of quality – the Chevrolet Chevette.

Taking the standard styling cues of neoclassic cars that were all the rage in the 1970s (Rolls inspired grille and front end treatment, fenders flares, vinyl roofs), it had the appearance of a squashed Monte Carlo or Grand Prix. It could even be had with the world’s most awkward looking opera windows. Also available was a slightly better looking pickup, also based on the Chevette (basically looking like the Cabalero coupe with a C/K tail grafted on). Even with this cheaper construction method, the company still lost money on every car it sold.