Old Land Rovers and aluminium construction.

[Bob Eager]

I always thought (until I saw that Tesla) that the ugliest car was the Austin Metropolitan. Anyone remember that?

[Max Demian]

Yes, all the "real" Land Rovers had aluminium body panels on a steel chassis with a steel frame for parts of the body.

[charles]

nearly bought one, in 1964; ended up with an Anglia instead.

[Andrew]

One of those appears at local classic car rallies. Ahead of its time in 1950 with a flat four alloy boxer engine with twin zenith carbs and front-wheel drive.

The owner seemed to think that the company that built the bodies was bought by Ford and that was why the company folded.

Andrew

[Andrew]

You could remove all the aluminium panels, flooring and doors and still have a driveable vehicle (steel chassis, steel bulkhead, leaf springs all round).

[Adrian]

Not forgetting the radiator panel, which was also steel. And yes, you did have a driveable vehicle, I've done it, over a short distance on private land.

Adrian

[Colin Bignell]

I saw the odd one, but it was an American designed car, intended for sale in the USA, but built in the UK to save costs, so most of them were shipped to America.

For odd looking cars (pre-Tesla) there is little to beat the cars produced in post-war Germany, such as the Fuldamobil:

[Rod Speed]

Guess again. They were intended to be more comfortable for those who needed a decent 4WD because the Toyota Landcruiser was eating their lunch.

[Rod Speed]

Brian Gaff [e-mail] wrote

Nope, and google doesnt either. Never seen that before.

Not even in any museum that I can find.

[David]

Saw one outside a restaurant on display in Christchurch NZ end of last year.

Basically an Austin Cambridge with a fibreglass body.

Nice looking car.

Cheers

Dave R

[Rod Speed]

Certainly quite ugly, particularly with the 2 tone paint scheme, but there are plenty of cars that are uglier than that, most obviously with the Citroen 2CV