Ugly cars in the 60s to 90s

[downbeatplumb]

Didn't Hitler order these to be made?

In 1933, Adolf Hitler gave the order to Ferdinand Porsche to develop a Volkswagen (literally, "people's car" in German, pronounced [ˈfɔlksvaːɡən]). The epithet Volks- literally, "people's-" had been previously applied to other Nazi sponsored consumer goods such as the Volksempfänger ("people's radio"). Hitler required a basic vehicle capable of transporting two adults and three children at 100 km/h (62 mph). The "People's Car" would be available to citizens of the Third Reich through a savings scheme, or Sparkarte (savings booklet),[14] at 990 Reichsmark, about the price of a small motorcycle (an average income being around 32RM a week)

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Something completely different]

Yes he did. More acuratly the nsdap conned people.

The propaganda was that if a average german worker would pay 20 marks a week into a state provided savings fond, he would get a VW Käfer after 1 year.
But the people who did so were conned, since the fonds were used to finance the war and almoust all VW factories were producing ammunitions, arms and tanks back then.
The car was basicaly only designed back then and few were produced.

The Käfer became a sucsess after world war two during the "Wirtschaftswunder" (economical wonder) years in the 1950s, as a cheap, simple, easy to understand and long lasting car.
Which is how VW also markets it`s products today.

[downbeatplumb]

And don't forget it was Porshe designed.

[jonb]

Actually you would find, a massive amount of british input into both the car and the factory.

Mind you when a thing works well it's always surprising how many people like to claim they had a hand in it.

[Tobie]

The Austin Princess in all her majesty.


And the build quality was actually worse than its looks!

No matter how crappy BL Austins were, I would still love to own one (or several).

[Ryantology]

That was my mom's car, growing up. A wonderful car for four people to cram inside and take long-ass road trips. Look at how I just lied to you. This car gave my mom a terrible case of Stockholm Syndrome, she put two new engines in this thing in the span of 11 years.



This was my dad's car, which came before the Honda. Its paint job displays the same charming shade of baby shit green I knew and loved as a kindergartner.

And, the first car I had which lasted more than a few months was this enormous dreadnaught:

[jonb]

My first car was just like this same colour even, but the tyres had white walls.Now that was a tank.

Wolseley 6/99

Mine had duck egg blue leather bench seats and carpet.

My engine was in better condition than above.
Loved her; she was stolen, probably for a destruction-derby as the Wolseley was such a strong car competitors loved them.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

What I mean is it seems like cars up until like the mid 60s looked really classy. They looked curvy and aerodynamic and then for like close to three decades your average car switched into an utilitarian boxy shape.

[jonb]

In the middle eighties one of my clients was fords, you would not believe the fights car designers had to bring back curved lines to cars.

[KichigaiNeko]

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My granddad drove this car for 40 years:



Then my mum drove it for another 20.

If I am not mistaken it must still be at her place and still working.
It is such a simple masterpiece of ingenering. Even a complet technik-noob like myself can screw it appart and put it together again, aswell as can learn to understand how to make repairs.
And it`s a nice drive, although being fuck ugly.

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The VW was my mum's first car!! It took us everywhere when I was growing up...then it got too small for four teenagers