The 10 best automotive facelifts – and 10 that went wrong

Some of the best nips ’n’ tucks, plus those that are a load of old Botox

If a design is right, it will always be right and won’t ever need altering. But life ain’t like that. Manufacturers need to keep a model in production until they have paid for its tooling, or are ready to replace it. So there comes a time when a little freshen-up is deemed necessary.

Sometimes, too, they just can’t resist fiddling. Then there are those designs that aren’t right, such as the off-puttingly ugly original Citroën Visa, restyled in a panic by Heuliez; contrast this with the long, facelift-free life of the Peugeot 205. Finally, there are cars that receive evolutionary changes, year by year. The Americans were traditionally – and cynically – good at this.

But the most striking exemplar is the VW Beetle, which continually received minor retouches, with the result that the last Wolfsburg car of ’75 is very different to that of 30 years earlier. Moving on, there are makeovers so effective that the car becomes a new model. The ’87 Peter Stevens rejig of the Lotus Esprit falls into this category.

Here they are, then: 10 of the best remodellings in automotive history…

Jaguar Mk2

Perfect proof of the sure touch of Jaguar boss Sir William Lyons, this was a magisterial transformation of the heavy-skirted and thick-pillared Mk1.

Out went the full rear spats (already reduced on the 3.4, next slide), out went the turret-like glasshouse with its full-framed steel doors, and in came an airy, chrome-trimmed superstructure. With the poise and the nipped-in haunches that were classic Jaguar motifs, the 1959 Mk2 was everything a sporting saloon should be – helped by the roadholding improvement conferred by the 3¼in added to the rear track.

Anorak fact: There was a one-off Mk2 estate, but its styling was the work of motoring artist Roy Nockolds and the body was built by Jones Bros of Willesden.

Studebaker Lark and Hawk

Design junkies might drone on about the Loewy coupés (’58 Packard Hawk sibling, see the next slide), but the all-important 1953-on sedans and wagons were a commercial disaster.

Cutting-and-shutting to create the ’59 Lark was a brilliant low-buck operation, and pushed sales upwards, but by 1961 there was no way a rehashed ’53 car was going to keep the firm afloat.

Studebaker Lark and Hawk (cont.)

With the kitty empty, Studebaker called in independent designer Brooks Stevens. Using limited skin changes and clever cosmetics, he squared up the styling of the coupés, re-cast the Lark in a similar mould, and introduced the innovative Wagonaire estate with its sliding rear roof.

“On the face of it, the job was impossible,” Stevens told author Richard Langworth. “We had $7m for tooling both cars – normally about enough for a Plymouth doorhandle! We also had only six months before 1962 introduction time.”

Anorak fact: The ’62s came out on time (’63 GT Hawk shown), and sales surged by 45%, helping to buy Studebaker another four years of life.

Mini MkII

The two-and-sixpenny-halfpenny 1967 tweak of the Mini was crisp, harmonious and good enough to last to the end of Mini production.

The long-nosed 1969 Clubman, on the other hand, belongs in the dustbin of facelift history.

Mini MkII (cont.)

“It gave the customer virtually nothing... [but] it enabled us to put up the prices,” admits former BL product planner John Bacchus.

Anorak fact: The bumper corner bars of posher MkIs were dropped; they would have made it awkward to remove the new rear lamp lenses.

1957 Chevrolet

The ’55 Chevy (two-tone green) was a transformational model, bringing not just a new style to the marque but also a lighter structure, improved suspension, 12V electrics... and a V8 engine. But if the low-line looks were a big step forward, they were aesthetically unexceptional.

For ’56 (in red and white) there was a certain firming-up, along with the arrival of modest fins, but the cars really hit their stride with the landmark ’57s. Camp but cohesive, these last-of-series models had more exaggerated fins, shield-like bumpers, and two rocketship bonnet ornaments. All totally useless cheapskate kitsch, of course – but boy did it look good!

Anorak fact: Despite its stylish looks, the ’57 Chevy fell about 60,000 cars short of the ’56 series. GM shifted 1.5 million, all the same.

Simca Aronde P60

Simca boss Henri-Théodore Pigozzi was an adept follower of Detroit’s policy of regular facelifts, and the Aronde went through three new looks in its 12-year life. The most thorough was the 1958 revamp to create the P60 series.

The doors were unchanged, but a new squared-off nose and tail allied to a flatter roof with an undercut rear gave the car a totally fresh appearance. As a youngster, it took me years to realise that this was a tinkering-with of the original rather than a complete re-skin.

Simca Aronde P60 (cont.)

The estate, van and pick-up kept the old body, with its more domed roof, but received the new front end. In this they echoed Simca’s original intention, which was to keep the top unchanged but merely restyle the front and rear.

A run of 700 cars was made to this specification, but when Pigozzi saw these unhappy-looking hybrids he stopped the production lines and ordered a rethink.

Anorak fact: The rejected Arondes were put into storage and eventually sold behind the Iron Curtain as part of a trade deal.

Hillman Minx Series V and Humber Hawk/Super Snipe

As the 1960s advanced, the curved, Stateside-inspired ’50s lines of the Audax-series Minx – all very 1953 Studebaker – began to look sadly dated, and the same could be said of the big Humbers (older car on right).

The first to be facelifted was the Minx family, which received a comprehensive re-skin in 1963. All the hard points remained unchanged, as did the windscreen, front doors and bootlid, but there was a lower bonnet line, sharper front and rear wings, plus a less curved roof with squarer back doors and the suppression of the panoramic rear window.

It was a major new look for a relatively minor investment in new tooling. The Humber rejig of a year later was along similar lines, but additionally had the glasshouse move from a four-light to a six-light configuration.

Anorak fact: There was an attempted final tweak to the Audax Minx, giving it a horizontal-lamp tail

Matra Bagheera

The clever mid-engined Bagheera erred just a little on the effete side in its original form, as launched in 1973.

The ’76 revision (next slide), with wraparound bumpers and enlarged side windows, gave the glassfibre-bodied, Simca-based coupé a much more sporting presence, while preserving the essentials of the three-abreast design.

Matra Bagheera (cont.)

If only build quality – and rustproofing of the steel punt – had been to a similar standard.

Anorak fact: For those with more money than taste, a Courrèges version was briefly offered, named after fashion designer André Courrèges and featuring an all-white body.

Various BMC cars, 1956 and ’57

It’s easy to mock the British motor industry of the 1950s for the unimaginative and sometimes podgy styling of its cars, but BMC sharpened up its entire range with considerable success in 1956 and ’57.

The Minor took on a new lease of life with the bigger front and rear glass of the Minor 1000, launched at the ’56 show, and the droopy-tailed Oxford was given a less lumpy look with the SIII restyle.

Various BMC cars, 1956 and ’57 (cont.)

The Austin A50 (pictured) got the fins-and-duotone treatment at the beginning of ’57 to become the altogether more elegant A55 Cambridge and, later that year, the Wolseley 6/90 and the Pathfinder replacement, the Riley Two-Point-Six, became more graceful when given a bigger rear window.

Anorak fact: BMC went a bit bonkers with its trim and colour combos for the new cars: the Morris Isis was available in 44 permutations of paint and interior for 1958.

Michelotti’s Triumphs

Michelotti earned his spurs reshaping the ersatz-American Standard Vanguard III into the less comical and borderline elegant Vanguard Vignale.

He repeated this magic with the MkII 2000 and 2.5PI of ’69 (pictured), borrowing themes from his Stag to give the big saloons a lengthened front and rear without altering the centre section.

Michelotti’s Triumphs (cont.)

Boosted by this svelte new look, sales jumped, and only fell away in 1974. Michelotti’s skilful re-workings – and let’s not forget Karmann’s masterful transformation of the TR – gave Triumphs a generic and effective family look.

Anorak fact: Because the rear of the 2000 and 2.5PI estates was unchanged, in MkII form they ended up shorter than the saloons.

Citroën DS

Doing something fresh with the extraordinary DS must have counted as the world’s hardest facelift – yet Flaminio Bertoni, creator of the original, carried it off with his characteristic panache.

Developed by successor Robert Opron and colleague Henri Dargent after Bertoni’s death in 1964, the ‘cat’s-eye’ lights recall those conceived for what became the Ami 6 – and those of the Panhard 24CT, for which Bertoni presented a proposal.

Citroën DS (cont.)

Allied to directional inner lamps, the new nose was launched for the ’68 model. ‘The DS has never been a car like any other,’ wrote one French journalist. ‘We’ve already had it sighing at us. Now it’s following us with its eyes!’

Anorak fact: The DS lost its lamp cowls for the US, the lights being housed in a painted aluminium housing; the inners were fixed, a sad example of American safety legislation making a car less safe.

From the best … to the worst

And whilst many facelifts succeed in modernising aged cars by adding a flick of chrome or cropping a few flabby arches, some don't quite do the job.

From oversized bumpers to excessive vinyl, let’s now look at the 10 worst facelifts bestowed upon unfortunate cars…

Volkswagen 1600

The 1500’s delicate bumpers and lamps were replaced by items of sheer crass brutalism in the ’69 facelift. Surely VW could have done better?

Fiat 124 ‘CC’ coupé

Glassy and delicate, the original ‘AC’ coupé of 1967 arguably gained with the 1969 move to twin headlamps. But the ’73 facelift was a horror.

Allegro 3/Maxi 2

These two dumplings needed all the help that they could get, notably in later years. Slapping on black-painted girders and plastic wheeltrims – along with gormless new grilles – was never going to win hearts.

Rubber-bumper MGs

The black urethane growths introduced in ’74 (and hiding a hefty steel armature) complied with US laws, but ruined the B and Midget’s looks.

Alfa Romeo 90

The 1972 Alfetta was pertly inoffensive, if later marred by over-large bumpers. Bertone’s ’84 revamp was a nondescript brick with fiddly detailing.

Standard Vanguard PII

The Phase I got away with its short wheelbase thanks to its fastback rear; this mundane makeover misunderstood aesthetics and proportion.

Citroën CX and GSA

Plastic bumpers spoilt Opron’s carefully detailed CX and GS. “That was Peugeot,” he said, “they didn’t understand a thing. Their shape just doesn’t work.”

Jaguar XJ6 SIII

Clean but bland, Pininfarina’s rehash of the XJ lost all the muscle of the Lyons-directed original, already compromised by the high-bumper SII rejig.

Rover P6

David Bache’s sculpted P6 deserved better than its 1970 tart-up, with eggcrate grille, slatherings of matt-black, plus pointless chrome and vinyl bits.

Lancia Trevi

Effortless winner of the ‘Worst Ever Facelift’ trophy is this three-box bastardisation of the Beta, with hideous slatted infill panel behind the rear doors.