I was flicking through the pages of one of our freshly delivered auction catalogues when it struck me – when did cars start becoming ugly? Or, more accurately, when did good looks become all about large wheels, multiple exhausts and flash-tastic bodykits?
The car that got me thinking was a 1967 Mercedes-Benz 300SE Cabriolet and the car that made wonder what’s gone wrong was a Youngtimer SL of 2000 vintage (something like the one shown below). A “pimp’s car” my father would say.
But whose fault is it? I think it’s the endless quest for performance, and the need to shout about it, that should shoulder the majority of the blame.
The 300SE is a case in point. The wheels are steel, the lines are simple, but everything about it oozes uncompromising quality. The interior mirrors the outside – nothing flash, but it’s all clear, simple, classy.
Meanwhile the SL – with its low suspension – looks like it’s been sat on, the pokey-outy exhaust may as well have been salvaged from several youths’ Corsas and the interior, well, the less said about that the better.
But if the Germans can be accused of turning a trifle vulgar, what can we say about the boys from Maranello?
An office consultation confirms my fears. The 458 is good looking – in a dramatic sense – but we’d bin the rest on stylistic terms.
