The last two decades have opened a lot of doors for those that want to personalize their cars, and these days there’s a massive offering of aftermarket parts available. How you use those parts defines who you are, and it defines the journey you and your car take together. This concept might not be understood by everyone, but there’s a genuine bond between man and machine once you’ve started putting blood, sweat (and sometimes tears) into your favorite ride. Some people have a real knack for modifying and come up with some pretty wild combinations that actually look really good for that specific make and model of vehicle. Others, however, have no idea what they are doing and put together some combinations that the rest of the world wouldn’t be seen dead in.

These days it seems like there are aftermarket parts for just about anything with wheels. Today, we’re going to talk about cars from the 90s era. Some cars from the 90s were the absolute best things going at the time. Some of them even served as a brutal reminder of the last time an automaker actually did something right. On the other hand, there were plenty that were meant to merely exist. And, that’s kind of what we’re here to talk about today. We’ve compiled a list of cars from the 90s with modifications that make absolutely no sense. Some of them could have looked good had they modified in the right way while others had no business being modified at all.

14 E36 BMW 3 Series

The E36 generation of the BMW 3 Series spanned an entire decade from 1990 all the way to 2000. It was a fairly sporty car, even in sedan and convertible form. These days it’s a decent candidate for modification. Even BMW Blog points out how truly satisfying the E36 3 Series (especially the M3) really is. The problem is, there’s a lot of folks out there that are lost when it comes to what you do with German cars, and the car you see here is a prime example of that. The car body itself is gorgeous – there’s no overzealous body kit ruining the car’s heritage or a non-function hood scoop. There isn’t even a fart can (that we know of) ruining the natural German-engineered soundtrack spit so gracefully from a precisely built engine. Even the lowering kit isn’t that bad, as the E36 sedans and convertible coupes do look pretty good when slammed to the ground. That “stanced” appearance just ruins the whole package, though. Why would someone kick out the wheels on a beauty like this? Someone find this car and fix it quick.

13 First-Gen Dodge Neon

As NADA Guides points out, the Dodge Neon was a compact economy car that was aimed at models like the Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla. Those cars may have been, and still can be, a prime choice for an affordable mod project. The Dodge Neon, however, despite its ability to be competitive on the fuel economy front, has no business being anything more than the compact, family hauler that it is.

For some reason, though, aftermarket companies decided to make body kits for it, and that’s why your left eye is twitching a bit as you’re trying to figure out what it is you’re looking at here.

It might look like a big-eyed, smiling guppy, but I promise you that it’s just a Dodge Neon with a weird body kit, some strange grille mesh, and really dumb spoiler that makes about as much sense as a turbocharger on an electric car. Be that as it may, someone thought it looked cool. For us, though, it makes absolutely no sense. At least the owner didn’t add on those glue-on fender flares, right?

12 Toyota Camry

Where do we even start with this one? Just look at those massive wheels. Yeah, they have a nice design and all, but they look absolutely ridiculous here and probably make it nearly impossible to take a corner. To put effects of these massive wheels into perspective, Carfolio says the 92 Camry, in stock configuration, sat just 5.7 inches off the ground. Meanwhile, this thing sits higher than some modern SUVs.

It’s still not as bad as those modified door hinges that make getting into the front seat a nightmare, though. The rear doors make ingress and egress quite simple, but you can’t sit back there anyway thanks to the pointless screens in the backrests of the rear seat. We can’t even begin to figure out why someone would put a pair of screens there, but to each their own, right? In the end, this is one car that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

11 Chevy Malibu

Cars.com may report that the late-90s Chevy Malibu was about as reliable as they come, but that doesn’t excuse what has been done to this poor vehicle. We could even look past the lowering kit, red brake calipers, and the wheels. That hood and body kit, on the other hand, is just beyond pointless.

This is supposed to be a family car and was even found on a lot of car rental lots as a fleet car.

We didn’t even know aftermarket companies made body kits for these things, so the person responsible must have spent either a lot of time searching for one or a decent amount of money to have one made. At least it doesn’t have a big, pointless spoiler on the rear deck, but someone sure thought it would be cool to slap an SS badge on the door. At that point, you can say that someone took things just a little too far.

10 Mitsubishi Galant

The Mitsubishi 3000GT and the Mitsubishi Lancer were cool cars, but the Galant? Yeah; not so much. According to Autoblog, it was designed with the purpose of taking on the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, two other cars that should be left alone. But, for some reason, someone thought doing some quick mods to this midsized family car would be a good idea. They didn’t take things too far, but it looks like it’s been lowered, that weird fin on the back is just as awkward as the black and white paint finish, and what is with the blacked out tail lights? I guess we can give someone an A for effort but as far as execution? Well, let’s leave that for another discussion.

9 Geo Metro

Yes; this is a Geo Metro. And yes; those are side pipes running along the low edge of the car. According to Consumerguide.com, the Geo Metro was supposed to be an economy car, and anyone who had one at any point in their life would agree. Well, except for the owner of this one, anyway.

It sure does look like there’s something else under the hood, doesn’t it?

There'd better be, anyway, considering the side pipes, the blower on top of the hood, and the tachometer on the dash. We’re not sure what it could be since there’s almost no room under the hood, so until we know, we’ll write this one off as another senseless modified car.

8 Ford Mustang

The general rule when it comes to modifying a car is that you don’t do crazy ricer stuff to something associated with muscle. In this case, we’re talking about a mid-90s Mustang, so there’s not a lot of real muscle there, but it has heritage. Well, it did have some kind of roots to muscle until someone installed what has to be the most ridiculous body kit to ever land on a Mustang. From the weird wide fenders to the two-level spoiler, to the weird protrusions on the roof, this thing is just the definition of ridiculous.

Of course, the color choice itself isn’t helping. Maroon and orange? Really? And, what is with those weird protrusions on the rear quarters or the fish-scale covers over the rear pillars? We have to chalk this one off as being a joke, but sadly, it may not be. Either way, it falls on the far side of senseless and that’s why we’ve left it right here on this list. If you have a Mustang, folks, don’t mod it like a ricer with a weird body kit – especially one that looks this bad.

7 Ford Probe

The Mazda-based, FWD, Ford Probe almost started life as a Ford Mustang but, as pointed out by Hemmings, word got out, and letters of protest started coming in. Long story short, the Mustang continued on with RWD, but we still ended up with a small, Ford-branded, FWD car known as the Ford Probe. It wasn’t fast by any means, and aftermarket performance parts aren’t exactly plentiful either.

But, it’s Ford’s version of what the BRZ is to Subaru today – something that’s meant to handle well, not wreck the quarter mile.

Some people have managed to modify the Ford Probe successfully, but then we stumbled across this one, and it reminded us of just how many poorly modded examples there are out there. This one has a Nissan-ish front end to go with one wiper, ridiculous ride height (probably hydraulics,) and some gaudy wheels that kind of work with the paint scheme but not the body style. The thing that makes it the worst, though, is that face painted on the door… yikes.

6 Chevy Camaro

The fourth-gen Camaro was a huge departure from the muscular and overly sharp third-gen model, and it doesn’t really get a lot of love either. But, if you can look past the typical GM crap, it was a pretty decent car. As Road & Track points out, however, it’s hard to find one these days that hasn’t been crashed, stolen, or modified “in the most horrifying fashion.”

Case in point: This example of a “modified” fourth-gen Camaro. I’m really not sure what I should complain about first. There isn’t a whole lot of modification going on here, but the body wrap with the weird shapes is just atrocious. Those wheels are even worse, but the owner even went so far as to add the body wrap to the inner cover of the wheels. This isn’t just a modded car from the 90s that makes no sense. It’s quite possibly the worst modded fourth-gen Camaro of all time. We hope to God that it doesn’t have a fart can sticking out of the rear end but, at this point, we wouldn’t rule it out.

5 Hyundai Tiburon

Way before Hyundai actually became a company that’s known for building decent cars; it built econoboxes to stay afloat while it found its place in the world. Then in 1996, it decided it wanted a sports car that could compete with models like the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Ford Probe, and Toyota Celica, among others. Sadly, the brand dropped the ball.

The first-gen model was slow, with Car & Driver reporting a mind-numbing 16.3-second sprint down the quarter mile. As such, this modified example is a bit perplexing. All show and no go? Yeah; you bet.

There’s no reason for that muscular hood or that overly aggressive body kit. And, it was front-wheel drive so that big spoiler is absolutely pointless as well. The color choice? Well, we’ll leave that discussion for another time. Either way, the first-gen model you see here was offered with a four-cylinder that had limited tunability, so the whole package you see here makes little sense.

4 Ford Escort ZX2

The Ford Escort was never really synonymous with performance outside of the Euro-spec Cosworth models. The ZX2, however, did offer a decent bang for your buck when new, though. As Motor Trend points out, the 1998 model, in specific, came back with rave reviews from drivers in terms of acceleration, overall performance, and maneuverability. One person even said it was a “blast to drive.” So, it was a driver’s car – not fast in the quarter mile but quick in the twisties.

This particular model, however, takes things a little too far. The under-hood work is nice, and the wheels aren’t even that bad. The lower body kit is okay as it’s quite sporty, but those doors are just something else. This thing was difficult for most people to climb into but when you add in those scissor doors, it has to be a real pain. To top things off, that spoiler in the rear is about the same size as the deck lid its mounted on, and it’s FWD anyway, so it's purely aesthetic. It’s not the worst looking car on this list, but some of the mods here still don’t make a lot of sense.

3 Toyota Corolla

The mid-90s Corolla wasn’t the best-looking sedan on the block but, as people are still reporting on Cars.com, it was very reliable. It was essentially the definition of Japanese reliability and, as time went on, plenty of aftermarket companies started offering up performance parts. The truth is, however, that it’s hard to make a boxy, mid-90s Corolla look good. This car is one example of valiant effort, poor execution.

The sporty headlights and not-so-aggressive body kit get an A+ in our book. The rally-style single wiper doesn’t really work on sedans, though, and just how do passengers get inside if they weigh more than 90 pounds?

Scissor doors are cool and all, but only when they open all of the way up. The body graphic isn’t that bad, but the fake fender vents are pretty misleading. Rounding the package off is the high probability of a fart can in the rear. On the plus side, the door trim panels look pretty cool and there isn’t a big dumb spoiler, so it gets a few points for that. Overall, though, it’s a bit senseless in our book.

2 Mazda MX-5 Miata

Mazda took a chance with the Miata, and it hit a home run. As Auto Trader points out, there just wasn’t another two-seater roadster on the market that was cheap, affordable, and reliable. It’s even been the basis for a number of famously cool mod projects. With that, however, comes a plethora of modded examples that just make you ask why. The car you see here is one of those examples.

At a quick glance, one would assume it’s designed for track use. The big spoiler in the rear would make sense as it’s RWD but the graphic on the front fascia? That just makes it look like a ninja turtle with some weird war paint on its face. The whole stance thing makes it impossible for this thing to take curves, so there goes the track theory, and the wheels are downright ugly too. By the way, are those speakers in the headlights or just some funky LED setup? Senseless? Yeah; you could say that.

1 1989 Honda Accord

Alright, I know we said 90s cars, but this one was just too good to pass up as a final entry for such an entertaining list. This is an 89 Honda Accord, and it rocks the body style that came before the 1990 revamp. These cars were reliable but picky. Comfortable but compact. I’ve even heard the LXi trim levels be referred to as a “poor man’s BMW.” You don’t usually see them modded, though. Yet here we are looking at what has to be more of a joke car than anything else.

Does it have a lowering kit? Probably not – these things were notorious for sitting low to the ground in their elder years, but maybe it has one.

At least it isn’t stanced, so that’s nice. One really has to question what the owner was thinking when it comes to the side view mirrors and that wrap on the lower part of the front fascia. We’re pretty sure that’s actually wallpaper – you know, the kind you use in your bedroom or bathroom. Given his thumbs up in the picture, we’re guessing the owner is just making the best of a bad situation. So, is the car itself really senseless? No, not really, but those sideview mirrors were enough to land it at the bottom of this list.

Sources: Cars.com, Motor Trend, Auto Trader, Car & Driver