Body kits have become a popular item for car modifying buffs. The idea is simple enough: adding body panels to your car to make it more aerodynamic, or simply make it look fancier or more aggressive than it really is. You can even use body kits to transform modern cars into more classic versions. Some go much further to modify these cars with wild and crazy kits (see Japan's Bosozuku culture). And plenty of tuner shops like Mansory have gotten famous selling custom body kits for cars.
Too many car modifiers go spectacularly over the top with body kits they no doubt think are amazing but are laughable to anyone else. Many can actually hurt the car's performance and are downright unsafe. Others make it difficult to get around on the road and impossible to park. And a few just make no sense whatsoever. Here are ten laughable attempts at body kits to show how beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.
11 Poor Porsche
Some people can get away with a Porsche body kit so well that actual Porsche owners can be fooled. This is not one of those times. The owner of this Mitsubishi FTO claims the Porsche 356 replica sports a 4 cylinder 1.5-liter engine with the power of a V6.
It's right to be dubious of the claim considering the terrible look that fails to conceal the original form (Look at that sunroof) with the awful front end. That this is sold as equal to a 365 is more laughable than the look itself.
10 Transform This Mess
It's not a good sign when it's impossible to tell what a car even was in the first place. What we have looks like a knock-off Transformers toy only without the charm. There's what appears to be a pickup truck bed with a huge rear spoiler married to a sedan frame.
The open hood panelings are another oddity, and there's even an Autobot-like symbol on the front. Yet there's so much going on that it's hard to appreciate as welding a few different cars together is a look best avoided for most car owners.
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8 Not Ready For Takeoff
A lot of cars boast about being a "jet on wheels." A Mercury Cougar is not one of them. And no amount of fancy body kit making it look like a Grumman F-9 Cougar fighter plane is going to change that. By the way, the F-9 didn't have a propeller so adding it onto the front makes no sense as well as being ugly.
The huge wing blocks visibility and rather than bold and patriotic, the paint job looks lame and laughable. At least Charles James had the guts to put his name on the door so people know exactly who to blame for this crash and burn of a kit.
7 Purrfectly Horrifying
The obsession with making cars look like parade floats is a baffling one, yet this boggles the mind. It appears this was a pickup truck but impossible to tell what type after it's been warped like this. The pink coloring is awful, the rear weighed down by the outrageous tail and the front...
All right, the owner did a fine job crafting the face of a Cheshire Cat, but who wants to see this horror in their rearview mirror while it takes up almost two lanes of traffic? This look should have been put to sleep.
6 Double Trouble
A body kit for a new car is one thing. But doing it for a truly classic automobile feels wrong. This is a 1957 Sphon Convertible, maybe not the best model out there, but for its time still a fun roadster.
It did not deserve to have a kit that slips on an extra set of headlights, fender, and grille. There is no practical reason for any of this as it hurts the car's performance to have so much drilled in, and that body kits on classic automobiles are often a bad idea.
5 Spoiled Too Much
Spoilers on a car aren't a bad idea. As long as the size isn't too much to weigh it down and distract, they're fine. But spoilers on the front? That's baffling for any car, let alone a Nissan GT-R.
It's less a spoiler and looks more like a snowplow on the hood which runs the danger of hitting some obstruction or even another car when driving. It weighs down the Nissan, robbing it of its speed and must be a nightmare to park. It's too easy to say, but this truly spoils the entire car.
4 A Bit Cheesy
Many enjoy going to a storage store and buying up extra boxes. That doesn't mean turning a Cabriolet M into one. The rims are horrific, but the rest is awful as it turns this fine car into one that appears to be a block of cheese.
The car should be able to turn quickly on corners and boost in speed, not appear as if it's ready to be carved up for dinner. It's a bizarre boxy butter body that looks downright nauseous when in movement.
3 Crummy Cayenne
There's so much going on with this, all of it bad. First, there's taking a Porsche Cayenne, a perfectly good German SUV. Look at the top and it's clear the owner decided to shave off the roof and make it a convertible with a tarp over it.
Then, he compounded this error by placing wood paneling on the doors and either a real strip of wood or a large sticker on the hood. The clash of aesthetics is terrible on multiple levels and turns a good SUV into a clown car.
Related: We Can't Stop Staring At These Modified Japanese Sports Cars
2 Fakest Ferrari Ever
In the annals of terrible body kits, this is rather infamous. Everyone wants a Ferrari, and without the cash to own a real one, a body kit is a better bet. Yet trying to pair it with a Pontiac Fiero results in an ugly hodgepodge of a car.
Even someone needing glasses can tell this is in no way a real Ferrari with the terrible shape of a Fiero unable to handle the kit. Did we mention the swinging doors? Enzo Ferrari would weep at this attempt to mimic his offerings.
1 Overweight
If a driver wants to add more safety to his car, that's a plus. Yet wrapping it all up in what looks like a massive airbag is something else. Erwin Wurm has become notable for his "fat cars" that range from actual art sculptures to body kits that make the cars look like driving the Staypuff Marshmellow Man.
Amazingly, this Porsche is actually one of his more pleasing efforts as too many of these kits may be driveable...but why would one want to?
Sources: reddit.com, pinterest.com, caranddriver.com, jalopnik.com