The swinging '60s remains one of the golden highlights of the American automobile industry. It was a period that witnessed the explosion of the muscle car craze and the birth of iconic cars like the Ford Mustang. Car prices cost an average of $2,650, only about a third of what a typical family made in a year. American Carmakers worked endlessly, churning out automobiles aimed at capturing as much of the market as possible.
Some of these cars sported appealing designs that helped rocket them to great heights of fame and popularity. However, there were a few misses too as clearly evidenced by the images below.
8 AMC Rambler Marlin
The Rambler Marlin had its debut in 1965 and was marketed as a personal luxury coupe. It was produced by American Motors Corporation and according to the executives, the main reason was to attract attention to the brand.
Well, you can be sure they did attract attention, just not the type they would have wanted. The Marlin's most prominent feature, that sloping fastback roofline that extended all the way to the rear bumper, was not to everyone's tastes. The car was gone before the end of 1967, just 2two years after its first launch.
7 Checker Marathon
This was another oddity that emerged during the '60s in the form of a passenger car manufactured by the now-defunct Checker Motors Corporation. The Marathon existed in sedan and station wagon forms and then there was the rarer 8-door wagon, none of which were particularly appealing to the eye.
The Checker Marathon just had too much going on with the headlights cluster and 'upside-down' grille. The car was introduced in 1961 and remained in production till 1982; a period that witnessed very minimal changes to the car's exterior design.
6 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona
The '69 Charger Daytona is widely regarded as a muscle car icon today for being a car that broke records by virtue of its insane speed and performance. It is something of a prized collective today too but that does not detract from the fact that it was one of the ugliest cars of its era.
The exaggerated wing pillars look laughingly out of place mounted on the rear like that. Then there's the issue of the nose cone—an addition that worked wonders for the car's aerodynamics at the cost of aesthetics.
5 1961 Plymouth Valiant Station Wagon
The Valiant is one of the ugliest cars ever made in America and the wagon variant stands out even more with an abundance of weird design concepts and styling.
It was an attempt by the designers to present the Valiant as a futuristic model but predictably, the '60s era car community was not ready for such an outlandish design and generally ignored the car. There's a good reason it was one of the lowest-priced 4-door station wagons in America.
4 1961 Dodge Dart
The 'Dart' name was used by Dodge for a line of automobiles marketed in America from 1959 to 1976. They were generally okay in terms of their styling especially when considered alongside other cars from that period. The 1961 Dart however exists as a clear exception.
It was marketed as a full-size personal car to mark the end of the first-generation Dart models. To be fair, the car actually seems quite normal from most angles apart from that front end. It looks like the metal frame was melting, causing the front of the car to droop.
3 1966 King Midget
The Midget Motors Corporation was started in 1946 by a group of World War II air patrol pilots. That perhaps explains why they came up with the concept of tiny cars with interior space comparable to an aircraft's cockpit.
The company was still going strong in the '60s but judging by the images shown here, the company’s products did not evolve much. The King Midget was about the size of a golf cart and looked like it was built by knocking together a few scraps of metal. Those headlights only added to the overall comical appearance of the car.
2 1960 Imperial Crown Southampton
The Imperial was Chrysler's luxury brand that existed from 1955 to 1975 before another brief stint from 1981 to 1983. Even automobile designer Virgil Exner admitted he’d “given birth to a Frankenstein.”
That title might seem a bit harsh but you'd be hard-pressed to come up with any points in the car's favor, especially where the design is concerned. It's a wonder no one questioned the sketches as they moved along the approval process.
1 1961 Plymouth Fury
Chrysler was known for being very creative with their car designs but there were times when they clearly went too far. How else can one explain the ridiculous snarl on the Plymouth Fury or the weird bulges over the front wheel arches?
Unfortunately, that was not all that seemed to be very wrong with the car. The coupes had a roofline that sloped steeply towards the back in the name of style. However, that 'style' not only looks wonky but also sacrifices valuable headroom at the rear.