Unique And Beautiful Cars In The Word
Unique And Beautiful Cars In The Word
The world of cars is full of unique and beautiful vehicles, each with its own story to tell. From sleek and futuristic to classic and nostalgic, there's a car for everyone. Here are just a few examples:
Volkswagen Scirocco
The Golf GTI may get a lot of attention, but Volkswagen already had a sporty, front-drive car two years before the hot hatch. It was the Scirocco coupe that used the same 110bhp 1.6-litre engine, although the Scirocco was faster with 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds compared to the GTI's 8.7. The first Scirocco was styled by Giugiaro, while the second-generation looks were written in-house to free up more rear headroom.
Volkswagen Polo
It may not have replaced the Beetle, but the Volkswagen Polo finally introduced something thoroughly modern to the company's range when it arrived in 1975. A hatchback with clean Breton styling, a spacious cabin, and secure handling made it a very German rival to the Renault 5. And the Ford Fiesta. The second-generation Polo was launched in 1981 as a small estate, dubbed the 'Bridvan', while the hatch model was called the Coupé when it arrived in 1983.
Volkswagen Golf
A default choice for many drivers, it's easy to see how the Volkswagen Golf has continually evolved to meet the needs and desires of a wide band of drivers. Whether it's simple family transport, a hot hatch, convertible, or high performance you're after, the Golf does it and does it very well. The first Golf Cabriolet remained in production until 1993 due to the prohibitive cost of converting the Mk2 hatch to a drop top. In South Africa, VW continued to build the Mk1 Golf, known as the Citi Golf, until 2009.
Volkswagen Beetle
Not just a German, German car. Originally intended as a people's car for Hitler's Germany and designed before World War II, it was the British Army that started production of the Volkswagen Beetle properly in 1946. These early cars only made 25bhp, but the VW proved durable and easy to drive. The last VW Beetle of this original design was discontinued in Mexico in 2003 after nearly 21.5 million cars were produced.
Trabant
Trabant introduced its first car in 1957 as a car for the people of East Germany, although the usual wait to get hold of one was around 10 years. However, the Trabant was ingenious in one respect – and thus deserves a place in this story – because the body panels were made from Duroplast, a plastic made from recycled cotton waste.
Ruf CTR
Mention the name 'Yellowbird' and any petrol enthusiast will know exactly what car you're talking about. Roof CTR was popularized by a film by Roshan Yellow Company. The original CTR had a 3.4-litre, 463bhp turbocharged engine, but it was based on the 3.2-litre Carrera rather than the 911 Turbo.
Porsche Boxster
Porsche fell on hard times in the mid-1990s and the Boxster was a way out of the financial quagmire. It did this by luring new, younger buyers with a mid-engine roadster that had enough performance to thrill those customers without scaring them off. The plan worked, with the Boxster and the new 996 generation of the 911 sharing everything beyond the windscreen. Demand for the Boxster was so high that from 1997 Porsche used a second factory run by Valmet in Finland.
Porsche 928
Had Porsche 928 launched alongside the 911 as a grand touring luxury coupe, and it played that role well. A 4.5-litre V8 with 240bhp offered a top speed of 150mph and the engine continued to increase in capacity and power throughout its life to remain competitive.
Porsche 911
Has a car ever been more intrinsically linked to the firm that makes it? It's impossible to think of Porsche without the influence of the 911. It's been around unchanged since 1964, even if the car's size and power outputs have grown considerably. For some, the air-cooled models will always belong to the 911, but the water-cooled 996 brought the 911 into the modern era.
Porsche 356
The first 49 Porsche 356s were built in Gmünd, Austria, but this little sports car is forever associated with Germany and the creator, Ferrari Porsche. With modest power output in most models, the 356 relied on light weight, aerodynamics and superb handling to beat the opposition. Success in America gave the company stability and the 356 set the design pattern for the 911 that succeeded it. The 356 continued in production alongside the 911 until 1965.
Opel Monza
Vauxhall's Senator was an excellent alternative to the Ford Granada, while its elegant Opel Monza sibling had filed by for affordable mainstream big coupes by the late 1970s. In top form the 3.0-litre GS/E with 180bhp, the Monza can crack 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds and top out at 120mph. The GS/E was also notable for its digital dash display.
Opel Manta
Opel quickly responded to Ford's Capri with its Manta Coupe, a car that looked to American muscle cars for its styling. The first generation model, the Manta A, was good, but the B version that followed was great. Better looking, more spacious and, importantly, finer handling. It made full use of its 110bhp in 2.0-litre GT/E form and it went on to continue the Capri until 1988, by which time 603,000 Manta BSs had been built.
NSU Ro80
The NSU Ro80 was named Car of the Year in 1968, largely due to its forward-thinking styling and use of a twin-rotor Winkel rotary engine. It was undoubtedly a nimble car that could easily cruise at high speeds. Sadly, that engine proved unreliable and Volkswagen built just 37,204 Ro80s in its 11-year life before Volkswagen pulled the shutter on the NSU name.
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
At one point, one in every five Mercedes sold worldwide was an E-Class. It remains a very important model, but it was no more emblematic of the company than the W124 form was in the late 1980s. Its build quality and reliability are still legendary and explain why so many of this generation's E-Class are still in daily use around the world. Mercedes also offered an elegant coupe and convertible based on the W124 platform, setting a trend that continues to this day for elegant E-Class variants.
Melkus
Melkus is a credit to company founder Heinz Melkus that he was able to build his RS1000 coupes under the Communist dictatorship of East Germany. Using a three-cylinder 1.0-litre two-stroke engine from Wartburg, the firm managed to build 101 RS1000s, and also built a Formula Junior single-seater using the same mechanical base. Melkos is a speedy car, because it was the sport car.
Ford Sierra
While anything with 'Cosworth' in the name gets immediate attention, the mainstream Ford Sierra is easy to overlook. Its streamlined styling and hatchback were essentially departures from the Cortina, although the mechanical similarities were more obvious underneath. Wagon, saloon, hot hatch, and four-wheel-drive models were all added to the lineup, with sales totaling 3.44 million.
Ford Capri
The Ford Capri has Anglo-German roots, built in both the UK and Germany as Europe's answer to the Mustang in the US. It was a runaway success, selling around 1.9 million over three generations. The most powerful early models used the Essex V6 engine, named after the county where it was born in the UK, but European buyers were offered the Cologne V6 in 2.0- and 2.3-liter capacities. Ford then used the German-built Cologne V6 as the basis for the RS2600 to adapt the Capri for racing in the European Touring Car Championship in 1971.
Borgward Isabella
The Borgward Isabella could be considered Germany's answer to the Lancia Aurelia as it was beautiful, cleverly engineered and good to drive. The saloon Isabella, named after the wife of company founder Carl Borgward, arrived in 1954 with a 1.5 liter engine with an alloy cylinder head. It was joined a year later by a very rare cabriolet alongside the coupe. It was an ideal car.
BMW 5 Series
BMW's stalwart 5 Series made its debut in 1972 with a four-cylinder version of the E12 generation, followed by six-pot models a year later. However, it is the fourth generation E39 that is the definitive 5 Series. Undefeated in nearly every magazine's competition test, the E39 offered something for every middle manager from the entry-point 520i to the supreme M5. A huge sell for BMW, 250,000 E39s were built a year and total sales were around 1.5 million.
BMW E30 M3
Not only one of Germany's best cars, BMW's first M3 helped define the 1980s as a decade. It came with blistered wheel arches, a lowered stance and was a bespoke model with a completely different rear window angle than the standard 3 Series two-door model. BMW originally planned for 5,000 cars to qualify for the European Touring Car Championship, but demand dictated the final number of 17,184 E30 M3s.
BMW 2002
The 1502 and 1602 introduced the world to small BMW saloons, but it was the 2002 that set the template for what followed, most notably the 3 Series. With 100bhp, the 2002's 2.0-litre engine gave it a top speed of over 100mph when most rivals struggled to hit 90mph. Then BMW introduced the 2002tii with 130bhp, fuel injection and 120mph. The rare Turbo then offered a top-end 170bhp and tail-happy handling.
Bitter SC
Eric Bitter started his company in 1969 to offer bespoke cars on Opel platforms and ring gear. The firm really hit its stride with the elegant SC, which offered saloon, coupe and convertible guises. Initially, the 180bhp Opel 3.0-litre engine was a bit underwhelming, but the 210bhp 3.5-litre unit solved this and delivered 0-62mph in 7.6 seconds and 140mph.
Audi Quattro
This is the car on which Audi has based its entire modern brand. Thanks to the company's desire to go rallying, it created not only the name, but also the legend of the Quattro all-wheel drive system. The original idea for the four-wheel drive layout came from a military truck, but it was quickly refined to become a world beater on stage and on the road.
The Quattro 20v survived in production until 1991, and it will prove to be a famous car
Alpina B3
There is an Alpina B3 for every generation of the BMW 3 Series, with the tuning firm adding extra performance. It all started with the B3 2.7 based on the E30 3 Series and since then these bespoke models have offered a subtle, sharp alternative to BMW's own M3 models. Where BMW isn't and they have Alpina B3.
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