The Most Beautiful Car Ever? 19 Forum Pages and No Winner

Delahaye, Duesenberg, or F40: The Most Beautiful Car Doesn't Exist

An unanswered question can fill pages for months. What is the most beautiful car humanity has ever produced? The first suggestion wasn't a Ferrari. It was Delahaye, a French marque that disappeared decades ago. After that, with 19 pages of posts later, the verdict is still out. There isn't one most beautiful car. There are more beautiful cars depending on who's looking.

Delahaye and Duesenberg: The Classics That Take the Crown

Interwar French marques received the first mentions. The Duesenberg SJ Speedster Boattail, from the 1930s, quickly became a favorite. Then came the Hispano Suiza H6C Torpedo, the Bugatti 57 Type SC Atlantic, and the Mercedes 540K. The list of classics was rounded out by the Jaguar D-Type for the 50s and the Alfa Romeo Stradale for the 60s.

Some argue that these artisanal coachbuilders—workshops like Henri Chapron's, which worked on contemporary chassis—represent the absolute peak, and everything after is a decline. On the other hand, there's the argument that these are vehicles from another era, built under incomparable technical constraints, and measuring them against a modern sports car is cheating. The 1949 Delahaye 175S was cited, without irony, as the type of model that could single-handedly top any list.

Why Do the 50s and 60s Seem Unsurpassable?

Mid-century saw a concentration of suggestions. One post summed it up precisely: the 1950s and 1960s seem insurpassable in terms of style. The 1958 Chevrolet Corvette appears in this lineup. So does the Aston Martin DB5.

From the F40 to the Diablo: Sports Cars That Break the Tie

When the count seemed decided, the eighties and nineties entered the fray. The Ferrari F40, the Porsche Carrera GT, the BMW M6 E24, and the Lamborghini Diablo, described as the most aggressive car in history. Even the Audi TT, in any of its generations, found defenders.

The Porsche 911 sparked its own debate. Someone tried to endorse the 993 generation with a technical treatise: twin-turbo, larger intercoolers, significant camshaft overlap. The reply was blunt: the handling is poor due to engine placement, and this is about aesthetics, not performance. The German icon, according to that verdict, leaves with its head held low.

The Muscle Car and Beauty as Provocation

American muscle had its space. The Dodge Challenger, especially in its current version, and the 1969 Charger. Also the Phantom Corsair, nicknamed the Flying Wombat.

An ideological point was made: someone noted that these designs are doomed to disappear as an expression of aggressive masculinity. Hispano Suiza appeared with its Carmen series, now electric, and with the complaint that the latest model—the Carmen Sagrera—is bidding farewell with batteries.

The SUV War and the Defense of the Present

The moment of greatest tension arrived when someone defended the new, ostentatious car. The argument: men aged 30 to 40 with money buy SUVs, BMW X6s, and the like, and those who fantasize about cars from 50 years ago are fans without a budget. The response was a frontal attack on contemporary design. According to this view, most millionaires today show up in tuxedos and Lamborghinis, while production cars seem designed without criteria.

The defense of the present remained in the minority. The repeated diagnosis is that automotive design has entered a living death and that the rounded front ends of current models are a response, according to one comment, to aerodynamics, not beauty. The cited exception was, again, the Dodge Challenger.

690,000 Kilometers and Sheet Metal That Yielded Like Paper

Beauty aside, reliability crept into the conversation. One participant recounted that his brother had a SEAT Córdoba SDI with 690,000 kilometers. Another recalled their first purchase: 340,000 pesetas, about 2,000 euros, for a car that spent more time in the shop than on the road. One early morning, at 80 km/h, he braked hard, and the vehicle began to spin like a carousel until it crashed into a tree. He got out through the door that still peine. It didn't catch fire.

From there, a discussion arose about the sheet metal of the era. Another experience: a plumber's R4 van would yield under the weight of a person sitting on the hood.

Why Were Different Cars Sold in the Canary Islands?

The conversation drifted to a less explored corner: models sold in the Canary Islands but not on the mainland. One participant described his car—sky blue, white fiberglass roof, hand crank start, and a Tenerife license plate—registered in 1974 and bought in 1983, which he suspected had arrived imported. As a possible, unconfirmed explanation, taxes were suggested. Another participant recalled that the SEAT Córdoba wasn't sold as the Polo on the mainland but powered young families at an affordable price.

The Problem of Comparing a Hispano Suiza with a Mazda

The most orderly proposal refused to choose a single winner and distributed the podium by decade. Hispano Suiza for the 10s and 20s, Bugatti 57 for the 30s, Mercedes 540K for the 40s, Jaguar D-Type for the 50s, Alfa Romeo Stradale for the 60s, the Lotus 72 for the 70s, the Jaguar XJ220 Concept for the 80s, and the Mazda 787B for the 90s. Conclusion: from then on, design plummeted.

There were also those who had planned to cross the Sahara in SUVs and changed cars at the last minute for some Nissans. It went badly. The lesson learned: for serious business, either a Toyota or a Land Rover Defender. Beauty, at least, doesn't leave you stranded in the desert.

The tally is still open, and no one has won. A minor detail for those seeking the most beautiful.