There is often the platonic ideal of a car. The trim or body style it is intended to be, leaving all other options looking slightly wrong. The Buick Roadmaster is a great example of a car that looks perfect exactly one way: the wagon with the wood. Have you ever seen the sedan? It’s not terrible, but it’s not right.
You can play this game all day long. A Peugeot 504 sedan is a fine automobile and something I’d love to own. But, as Thomas pointed out to me, any reasonable human being would rather have a 504 Coupe. It’s the body style that floats into your brain when someone says “504.”
That’s not always the case. Sometimes a design is so good it works in every configuration and trim. This idea initially came to me from the Autopian Discord (join here!), where Alex? pointed out that every body style and trim of the Corvair is great. Coupe. Sedan. Hell, truck! There’s no such thing as a bad Corvair, just like there’s no war in Albania.
My question is: What’s an example of a car that looks great in every time and body style? My answer, much to the disappointment of Adrian, is the C5 Corvette. From the lowest-spec autotragic silver C5 to the exotic and strangely British Callaway C12, they’re all great. Do I have a preference? Sure, the fixed-roof-coupe Z06 is my preference. Would I kick the 1998 Indy Pace Car out of bed for eating brakes? I would not.
And an Anniversary Red Metallic 50th Anniversary Edition convertible with an early version of Magnetic Selective Ride Control Suspension? Come to Papa.
It can’t be the only one. Name some more cars that look great in every trim or body style.
GMT400 pickups / SUVs. Clean, simple, classic.
I would honestly say almost all volvos with a few rare exceptions, but especially the entire company from 2019 to 2020. Every single car was a work of art inside and out. That and there hasn’t been a single bad looking Cadillac V model.