There was a time when one could reliably expect, with only a few exceptions, the entire external surface of a car from the rear-view mirrors down to the rocker panels to present nothing to the eye but painted sheetmetal. Perhaps there was a rub strip over the doors, but that’s it. Today, it’s increasingly likely that you’ll find some acreage of plastic below the beltline, if not higher, with highly variable results as far as styling enhancement or dehancement goes.
The stylistic success or failure of body cladding is all in the eye of the beholder, of course, and one person’s “I dig that body kit” is another’s “Dude’s car looks like a sneaker.” And that brings us to today’s ask: What cars would you induct into the Body Cladding Hall Of Fame? (Related: I can only imagine what such a Hall of Fame would look like).
Spacer
Let’s consider some of the standouts in the plastic-clad category, in no particular order. As seen in the topshot, the Isuzu Vehicross looms large with its bulbous skirting, looking sort of like it’s riding in an inner tube. Bonus points for the dotted line of hardware along the top edge (is it functional?) to further signal added-on-ness, as if the stark contrast between body color and plastic-black weren’t enough. And yet, I love it.
The Chevy Avalanche earns a spot in the Hall of Fame with its in-your-face cladding. In addition to the two-tone look it provides, Chevy turned up the tough with what appear to be five teeth and a substantial set of gums spanning the side doors. Cool, I guess?
If the look wasn’t for you, good news: Chevy also offered the ‘Lanche “WBH,” Without Body Hardware, resulting in the considerably smoother, more sedate look above.
Pontiac probably deserves its own wing in the Hall of Fame, with the armor-wearing Aztek as a standout example. But let’s not sleep on Pontiac’s sedans and coupes, including the Bonneville SSEi and Grand Am below. Of course, these are mere iceberg tips when it comes to the injection-molded excesses of the Excitement brand.
I could easily keep going, but this is Autopian Asks, not Autopian Tells. And so, it’s your turn: What Cars Would You Induct Into The Body Cladding Hall Of Fame?
Top graphic image: Cars And BidsÂ
Saab 900 SPG is the only answer. It was Tupperware that actually improved performance and looked super cool.
The 1st gen Citroen C4 Cactus, with its “air bumpers” surely deserves to be inducted
This was going to be my nominee as well. This commend deserves more smileys.
I think the Citroën Méhari is the undisputed champion of cladding, and it would be nothing without it.
For good cladding, I submit the W124 and R129 chassis of Mercedes, absolute Sacco stunners. For hideous cladding. I submit the Subaru Solterra with it’s horrifying running eyeliner look
Definitely need to include the Subaru Outback, didn’t it start the whole trend?
Pontiac Transport is my offering.They were NOT fun to pull apart before repairing body damage.All the dirt that cladding held was unbelievable…..and those terrible clip attachments that were integrated on the panels were such a pain to replace.If I remember correctly everything Pontiac made during that era came fully armored.
Honda Element.
Honda Element has the only cladding that is not embarrassing, although I prefer to think of it as plastic fenders.
This^^^
Three colors of cladding offered: Black (Charcoal), Metallic Blue, and Warm Gray. Bonus points for Honda also giving it color themed interiors: blue/gray, green/gray, copper/black, titanium/black, SC red/black.
Fun fact: Chevy’s designers said the Avalanche cladding was inspired by the chunky soles popular on sneakers at the time.
Jeep Wrangler. Unpainted fender cladding has been an option since at least the YJ, and still available today.
I love the early Mercedes-Benz R129s with the two-tone cladding in a coordinating color.
I know the general consensus is the post-facelift SLs are better but for the Autopian Body Cladding Hall of Fame an early 90’s SL600 is the way to go.
The VehiCross in the lede image takes the gold for this one.
Silver goes to the late 90’s Subaru Outback.
Bronze probably goes to the Volvo XC70 “offroad.”
The Renault 25.
The Saturn SL looks in the mirror. Is their body made of cladding? Or is their cladding made of body?
They scream, for they do not know.
Tonight, on The Twilight Zone.
Mercedes-Benz w124. The early models were no cladding and rather trim. Then in 89 they put a full body cladding which was two tone and then after facelift it was body colour paint matched.
They were extremely easy to steal. Back home my buddy had to literally purchase his own cladding back on the used parts market on the market half a day after he woke up into it.
That generation of Bonneville still looks fantastic to this day. And the seats in those were amazing.
You’ve already mentioned the Avalanche, but an Avalanche with cladding that isn’t chalky really does deserve some kind of award.
I mean the early 90’s minivans did the body cladding right.
https://www.edmunds.com/plymouth/grand-voyager/1993/pictures/
It really made the Grands look longer.
Give me some gray or black cladding any day of the week and this child of the 90’s is a happy camper. We had a ZJ with it. It saved us from all kinds of scrapes and dings over the years. My wife’s first-gen CRV had grey plastic bumpers and rub trim. I really do miss some of the low-speed impact protection that basic grey plastic offered us. Life was simpler and less stressful when we lived in an unpainted and clad world.
I drove a 97 ZJ up till 2012. I’d hit the cladding with some satin black Krylon once a year and it looked fantastic. I was not kind to that vehicle as it got older, but it had zero door dings.
Obviously, Pontiac is the ‘Manufacturer of Dishonor’ in the aforementioned ‘Hall of Shame’.
I was going to say, any of the 88-03 Bonneville SSE/SSEi come to mind, since that’s been mentioned though, I’d have to say the Honda Element.
1986 Pontiac Grand Am. The car that started it all.
https://youtu.be/iO25Td0kvgM?feature=shared
Renault 25 was earlier.
I believe you. I just didn’t know about them.
Came to the comments for Saturn, was not disappointed
My buddy still daily’s his vehicross. About once a month he treats all of the cladding with the mothers back to black. It looks pretty good.
The Citroen C4 Cactus (first revision) bet heavily on its cladding. It’s less extensive than some examples here but it was the tastiest inclusion of it IMO.
You beat me to it. I think it’s the best.
No cladding for the sake of looking “tough” but a really thought out execution.
It’s slightly small for my needs otherwise I would own one in blue or yellow with the shitty (but kind of fun) etg6 automatic that is paired with the awesome front bench.
I would nominate the Audi Allroad for actually going in the other direction to most of the soft-roaders already mentioned. They added the bare minimum of grey plastic, and most of it was functional: extended wheel arches and front/rear bumpers that could handle gentle physical contact without shattering into a million pieces.
When it ran…
Yeah – I really just want them to import the Avant with no cladding but the newer Allroads have really gone the opposite direction of Subaru and are really attractive cars.