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 Bids
Every car should be cladded.
1980 Fiat Panda, 1977-84 Matra Rancho, Renault 4 GTL
Land Rover LR3. The facelift LR4 had painted cladding to look more premium but the 2005-2009 were plastic galore.
Citroën Mehari ?
I have to vote for the 1993-1998 Jeep ZJ Grand Cherokee.
My wife has a 1997, which has the body-color cladding all over. The painted cladding is much less damage-resistant than the unpainted stuff, but when she scraped the side of the car it was very easy to find replacement cladding in the right color from the junkyard. 20 mins work and it looked great again!
When cleaned up, I still think ZJs look great.
We had a ’94 V-8. I don’t think we ever scraped it on anything. I liked the looks of that Gen. The WJ and the WK looked ok, but they lost me (looks-wise) with the 2021 WL. I kind of wished we had bought the six-cylinder version because the V-8 was thirsty, but I don’t know if the six would have been much better.
The ’94 was scary unreliable, but it settled down before our 36 month/36,000 mile warranty was up and treated us well until we sold it with 102,000 on the clock and bought a 2006 Honda CR-V to replace it. The only thing wrong then (that I know of) was a weeping water pump.
But after its first winter in Cleveland, the amount of corrosion underneath was astonishing. We moved to Seattle, and they don’t use salt. Just sand and potassium acetate (I think). But up on a lift for some warranty repair, not long after moving to Seattle, the rust underneath was kinda mind-blowing.
Not a big fan of the sand. I went for a ride on my motorcycle on a very nice day in January, went through a patch of sand going around a corner and ended up with a broken clutch handle and two broken ribs.
What about Saturns and Fieros? Aren’t they pretty much all cladding?
The Subaru Outback and Volvo XC70 both used excessive body cladding (along with a lift and some additional features) to turn normal station wagons into SUV/crossover competitors. I’m sure other models have done this but these two stand out in my head.
1993 Grand Cherokee Laredo. I bought one, but I wanted it sans cladding like the base model.
They all had body cladding. There ended up not being a base model without cladding. People have taken off the cladding on some and filled the holes though.
You’re right. Brain cramp on my part.
There were indeed some base models without cladding, they’re just very rare – they had a simple rub strip and nothing else.
David Tracy had one: https://www.jalopnik.com/why-this-holy-grail-jeep-grand-cherokee-is-so-rare-and-1846354856/
1990-92 Cadillac Brougham. Yeah it was kinda ripping off Mercedes but the way it wrapped around the new front bumper looked better than the 80-89 cars. It eliminated that weird front bumper filler.
A couple of others have nominated the Renault 25, but its US-spec cousin – the ‘88-‘92 Eagle Premier – was the high water (highwater?) mark of “ribbed for Euro pleasure” side skirts to my then-young brain.
GM of the 2000s for sure. They even had a Saturn that was almost a whole car of painted body cladding and even unpainted body cladding on top of that. Maybe the original Vue would be the winner.
One that I haven’t seen mentioned yet – the Merkur XR4ti – the early ones. Mine was a 1985, so it had the gray cladding and the double Decker wing, before they kinda toned down the styling a couple years later. I am usually not a fan of unpainted bumpers and such, but I thought it looked pretty good in that car, even if it was a massive pain to care for.
The unpainted cladding on the Toyota Echo was especially ugly for the time
Saab 900 SPG is the only answer. It was Tupperware that actually improved performance and looked super cool.