Five years ago, I was lucky enough to attend a lecture given by famous General Motors designer Bill Porter. He highlighted some of his favorite designs and explained why they were so successful. At the end, I asked him what car he considered to be the most beautiful, and his answer surprised me.
He told me his favorite car was the Bugatti 57SC Atlantic, but he wondered out loud if the ’65-’67 Corvair sedan wasn’t the most beautiful car ever designed–high praise from a guy who has forgotten more about automotive design than I’ll ever know. In particular, Mr. Porter noted the C-Pillar of the sedan and how much more well-proportioned it was than the coupe’s when taken as a whole, especially when considering the interface between the sail panel and the rear wheel opening.
I own a Corvair convertible, so there’s a little Corvair bias coursing through my veins; however, when speaking of sedans, I must humbly disagree with Mr. Porter and offer the 1936 Cord 810 Westchester as the most beautiful. In fact, this is one of the few bodystyles where the sedan may be the most attractive variant.
On a more international note, while it’s not my personal favorite, I feel a fair number of folks may choose the Citroen DS as the most beautiful sedan. At the very least, it’s striking.
Let’s narrow this down. Maybe the late Corvair sedan isn’t the most beautiful car in the world, but is it the most beautiful sedan? Is the Cord? Is the Citroen? Is something else? What do you think is the most beautiful sedan of all time?
To me, this is the most beautiful 4-door sedan in the world –
For me, one that I love is the mid-90s Volvo 940. I found it a beautiful evolution of the 700 series with just enough curve added to the sharp edges.
Amazing varied list. Love the Continental, DS, XJ Series 1, Corvair. So how about another, the uber-elegant Bentley S3 Continental Flying Spur?
You’ve saved me the trouble of finding a photo of these, they are very sleek.
+1
This is a tough one. Most 4 door pillarless hardtops are pretty exotic here in Europe, so I just love all of them, chooosing a favourite is a bit tough, but one of the early ones stand out.
Nr. 1 is the 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air ‘sport sedan’, closely followed by the ’57 Desoto.
I notice a lot of other people also share my affection for the ’67 Impalas, and all fuselage bodied Mopars look awesome without any pillars.
57 Fords and 58 Edsels, like the 56 Bel Air, also almost look better with 4 doors than with 2, as long as there’s no pillar
And thanks to Stephen King and John Carpenter, a 57 or 58 Plymouth belvedere 4dr hardtop (as in the book, a 2 door ht in the film)is near unbeatable, although like the before mentioned Ford and Edsels, it lacks some of the 56 Chevys coherent elegance and nicely fitted bumpers.
If it has any b-pillars I usually prefer 2 door cars though, so not many Europeans on top of my list, although I’m a huge fan of the classic Citroens too.
An I almost forgot the Jaguar Mk2…
https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6236/6258214691_4a440d6a34_z.jpg
Tough question, and I could go several ways. The 1969-70 Mercury Marquis was an exquisitely proportioned 4 door. The 1964 Continental was another.
The 1971-72 Oldsmobile 98 was quite attractive as well. Going back farther, the 1957 New Yorker may have been the best looking 4 door of the 1950s. As for the 1960s, I am partial to the 1967 and 1968 Chrysler 300 4 door models.
The 63 Impala 4 door hardtop was another real looker in my book.
I think most of my faves have been represented so far… or have they?
Of course, the late ’60s GM full-size hardtops were tough to beat. The 14″ wheels on my former ’69 Impala threw off the proportions a bit, but I still thought it to be mighty sharp for a four door.
Somebody else above mentioned the ’90s C-body Buicks. Though I can’t say I’m in love with their somewhat curvy looks, I do like them more than their Olds and Pontiac counterparts.
My “winter driver” this year is a ’95 Park Avenue Ultra, black on black, with mismatched (much newer) wheels… not my dream car by any means, but I sure do like its trim better than in the years that followed, and its lines far more than the later Park Avenues/LeSabres.
And, of course, there’s also my ongoing tormentor, the XJ6. The rounded-off tail never really did it for me, but I really do like the rest of its lines.
Will it ever see the road again? You betcha it will!
Two words: Beetle tank.
You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll want to carry a gas can at all times.
Gotta get the latest chapter written up – hopefully in the next few weeks, assuming most other calamities can be kept at bay for a while…
While not the most beautiful sedan EVER, I think Chrysler did a great job on the 1971 Satellites and Coronets by giving them a completely different but very attractive body than the coupes.
I would also add the 67-68 and 69-71 big Chrysler pillarless hardtops as sexy 4-doors and I think the 11-14 Charger sedan looks great too compared to other modern jellybean sedans.
+1
1961 Impala/Fullsize Chevy.
Photo credit Google Images.
my vote would be either a 1967-70 Cadillac Sedan Deville, 1967-68 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight, 1969-70 Buick Electra, 1967 Ford LTD, 1971-72 Mercury Marquis Brougham and 1968-72 Oldsmobile Cutlass
The 2015 Charger SRT 392 hits all the right buttons for me.
I like the 11-14 was a pretty nice design but that new facelift is way too soft looking for the body, looks like the Dart nose was grafted on.
The more I see that new nose, the more I like it.
I would have to say that to my minds eye, mid 1980’s xj6-xj12 are beautiful sedans, low and sleek and not an ugly line anywhere!
There can’t be just one.
My two cents;
Datsun Skyline 110 sedan
Bucciali
Jaguar Mark 10
1965 Cadillac
My favorites are the ’65 LTD and the ’55 Imperial. Both preferably in black and the ’60 Edsel hardtop in a metallic blue.
Its a trick question…4 doors are ugly! haha! WelI Im known for my bias there, so I wont elaborate.
I will admit a 4dr h/t DOES pull off the look worlds better than any pillared version. The Corvair and early Conti’s are living proof of that. I can even play a few mental mindgames convincing myself that the Conti is more of a quad coupe (a-la the Saturn ION and Mazda RX-8) by way of the door configuration. And put me down as a fan of the 67 T bird with the suicide rear doors. The blending door handles and long front side glass with shortened rear door glass makes it look just like a coupe at first glance.
Call it a shout out to nerd-dom, but I dig the ’66 Imperial Black Beauty from Green Hornet. Im partial to Impys anyway but that ones not bad even as a 4 slammer.
In my warped mind, the K based Dodge Lancer and LeBaron GTS are really 5 door hatches, akin to 5door Saabs. Perfectly acceptable, with a turbo and manual. I would LOVE a Shelby Lancer as a tuning project. Those always looked slick to me and with the right tweeking, they will ROLL.
And no mention of the 1st gen Chrysler 300C? That car’s bodystyle is beyond frustrating to me. Its so linear, blocky and dare I say it ‘masculine’ as 4 doors go. With the single piece quarter windows (rather than the clunky triangular wing glass on 2nd gen 300s and most other sedans) and that strong notchback roofline, its just BEGGING for a 2 dr coupe version. Hell, Id settle for shavng just the rear door handles and adding poppers back there, as well as a subtle applique at the doors C pillar to trim down the quarter window (think ’67 Tbird sedan without vinyl roof) to give the illusion of a 2 door. A ‘phantom coupe’, if you will. In black, such a beast would resemble the car from ‘The Car’, modernized.
1st gen XJ with the huge tires and the incredibly sexy rear end
+1
+1
The Studebaker Avanti-it still looks very attractive and current today after 50+ years.
But it was a coupe…
There was a (non-Studebaker) Avanti four-door in the ’80s, but it’s not what I would call pretty.
And, like you said, it’s not a Studebaker.
Blech…
I don’t know. In a darker color with not so 1990’s-tastic wheels on it, they don’t look too bad.
Gotta admit it, the `65 Corvair 4 door hardtop is a pretty car.Interesting that GM made a compact car in this configuration as opposed to a pillared sedsan which would probably be cheaper to produce. Also…
`61 Lincoln Continental
`65-66 Cadillac Sedan de Ville
Any Citroen DS
The proposed but never built `58 Continental “Berline” a suicide door 4 door hardtop version of the Mkll.
I guess that I`m somewhat prejudiced since I owned a `66 de Ville and a `77 DS Citroen.
I’ve lost track of whether we’re talking about all sedans or just hardtops. In the former category the XJ6 is probably my choice. But I do think the VW Passat B6 deserves a shoutout. When you see one 25 years from now, you’ll swoon.
How about the W108-9? Timeless elegance.
Also love the ’65 Corvair. As note here, it is of a piece with other, also very good GM designs of the era, but the overall resolution and restraint puts it a cut above. If only the interior was equally inspired.
What else? I’ll second the Citroen DS, ’61 Continental, the Florida-inspired Flamina, the XJ6 and the ’57 Chrysler. Plus the ’63 Fleetwood, ’65 Electra 225, and the ’69 Chrysler 300.
I’ve owned a couple of 300SELs and a DS, and I’d pick up any of these if I had a garage – especially a ’65 Corvair with Stage 4 Yenko mods…
My Dad had one of these. Very sleek, especially in “black gold iridescent”.
nice
Yes, one of my 90’s favorites.
I had a 1995 Intrepid ES (badged as a Chrysler in Canada) with the 3.5L V6. I did like it’s looks but the main reason why I got it is because a friend of mine wanted to get rid of it for really cheap! I kept it a few weeks and sold it at a great profit (and still relatively cheap, for about the price of the brand new tires that were on it!).
One of these has been drafted from its spot in the garage to being my Daily Driver this week.
It’s a base 1995 Dodge Intrepid in teal. In our recent heavy rainstorms the carpet in my Taurus wagon got sopping wet from numerous trips when my shoes filled with water which then leaked all over the driver’s side floor. Water was actually standing in the left rear footwell at one point (it apparently drains from the front and winds up back there). The sun hasn’t come out in days and the only way to dry out the carpets has been a Shop-Vac® and a spell in the garage with the windows open.
Driving the Intrepid reminds me of just how “right” Chrysler got the handling dynamics on this car. And it does, indeed, look beautiful from most angles.
My top pics have been taken at this point but as runners up I haven’t seen mentioned, I’m pretty fond of the E34 and E36 BMWs as sedans, especially the M5 and M3 variants. I actually prefer the latter over the coupe version by a pretty wide stretch
E34
I’ve always liked the E34 far more than any of its successors–a really striking design with the round headlights and distinctive taillights. Also makes for a beautiful, and increasingly rare, wagon.
E36
A current car- the Mazda 6. If it had Alfa or Maserati badges, could you imagine the press it would get?
After some deliberation and on the more humble side: I think the Peugeots 405 and 406 are really the best-looking sedans. Both were just exactly right. Both Pininfarina-designed as well, although he copy-pasted that design a lot at that time (think Alfa Romeo 164, Peugeot 605).
Although it was a close call against the BMWs E34 and E36 and the NSU Ro80. All of them were very influential.
I suppose if I absolutely had to pick one, it would be a pre safety bumper Jaguar XJ6. Even with 4 doors, these cars exuded class. The Jag XKE convertible is one of my all time favorites. It’s style will almost certainly never be equaled. It was an exquisite piece of rolling sculpture from the golden age of automobiles.
I have many favourite 4-doors that I could list, but my all-time fav. is the fifth-generation Ford Thunderbird Landau sedan, produced from 1967-1971. I love how Ford was so bold to bring back the “suicide” rear door design, and how the rear door sail panel blends into the roofs’ landau (“s”) irons. Very striking!
Of course, being a huge Edsel fan, and in response to the pillarless hardtop question, my favourite would be any hardtop Edsel! Here is a pic. of the 1958 Edsel Corsair 4-door hardtop. The Corsair was the second-from the top Edsel line, just under the top-rung Citation series. Below that came the Pacer line, then the entry-level Ranger series, all which offered hardtop sedans.
I guess the Rover 3500 SD1 doesn’t quality ;-(
Somebody posted the SD1 halfway through the threads.
As several above have said, I think the 65 Impala is the best in my eyes, particularly to my 9 year old eyes in the fall of 64. The 65 Corvair would be a close second. Both beautiful cars but probably a Ford Galaxie or Plymouth Fury would have been the better car over the long hall, at least here in the southern US.
Others that I have an affection for:
57 Eldorado Brougham
62 Imperial LeBaron
68 Thunderbird
69 Dodge Monaco
74 Imperial
71 Impala
94 Chrysler LHS
The Jaguar XJ was probably my favorite Import.
Cars available now I would go for the Chrysler 300 as the best looker.
Unlike now, most cars in the 50- 70s were really works of art. I was lucky to have experienced the yearly changes at the high point of the American Auto industry.
I’m prejudiced BUT my all time favorite design is a 1957 Chevy 2 door Bel Air hardtop.
I was so pleased to see the 91-96 Oldsmobile 98 listed. What a distinctive look, especially the straight-through “fender skirt” look. This car STILL turns my head. A car on my top 5 4 door beauties has got to be the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud. The iconic post-war Rolls-Royce. Of exotic 4 doors, the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph and the Aston Martin Lagonda also come to mind. On the other end of the spectrum, the 1963 Rambler Classic/Ambassadors. Timeless.
I’ve always loved the 1956 Oldsmobile 4-door hardtop. The way they integrated the door lines and handle into the body is the most successful design I’ve seen that mimics a 2 door hardtop without sacrificing the practicality of the rear doors or throwing off proportions.
The Cord 810/812. Runner-up, NSU Ro80.
The D Citroen was a landmark car, of course. IMO its styling is cool in an individualistic only-Citroen way, but it isn’t conventionally beautiful.
Another sedan I love: The Bitter SC. It too, is another Ferrari in drag. Maybe I like Ferraris?
The 1965-67 Monza four-door hardtops were beautiful, but they were a rare sight even when new.
From Chevy to Cadillac, GM consistently made great-looking four-door hardtops. The 1961 Impala, 1965 Impala/Caprice and 1971 Impala/Caprice had graceful lines. Other favorites included the 1962 and 1965 Bonnevilles and 1965-68 Buick Wildcats. The 1971-72 Olds 98 and Cadillac DeVilles were also impressive.
Best-looking post-war four-door car? The 1961 Lincoln Continental, hands-down. After 1963, it was death by a thousand cuts for the beautiful Lincoln. Sales increased in later years, but the flat side glass in ’64/’65 and bloated look of the 1966-69 cars destroyed the integrity of the original design.
I was very fond of the Alfa Romeo 159, which for my tastes was the last good-looking Alfa to date. The 164 was also a handsome thing, although the later facelifts didn’t help it, as was the similar (also Pininfarina) Peugeot 605. The 605 is more color-dependent than the 164, though — the Pug looks very sharp in certain colors and not so much in others.
Because I’m weird, I rather like the T160 and T180 Corona ED and Carina EXiV hardtops. The T180 EXiV is probably my favorite, although again some of the available colors don’t do it any favors.
In the coulda, woulda, shoulda category would be the Porsche 989, which was much better-proportioned and better-looking than the eventual (and conceptually similar) Panamera.
other cars I liked that I’ve forgot to mention are
1969-70 Ford LTD (pillarless form)
1969-70 Mercury Marquis
1967-68 Oldsmobile Delta 88
1965-70 Pontiac full size
1965-70 Buick Wildcat
1967-70 Chevrolet Caprice
1969-72 Chrysler New Yorker (never liked the ’73 front end)
1975-78 Mercury Marquis (the best full sized car built during the 1973-78 period IMO).
The 73-77 GM mid-size sedans, from all of the divisions. My favorite was the Regal because I dig stacked headlights.
I also nominate my ’68 Impala, just ’cause I’m biased and what-not.
Can’t believe we forgot this masterpiece. Shame on Us. I present the Aston Martin Lagonda.
It’s even got four doors.
’33 Pierce Arrow Silver Arrow. Put on your 3d glasses for this one!
from the recent years I would have to say a 2005-11 Toyota Avalon, I always thought these cars could have easily been Lexus’s due to its plushness.