That’s really sad to see. Just disappointing that that’s what people want these days. I did a search on “angriest looking cars” and apparently this trend is obvious to all, with an article of the fifteen angriest looking cars. They are from a broad range of manufacturers, although it looks like a lot of them are VW products (Audi, VW, Porsche and Lamborghini all made the list).
1 Like
I beg to differ. Either green would get my vote, in preference. And they are more ‘frog’-coloured, too. 
(Awaits someone posting a pic of an Amazonian light blue tree frog or some such…)
10 Likes
There’s a crop of early/mid-aughts bugeyed Subaru’s that have always looked sort of enthusiastically bewildered to these eyes :
8 Likes
If you want an intentionally evil scowl, there’s always The Car…
6 Likes
I realized the other day, that the 2001 BMW Z3 that I drive is about as old as the TR-3 and the Bugeye sprite that I admired when I had a paper route.
2 Likes
My grandfather used to fix a lot of these, along with MGs, Triumphs and what have. He first came to the US as a mechanic associated with Austin. First working for their race team, selling parts for a while. And eventually working for Jackie Gleason, who apparently ran Austin engines in his race team’s cars.
Later he had a technically still going shade tree operation fixing performance cars, and anything British or weirdly European.
He claims when he signed up for the Air Force he didn’t have to go to boot camp because “a certain general needed a certain Jaguar fixed”.
Covid might have finally ended the small engine end of his business at 96 years old.
5 Likes
Don’t see many of those, do you?
Awaits older frog punchline
1 Like
My first car (in 1970) was a '62 MG Midget, which was exactly the same as this car except for the front clip. It was incredibly fun to drive on twisty roads.
5 Likes
Or Prince of Darkness, because of their electric bits.
2 Likes
5 Likes
Across the pond in the colonies, about the only thing you see around from that era is an MG roadster.
I once was hanging out with a lady, many years ago. (Quite literally, feeling each other out to see if we wanted to date)
She wanted to go to a car meetup. There was a lot of Subaru Imprezas, Lancer EVO’s. Everyone cheered when a beat up Supra rolled up, her most of all.
I wandered off to admire an older guy’s car (mid-30’s, weird in this crowd), who had a slightly rusty 60’s era MG convertible. After chatting with him, I discovered he’d had the engine rebuilt and retrofitted with a supercharger. It dyno’d at the wheels at 160hp. Absolutely the coolest car there, hands down.
She seemed not impressed at all, and much preferred the FWD cars with big rear spoilers instead.
We didn’t end up dating.
3 Likes
When I saw that I immediately thought of Futurama when Bender turned into a Were-Car. I wonder why?
2 Likes
1 Like
In terms of modern happy-looking cars (in frog-like green, no less!) I like the Skoda Fabia, pictured here in hot-hatch vRS form:
(Although that one left production in 2015. The new model, as well as not having a hot version, does look angrier:)
2 Likes
2 Likes
I’ve always wanted a Sprite, alas, it’s out of my reach even if I could afford one because I don’t own a garage 
So, the reason it looks so…unique… is that they were originally planning to have some kind of pop-up headlights. However, they were also intending for the car to be cheap, so in the end they junked the pop-up headlamps and had to go with ones just plonked on the middle of the bonnet. Also in the pursuit of cheapness, they got rid of the boot (‘trunk’) lid, so the only way to access your luggage it to fold the fron seats forward and got pot-holing (‘spelunking’) in the back.
Oh, and the engine is the same Rover A series as used in most British cars of the period, including the Mini.
The second version integrated the headlights into the wings, and made the car look much more boring imo:
4 Likes
Man, you’re not kidding. Bought a '70 Spitfire in 1974. I took it for a one hour test drive just to be sure, paid too much money for it, and 5 minutes later the electrics starting to die off, one by one. It’s like they did it on purpose. If Hell has a factory, they make Lucas Electronics.
3 Likes
The Sprite’s big brother, the Austin-Healey 3000, is my concept of the quintessential 60s British sports car. It has sort of a forced but not unfriendly grin.
1965 Lotus Elan: definitely friendly with the headlights up.
A little pensive when it blinks. Dreaming of Mrs. Peel?
.jpg)
2013 Elan: “Get the f*%k out of my way!!” 
8 Likes
