The 100 most beautiful cars ever made

We now have more than 120 years’ worth of cars to enjoy now – some memorably ugly ones too – and that, very obviously, makes it ever harder for new models to break into this Top 100 list.

Over four years have passed since Autocar last published this chart, during which time several dozen new designs have emerged. As ever, few of them have stunned enough to break into this list at the expense of another model. That’s as it should be – diamonds rarely appear in the rough.

But there are several new entries of course, a hatchback, and a hypercar among them, and that means some deletions. And as you’ll see, there are shufflings among the order of cars that have survived from the 2017 list into this one. We note the year the car was first introduced, and wherever possible use our own exclusive photography, so prepare to feast your eyes: 

This is the spare look of your 21st century single seat roadster. There’s not much bodywork, but what there is turns compellingly shapely the more you stare.

Sensuous dignity, luxuriant grace and arrestingly bold nautical detail distinguish the coachbuilt Boat Tail, the three individuals buying one contributing substantially to its essence.

This was your bombastic supercar of the 1930s, power implied by its sheer scale, the near totally exposed wheels, the big grille and that jutting supercharger. Amazingly, you can now buy one new (pictured).

A racer for which road car production was required for homologation. A round 100 were needed, 106 were built and Porsche could have sold more. Pretty, delicate and the genesis of the mighty 917.

Another Le Mans winner, and among the most awesome to have graced the Sarthe circuit. Never intended for road use, but with looks and speed this sensational, the project was irresistible.

Few if any designers have created as many beautiful coupes as Giorgetto Giugiaro. The handsome V8 Ghibli is one of the finest from an amazing stable of Giugiaro fastbacks.

A D-Type shorn of its asymmetric fin, the XKSS was a Le Mans winner for the road. Despite the loss of its stabiliser it still made for a dramatic sight among shoals of Minors, Minxes and Ford Populars.

A limited edition intended to evoke Ferrari road racers of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, the Monza does just that, its shapely carbonfibre barchetta body draping contemporary 812 Superfast for 2020s performance.

A perfect blend of Alpine’s A110 Berlinetta past and the design language of the present, the new A110’s pretty, trim and athletic alloy bodywork makes you want to step inside and drive.

The slinky, sinking line that defines the waistline of this coupe has lately provided inspiration for the recently unveiled Alfa Romeo Tonale SUV.

Audi brought its own distinctive aesthetic to the supercar oeuvre with the original R8, hints of the TT and the unique sideblades heightening its appeal. The theme continues in the second generation, but it’s less striking.

Ferrari made a mid-engined car several years before Lamborghini, but temporarily abandoned the format after making only 32 of these delectable 250 LMs. It was disallowed from its intended race category, but almost won Le Mans.

The TVRs of the Peter Wheeler years were singularly bold, flaunting almost willfully odd design details that often exposed the big boys for not thinking hard enough. And there was raw beauty to them, too.

This is automotive allure of the alternative kind, and not only because of the wheel shortfall. The vintage engineering concept, fine detailing lend this upturned tub of a car an arrestingly functional beauty.

Of the 38 2.3 litre straight eight Type 55s made 23 wore bodies by Jean Bugatti, 16 of them this door-less two-seater roadster whose al fresco elegance is somewhat undermined by the scream of its straight-cut gears.

This is visual supercar drama 21st century style, the tapering cabin, flying buttresses and high-mounted exhaust nozzles cleverly updated a car still redolent of the 1964 Ford GT40.

Smooth, slinky and rarely for a modern, low slung too, the better to capitalize on the low-hanging mass of its battery pack. Looks like a Porsche, but for an Ampere-powered century.

Regal-looking cars were once a common sight on Britain’s roads, though few were as graceful and subtly sporting as this magnificent Bentley, widely regards as one of the finest cars it has made.

It’s a very regular sight, making it easy to forget what a strikingly fresh design this SUV was. Fresh, and hugely attractive, which is why the more refined follow-up is broadly the same.

So curvaceous it’s almost a parody – but not quite. The body shouts muscle, but there’s subtlety too in the arrowed nose, the Dino-esque buttress, the cam tail and the extractor vents. A triumph of US design.

No-one can deny that retro doesn’t sell when the designers get it right, and they certainly did with this remake, which has lasted years. Cute, well detailed and hides the transposition of engine from rear to front painlessly.

A curious mix of voluptuous sculpture and the clean forms of industrial design, the 928 achieves a unique visual flavour that’s aged well. Though not well enough to usurp the 911, as was its maker’s original mission.

Italian automotive glamour personified, in elegantly muscular form, and unmistakably a Maserati with a sexily gaping grille.

The Mustang’s appeal miniaturized, though with a style all its own. The classic long bonnet, short boot look, complemented with a fine array of just-so details.

Not many SUVs make this list, but the Velar canters to inclusion with its exquisitely subtle proportions, clean panel surfacing and minimized décor. JLR calls it “a study in reductionism,” which the Velar is to distinguished effect.

With judicious updates the CX’s gracefully aerodynamic body could surely sell again today, it has weathered that well. Trouble is, we don’t buy big Citroëns any more.

Now out of production, it remains one of BMW’s most handsome and fluent 21st century designs, the more so compared to the growing number of BMWs with that grille.

Duesenberg’s aristocratic Model J chassis was the basis for many extravagantly elegant pre-war American cars but only briefly, the model launched in 1928, shortly before the Wall Street Crash. Many celebrities bought them, but not enough and the marque folded in 1937.

You need absorb the detail of this new design to distinguish it from the old 570s, but it’s the detail that coheres more effectively in the Artura, and with more drama too.

A look of broodingly curvaceous menace distinguished this special edition GTO, standard kit including a potent Ram Air V8, heavy duty suspension, a blacked out grille, a spoiler and (surprisingly subtle) stripes. A classy slice of muscle.

A car whose size, long bonnet and snugly elegant cabin instantly conjure romantic dreams of a European grand tour, this car’s proportions are all more striking today for their big-wheeled, cab-rear silhouette.

Among the most handsome Bentleys ever, and it shares a platform with a Volkswagen. It’s decidedly more handsome than a Phaeton however and though big, does not look as unnecessarily large as its current successor.

It replaced the 246 Dino whose lines it clearly references, though with a look entirely its own. Sensuous wings, a waisted midriff and flying buttresses provide just the right level of visual complexity.

Maserati’s racer-turned-road-car A6G series yielded many desirable coachbuilt designs, among the best of them Pininfarina’s exquisite GCS coupe. Delicate of line, the power of its 2.0-litre six is confirmed by a dramatic pair of side exit exhausts.

A sumptuous pre-war GT car for the effortlessly rich, who commissioned coachwork for the rolling chassis. Most successful were Carrozzeria Touring, which designed several rakish bodies for these tourers.

Still very handsome, still very Aston, its appeal enhanced in the eyes of many, regrettably, by the troubled face of its successor. Looks good from every angle and ageing well.

An arch exponent of the folded paper era of car design, Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Esprit looked wide, ultra-low and relentlessly sharp-edged. Subtle curves complete it, though.

Sales might be fading but not the appeal of this Jaguar’s  skin, which blends implied aggression with luscious sculpture. And yes, there are hints of E-Type about it.

Ferrari rarely fails to make an alluring beast of its mainstream V8 model, and scores once again with the shapely F8 Tributo, which satisfyingly references the F40 (slatted rear window) and 328 GTB (round taillights).

The 599 GTO now has two direct successors, the F12 Berlinetta and currently the 812 Superfast, but neither has the curvaceous grace nor the visual intrigue of the GTO with its flying “D” pillars.

It looks a little long of body these days – perhaps it always did – but the XJ220 remains a swoopily arresting machine, besides carrying the unmistakable contours of a Jaguar.

Lamborghinis are about drama of shape and motion, and the Sian delivers both by the container-load. As it should given its seven-digit price. Cuts, curves, slots, hexagons, blades, grilles and fins litter this design, yet it coheres with surprising elegance.

The older it gets, the more of a triumph this total rework of the 1959 original seems. It’s unmistakably redolent of its inspiration, yet entirely modern and like its forebear, perfectly proportioned.

Still one of the most handsome two-seater sports cars ever, and purest in its early, folding windscreen form that turns it into a speedster. Crude mechanicals are part of the charm.

As glamorous as any pre-war Alfa Romeo, Hispano-Suiza or Mercedes, Auburn’s straight eight series reached its lofty design zenith for the 1935 model year. Despite this achievement, Auburn ceased manufacture in 1937.

A particularly accomplished reimagining of the 1969-74 original, to the point of arguably being the better-looking car. The rightness of the design has allowed it a long life.

The 2001 V12 Murcielago modernized Lamborghini’s look, but it was the Gallardo that realised the new form language to most satisfyingly handsome effect. That its crisp lines differentiated it from Ferraris was another bonus.

BMW’s boldest car yet, exploiting the package of its plug-in hybrid drivetrain, introducing fresh sculptural shapes, unusual two-tone detailing and the drama of dihedral doors.

There are several front-engine Ferraris of the 1960s in this list, and it’s Ferraris of this era that the Roma evokes with its long bonnet and fastback-tail. But it also presents spare, clean sculpted, big-wheeled modernity. It’s Ferrari’s prettiest car today.

It’s big, huge even, and thus has presence, but size isn’t the Toronado’s only arresting feature. Exquisite proportions, pillarless elegance and spare detailing are as much a triumph as its front-drive powerpack.

The perfectly realised pre-war sports car. What made it right then – the long bonnet, short tail masses, the stance, the face created grille and lights – are just as relevant today.

The “if it looks right, it is right” cliché surely applies to the first Elan, whose form and detail were perfect enough to heavily inspire Mazda’s MX-5.

The beauty of functional form is clear to see in the original Range Rover. View the prototypes before and after the design process, and you’ll see that the finishing touches were applied with ground-breaking flair.

It’s almost toy-like, its easily seen steering wheel begging you to drive it. The Speedster’s soap-smooth contours are uniquely distinctive, besides evolving into another beautiful car: the 911.

A mild evolution of the DB4, the fared in headlights the main change. Glamorous even before a certain spy was handed the keys, the Bond franchise sealing its fame.

Clean-sculpted to the point of utilitarianism, the original TT combined modernity with an irresistible flavour of avant garde 1930s design, a theme abandoned in subsequent generations.

Is the car still the moment of peak elegance for a post-war Mercedes? Its just-so body appears simple of line and lightly decorated with that minimalist grille, those bowl capped headlights and the perfect hardtop.

Launching this 2.0-litre V8, mid-engine race-based beauty a year after the Miura shouldn’t fail, but the Stradale cost over 25% more than the Lambo, and just 18 were made.

There’s nothing quite like the sheer-flanked, chrome-capped elegance of the ’61 Continental. It was a formal car – formal enough for fateful duty under President John F. Kennedy – yet there’s something rakish in its length and lack of height.

A quintessential ‘60s muscle car, but one of finesse, from the clean-flanked Coke bottle waist to the sleek, fat-pillared fastback and hidden headlamps, the Richard Sia-designed Charger is a handsome legend.

A shapely meld of shapes modern and historic, the 8C demonstrated that buyers are happy to pay big money for an Alfa if it’s truly beautiful, and never mind the impure Maserati motor.

The smooth-formed, subtly voluptuous contours of a Jaguar as applied to a mid-engine V12 ‘60s supercar, the XJ13 is one of that decade’s great what-might-have-beens.

An exquisite blend of subtle, shapely lines and hints of potency from the air scooped bonnet, the front wing air extractors and the faired headlights.

For noisily eruptive spectacle the Aventador is hard to top. Yet there’s real beauty in the shape and proportions of its dipping glasshouse, short bonnet, arcing roof and long tail, the visual draw of it all heightened by those blade-sharp bone lines. PICTURE: 2015 Aventador SV

Few cars exude other-worldly glamour as completely as the SM. Part of its promise lies in that low-rider stance when dormant, but much too in its glass nose, its tapering body and the lush interior.

The ground clearance of a dachshund, a roofline not much higher and a pram-handle spoiler made the F40’s road-racer mission unmistakable. Yet there’s alluring grace in its lines.

GM design chief Bill Mitchell’s ’59 Stingray concept car turned showroom eye magnet. Developed in secret because GM had banned racing, it saved the ‘Vette from early extinction.

An almost shockingly elegant contrast to all those fins slicing up American highways, the Riviera was part-inspired by a Rolls-Royce GM design chief Bill Mitchell saw parked outside the Claridges Hotel in London.

Spare of line, curvily aerodynamic with a hint of raw power from its exposed exhaust, the C-Type was built to race and looked it.

Italy’s Touring coachworks designed the DB4’s body, a compelling blend of rakish grace, aristocratic bearing and velvet power. It soon evolved, but the series 1 DB4 was the purest and lightest.

It looks light on its feet and fast, it’s pretty and, suggests the noble three-piece grille, has breeding. This small car embodied the values of Alfa’s mighty pre-war machines, and in a Bertone body just as stylish.

The dramatic arc of its lateral air intakes are the visual signature of a hugely fast car that gobbles air like a jet. The Chiron’s softly contoured curves belie its potency and yield a shape of unexpected elegance.

A perfectly formed 1920s race car, from horseshoe radiator to tapered tail, its fuselage of body slung between wheels of sculptural beauty. Exquisite.

A curving, visor-like slice of glass, a tapering wedge of body and a pair of big, glowering taillights made a beautiful beast of the Stratos on both rally stage and road.

Few cars demonstrate the appeal of clean, addenda-free bodywork as the original Countach, which did without the wings, arch and sill excrescences of later models. The LP400 left Marcello Gandini’s striking sculpture pure and unadorned.

Once one of the fastest production cars on earth, the V12 Daytona looked the part with its chisel nose and abruptly cut tail. Between these extremities lay a coupe of refined grace.

BMW has developed so many models since this E9 coupe, but few have achieved such arresting elegance. Recent BMWs have hinted at the reverse rake nose, but the thin-pillared glasshouse isn’t possible today.

The odd detail apart, the F1 still looks contemporary now, the subtle packaging of its aerodynamic features allowing it a calm fluency of lines missing from most modern supercars.

Originally a showcase for the new XK engine, Jaguar was inundated with enquiries for a car that became a fine symbol of post-war recovery and a favourite of Hollywood royalty.

Front-wheel drive packaging allowed a floor low enough to eliminate running boards, the headlamps were hidden pop-ups and the Cord’s elegantly boxy prow produced a beautiful car of tomorrow. Unreliability killed it, but the shape was repeatedly revived by others.

Albrecht von Goertz’s 1956 507 was as handsome as any contemporary Ferrari, but a costly build pushed its price too close to these exotics, killing the car after only 252 were built, and nearly bankrupting BMW.

The Testa Rossas was a repeat Le Mans winner that continuously evolved over the five years and 33 cars produced in the quest for a racing edge. All are beautiful, aerodynamics only lightly touching their shapes.

The first of two 911s here, the earliest quite different from the latest. And yet, of course, they’re recognisably the same car. It’s got too big but it’s as sexy as ever, more so as a Targa, that brushed aluminium band maintaining the drama of its pert rump.

Aston Martin often scores the beauty bullseye, the DB9 a magnificent follow-up to the 2001 Vanquish. That it still looks sensational 17 years after it saw daylight confirms the design’s excellence.

An elegant frenzy of sensuous curves and finely wrought chrome, the Dino’s shapes are more suggestive of balletic agility than sledgehammer power. Just right, given its V6.

It might be low in height at just 40 inches, but it’s high in stature with its multiple Le Mans wins and like the Lamborghini Miura, this Ford shaped the direction of supercar development.

Much car design of the 1950s was American influenced. Not the DS, which was shaped by an Italian sculptor and the wind. It levitated as well, to the accompaniment of space age clicks and whirrs.

The race version of Ferrari’s 250 is barely any less beautiful; its lower and longer nose, extra air intakes and upkicked Kamm tail mixing aggressive intent with beauty.

Extravagant, fantastical, sculptural and suggestive of exotic lives lived by the few, the Atlantic borders on the mythic. And the intrigue continues with the clamshell doors and the vertical fin continuing the split screen’s vee.

Refined lines and spare decoration disguise this car’s potency in spite of the long bonnet and softly muscled wings. It has manners to match, too.

It isn’t only the doors. The slender blisters crowning each wheelarch, the fine metalwork of the grille, the air extractors in the front wings and above all, the low, long-bonnet proportions make an arresting beauty of this car.

The car that revived Aston (again) its look defining design themes that have endured for two decades. The Vanquish has aged well. It’s still hugely handsome now.

These were almost unsalable new, skewered by astronomical prices despite their lightweight beauty. Prices eventually hit the millions for the 19 originally made, prompting the 1990s build of four more utilising unused chassis numbers.

Brawn on wheels, the Cobra appears to be bursting with power and indeed, usually is. It’s because the AC Ace from which it swelled was so well-proportioned that the Cobra works.

An almost preposterously long bonnet, voluptuous wheel fairings, a rakishly compact cockpit of a cabin – this was rapid transit, 1930s style. Rapid, indulgent transit from eight cylinders.

It gives pleasure from every angle you inspect, its delicacy of line ever more appealing in this age of perpetually enlarging cars. And that includes the 911.

A mere variation on the handsome 308 GTB you may think, but no, this was a new car, and a better proportioned version of the fabulous sculptural theme begun with 1969 Dino 206.

At first sight its lines seem simple, but the more you look, the more complex it becomes, from the fuselage front wings to the haunched rear, from slashed air extractors to delicate front quarter bumpers. Marvellous.

Not quite the first mid-engine road car, but the Miura fired the gun on a half-century’s supercar development. Few of this breed has since matched its voluptuous beauty, though unlike the Miura most remain glued to the ground at speed.

It’s six decades since this car’s beauty robbed us of our breath, and still the E-Type is widely considered to be the most beautiful car ever. That it appeared roughly half-way through the evolution of the car to date perhaps begs questions of car design since.

Jaguar’s Malcolm Sayer takes much credit for the roadster’s shape, but it was metal craftsman Bob Blake, an American from North Dakota, who fabricated the coupe.

This survey has of course been entirely unscientific based on my belief, but that’s the thing about beauty: we don’t all swipe right on the same things. If we did, the world would be rather boring. This, then, is the league table of brands in this story, which scored at least three entries:

1: Ferrari - 15 entries

2: Jaguar - 8

3: Alfa Romeo - 7

4: Porsche - 7

5: Aston Martin - 6

6: Lamborghini – 5

7: General Motors (all brands) - 5

8: Bentley - 4

9: Bugatti - 4

10: BMW - 4

11: Ford (incl. Lincoln) - 4

12: Land Rover - 3

13: Maserati - 3

14: Citroën - 3

The two door tin-roofs rule this roost, as you might reasonably expect, clocking up fully 64 entries. A while behind that number is the various open-top cars, with 24. A long way behind are saloons (5), hatchbacks (4) and SUVs (3). Sorry wagons, but no cigar for you here.

Richard Bremner has written about cars for over 35 years, for Autocar, CAR, Classic & Sports Car, Octane, the Sunday Times, The Independent, Daily Express and many others.

His eye for design was fired by a troubled 1969 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV. He has been fortunate enough to have interviewed design luminaries including Giorgetto Giugiaro, Nuccio Bertone, Patrick Le Quément, Frank Stephenson, Gerry McGovern, Bruno Sacco, Ian Callum, Adrian van Hooydonk and many others.

Bremner has been told that he has “a good eye” by Pininfarina’s Lorenzo Ramaciotti, and contributed an idea used for one of Giugiaro’s show cars.