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 list which we produce every few years.
We note the year the car was first introduced, and wherever possible use our own exclusive photography, so prepare to feast your eyes:
60 Jaguar XJ220
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.
59 2021 Lamborghini Sian FKP 37
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.
58 2001 Mini Cooper S
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.
57 1955 Austin Healey 100M
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.
56 1934 Auburn Boattail Speedster 851
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.
55 2008 Dodge Challenger
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 13 year life, and counting.
54 2003 Lamborghini Gallardo
The 2001 V12 Murcielago modernized Lamborghini’s look, but it was the Gallardo that realized the new form language to most satisfyingly handsome effect. That its crisp lines differentiated it from Ferraris was another bonus.
53 BMW i8
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.
52 2020 Ferrari Roma
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.
51 Oldsmobile Toronado
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.
50 Alfa Romeo 1750 Zagato
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.
49 1962 Lotus Elan
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.
48 1970 Range Rover
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.
47 1953 Porsche 356 Speedster
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.
46 1964 Aston Martin DB5
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.
45 1998 Audi TT
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.
44 1963 Mercedes-Benz 230SL
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.
43 1967 Alfa Romeo T33 Stradale
Launching this 2.0 V8, mid-engine race-based beauty a year after the Miura shouldn’t fail, but the Stradale cost over 25percent more than the Lambo, and just 18 were made.
42 1961 Lincoln Continental
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.
41 1968 Dodge Charger R/T
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.
40 2007 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
A shapely meld of shapes modern and historic, the 8C demonstrated that buyers are happy to pay big money for an Alfa it’s truly beautiful, and never mind the impure Maserati motor.
39 1966 Jaguar XJ13
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.
38 1960 Ferrari California SWB
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.
37 2011 Lamborghini Aventador
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
36 1971 Citroën SM
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.
35 1987 Ferrari F40
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.
34 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
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.
33 1963 Buick Riviera
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.
32 1952 Jaguar C-Type
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.
31 1959 Aston Martin DB4
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.
30 1954 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint
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.
29 2017 Bugatti Chiron
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.
28 1925 Bugatti Type 35
A perfectly formed 1920s race car, from horseshoe radiator to tapered tail, its fuselage of body slung between wheels of sculptural beauty. Exquisite.
27 1974 Lancia Stratos
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.
26 1974 Lamborghini Countach LP400
Few cars demonstrate the appeal of clean, addenda-free bodywork as the original Countach, which did without the wings, arch and sill excresences of later models. The LP400 left Marcello Gandini’s striking sculpture pure and unadorned.
25 1968 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 ‘Daytona’
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.
24 1974 BMW 3.0 CSL
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.
23 1994 McLaren F1
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.
22 1948 Jaguar XK120
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.
21 1937 Cord 812
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.
20 1956 BMW 507
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 bankrupting BMW.
19 1957 Ferrari TR250
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.
18 2019 Porsche 911 Targa (992)
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.
17 2004 Aston Martin DB9
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.
16 1969 Ferrari Dino 246 GT
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.
15 1966 Ford GT40
It might be low in height at 40inches, 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.
14 1955 Citroën DS
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.
13 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO
The race version of Ferrari’s 250 is barely any less beautiful, it lower, longer nose, extra air intakes and upkicked Kamm tail mixing aggressive intent with beauty.
12 1938 Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic
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.
11 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB
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.
10 Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing
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.
9 2001 Aston Martin Vanquish
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.
8 1962 Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato
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 utilizing unused chassis numbers.
7 1962 AC Cobra 289
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.
6 1935 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900
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.
5 1963 Porsche 911
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.
4 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO
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.
3 1959 Ferrari 250 GTO SWB
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. Exquisite.
2 1970 Lamborghini Miura
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.
1 1961 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 Coupe
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.
