What’s the Most Beautiful Car You’ve Owned?

Sometimes, you don’t buy a car for its specs. Sure, horsepower and torque are nice, but some cars are so pretty that you don’t even care about any hard data. People will tell you that this is the wrong way to make car-buying decisions, that you should pore over stats and figures before putting down your hard-earned money, but I say the aesthetics matter just as much.

So today, we’re talking about the cars you bought for aesthetics. The pretty cars, the sleek ones, the motor vehicles whose visage made an impact on you. Performance and price be damned, what’s the most beautiful car you’ve ever owned?

For me, the top spot goes to my old Miata. No, not the red Miata I’ve written about in the past, my other Miata: a black-on-tan 1993 NA. The NB was pretty, sure, but the understated looks of that first-gen car really stuck with me — every so often, I still search the VIN to see if it’s back up for sale.

That Miata had the “C Package,” including leather seats with headrest-mounted speakers and a limited-slip differential. This is, of course, the perfect spec for any Miata. I Plasti-Dipped the factory wheels bronze, replaced their stock center caps with plumbing caps from Home Depot, and took the tan top down every chance I got. That was truly a beautiful automobile.

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But, what’s your most beautiful car? Do you have a Datsun Z in the garage, or an F40 parked in cold storage somewhere? Tell us the prettiest cars you’ve ever owned in the comments, and we’ll collect our favorite answers tomorrow. Bonus points for shots of the cars during your ownership.