Somehow, this baby blue C7 Stingray with a wide body kit managed to win the Gran Turismo People’s Choice Award. While this isn’t the absolute worst car at this year’s SEMA Show, it’s certainly among the top 10. Chevrolet poured untold effort into restyling its ever-popular sports car to maintain the Corvette image without keeping it from evolving further. Ballooning the fenders and saddling it with such large wheels doesn’t it any justice. Chevrolet did a bang-up job designing the C7 and this design does away with many of the proportions that make it so good.
The idea behind this car is breathing “new life into old products.” Covered in fake wood paneling made of plastic (or at least it looked and felt that way), it might have been better if this 1995 Range Rover hadn’t been revived. Seeing a classic automotive icon sent out to pasture is nowhere near as sad as seeing it transformed into a life-sized Happy Meal toy.
Lamborghini builds its cars to be over-the-top right from its factory. Dousing something this daring in hot pink doesn’t make it eye-catching. Instead it takes tacky to new heights (or lows, as it were). Even still, this is only offensive enough to reach seventh place. There’s plenty more to come.
From the gaudy wheels to the graffiti-style lettering, this Beetle is a perfect example of eccentric aftermarket car design gone awry. Sitting as low to the ground as the insect it’s named after, the poor bug looked about as tired in the Las Vegas sun last week as its black, white and lame-all-over design. Thank goodness it was the only VW to endure what looked like a nasty argument with a Sharpie.
Or was it…
Maybe you remember your first beer. This car doesn’t. The poor thing looks like it guzzled through a few too many “adult beverages” before passing out on a couch. Like a bad lower back tattoo (are there any good ones?), this car is littered with regrettable phrases. Our favorite: #TeamButtSluts.
To address the question before it has a chance to be raised: no, this isn’t a concept car from Chevrolet. Instead, it’s a build by “The Custom Shop” in Flanagan, Ill. It has two seats, a long list of insane modifications and airbrushed graphics that border between flames and lightning but end up looking more like varicose veins. Gross.
This is the only car on this year’s list that sat in the Meguiar’s Car Crazy booth. Our friends there asked us to kindly visit anywhere but their display after last year’s “Worst Of” list and we tried. This one was impossible to ignore. Sorry.
Like most cars at the SEMA Show, this one obviously took a lot of work to make. The paint lines are clean, the panels seemed to line up and it’s obvious that whoever built it knows what they’re doing. The only way someone could pull off driving either of the two would be if they also collect pay checks from either Marvel or DC comics. Trouble is, even the Green Lantern would probably find this to be a bit much.
Cristal had a problem with becoming a household name among the hip-hop crowd. Flaming skulls, red tinted headlights and black aftermarket wheels don’t really match up with Cadillac’s goal of becoming a global luxury brand. Of course, the company probably wants as much credit for this thing existing as the Hiltons do for Paris…
Yes, you read correctly. Underneath the faux-Rolls front end, you’ll find a V6-powered Chrysler 300. If the 300 in fourth place is full of questionable choices, this car is nothing short of a train wreck. It might not seem so bad until you take a closer look. For example, the stock 300’s shifter and steering wheel are still intact and the seats look like the sort of plastic furniture you might find in a toddler’s play room. The open top would let Hulk fit, but we’re betting this would be a case of “Hulk smash.”
The Audi R8 is sexy. Leopard print can be sexy too. It turns out that mixing the two makes something uglier than a Jerry Springer custody battle. Justin Bieber’s chrome-wrapped Fisker Karma seemed rude, but this thing takes trashing automotive artwork to a new level.
Want to see what cars we liked? Visit out Top 10 Cars of SEMA post here.
SEE ALSO: Top 10 Worst Cars of the 2012 SEMA Show