Ford is known for making great cars worldwide, including some beautiful legends like the Ford Mustang and several generations of the iconic Ford Bronco. Some of the best-looking Ford models are still highly sought-after vehicles decades after they were produced. However, no company is perfect, and even Ford has made several missteps throughout the years. There have been some massive Ford Motor Company flops and even a few recent recalls. 

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In addition, some of the deadliest defects in automotive history are from Ford models, including the Bronco II, Pinto, and Explorer. However, we’re not looking at safety records, performance, or even sales numbers right now. Instead, we’re picking out some of the worst-looking Fords ever made in its history, so you might be surprised to find a few popular models mentioned here. Note that we’re ordering this list by model year and not ugliness, so it’s up to you how you rank these cars based on their looks.

The Edsel Pacer isn’t exactly a Ford model; instead, it’s one of the first cars that Ford’s Edsel division launched in 1958. This division was named after the company president from 1919 and Henry Ford’s only son, Edsel Ford, who unfortunately died in 1943 from stomach cancer. The company expected much out of the Edsel division, investing over $250 million in research, development, engineering, and expansion, as well as running an aggressive marketing campaign.

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Edsel’s models shared a front grille gave them a unique look. The tall snout sitting right smack dab in the middle of the front of each car might have made it reminiscent of the BMW kidney grille found on the BMW 503 from 1956, but it already seemed dated when the models arrived in 1958. This is most obvious on the Edsel Pacer, which is often found on “worst cars ever” lists.

The Edsel brand did have a couple of things going for it, like its awesome 410 cubic inch V8 engine and Teletouch Drive automatic transmission, which one could say is the forerunner of today’s push-button transmissions. However, the entire brand failed after just a little over two years. While there were many other reasons why the Edsel became a massive flop —like a change in market trends, launching during a recession, and mechanical and quality control issues — its bad looks certainly didn’t help.

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The first-generation Ford Thunderbird is a beautiful piece of art and has become a symbol of American car culture in the 1950s. However, the second-generation Ford Thunderbird, which sold from 1958 to 1960, strayed from the course. Although MotorTrend gave it its 1958 Car of the Year Award, it did not age well, with the very same magazine including it on its list of ugliest cars ever made some 65 years later.

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The biggest issue that many took with the second-generation T-bird is that it had become larger just about everywhere—price, payload, and passenger capacity—except for performance, with its engine putting out an anemic 144 hp. However, all this was compounded by the fact that the classic, sleek 1950s look of the original Thunderbird made way for an oversized body with a lot of chrome trim that dripped with excess. The massive chrome grille that blended into the chrome bumper made it look like the car went to a cosmetic surgeon to give it a plump lip job.

Speaking of Thunderbirds, we also want to mention the 2002 Thunderbird that the company revived after a five-year hiatus. This was part of the retro craze of the early 2000s, but, unfortunately, Ford completely missed the mark with this model. This meant that the 11th-generation T-bird didn’t last long, with the model finally ending production in 2005. Thankfully, the company had more success using a retro theme with the fifth-generation Mustang, which arrived in 2004.

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The Ford Pinto is widely scorned because of its propensity to catch fire when rear-ended. What’s worse is that Ford already knew about this problem before the car went into production and decided to not address the issue because it would cost more to reinforce the rear fuel tank ($121 million) than to just pay the victims ($50 million).

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Besides this dangerous fact, the Ford Pinto was just one bland car. It looked just like any other cheap subcompact made in the ’70s. However, its bulbous looks were made worse by its mismatched proportions. Ford engineers simply removed the latter half of the car to save weight and development costs, so the Pinto is technically a larger car with its rear shaved off.

One of the reasons why the ’71 Ford Pinto became popular despite its bland looks and misshapen proportions was its price. It was cheap — with a base price of $1,919 (about $15,000 today) — and it only weighed 1,949 pounds. Furthermore, it was a fuel-efficient little hatchback, which was important to many buyers during the oil crisis of 1973.

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While the company is primarily known as an American automaker, there are several Ford models that aren’t available in the U.S. One such car is the Ford Scorpio Mk II — a mid-size sedan that was primarily sold in Europe. The Scorpio Mk II launched in 1994, and it was a significant departure from the straight lines and sleek look of the first-gen Scorpio. Instead, it featured oval headlights flanking the chrome grille, while its rear lights were lowered to the bumper line; the body also had lots of rounded edges and curved surfaces.

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None of these are individually a bad thing, but the way they were brought together made the Scorpio Mk II ugly. If you look at the car from the front, it looks like a gelatinous blobfish that has been pulled from the depths, causing its form to collapse like a water balloon. The Scorpio Mk II’s large grille even resembles the giant nose-like feature that appears on the blobfish’s face when it is brought to the surface. We are not alone with this judgment, too, as some automotive reporters called this car ugly even before it went on the market.

The Ford Ka is another European-based model and was designed as a cheap city car that could get you from point A to point B with no frills. However, Ford decided to become a bit creative with this little vehicle’s design, making it look like a small egg on wheels. Although the Ka seemed cute to some when it launched, it didn’t age very well because it simply looked weird. The Ka’s plastic bumpers merged with the wheel arches, especially if they were unpainted. 

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Ford released the StreetKa in 2003, which was a roadster version of this tiny vehicle. Although seeing it with the top down makes it look kind of cool and reminds you of the old Volkswagen Beetle, it doesn’t look as elegant when you put the roof up. Despite its looks, the Ford Ka was a relative success in the countries where it was available. This led to Ford continually producing the original Ka from 1996 until 2008; it followed up with two more generations before the Ka was finally discontinued a few years ago.

Ford seemed to love rounded shapes in the ’90s, with the 1996 Taurus getting the same treatment as the 1994 Scorpio Mk II. Although the Taurus’ design was less jarring than the Scorpio’s, it still wasn’t quite a good look. Ford tried to emulate the designs that luxury brands like Jaguar and Infiniti had during that time, but its final output didn’t resonate with its market, especially the oval rear window.

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The four headlights on the ’96 Taurus make it look like Dr. Jumba Jookiba, the four-eyed alien from the Lilo & Stitch animated movie, while the design of its rear lights made it look like a fat Mazda RX-7 FD. Its rounded body also looked nothing like the sleek and aerodynamic first- and second-generation Taurus models, which likely made it a complete disappointment to many of its fans.

The market reaction to the Taurus was so bad that the company updated it within a year of its release. Despite that, it still managed to hold the best-selling car title in 1996, probably owing to fleet sales (which accounted for more than half of the total sales of the Taurus that year). However, that was the last time that it would hold the record, as the Toyota Camry beat it the following year and held that record until 2020 (except in 2001 when it was outsold by the Honda Accord).

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