Figure skating.

Pretty popular Olympic event among the hot rod and muscle car crowds.

Second only to ice dancing, we hear.

In addition to the pure adrenaline rush we all feel watching triple salchows and double toe loops, we also always get a charge out of the hot-rod attitude we see in figure-skating outfits.

Unique style and flair, you might say.

What does this have to do with cars?

Not much!

But it was an opportunity to explore the vehicles we considered to have the most unique style and flair as they rolled from the factory floor into our fast-beating hearts.

The Contenders

Plymouth Superbird

red 1970 plymouth superbird
(Image/OnAllCylinders)

From the aerodynamic nose cone to the massive rear wing, there’s nothing quite like it. Fewer than 2,000 of these were built. So, the Plymouth Superbird is unique in more ways than one. They don’t sell often, but the most-recent one we know of took place in November when a Superbird sold at auction for $330,000, which was about $100,000 less than the low end of its pre-auction estimate. A decade ago, these cars sold for $1 million a pop. That’s medal worthy. Beep-beep.

1959 Chevrolet Biscayne

1959 chevy Biscayne with flat black paint job at indoor car show
(Image/OnAllCylinders)

Batwings in the back. Crazy grille in the front. Kind of like this!

Love or hate Chevys. Love or hate the Biscayne. I think we can all agree this machine brought very unique vehicle design to the marketplace—even in an era of cool tailfins.

1947 Studebaker Champion

a 1950 or 1951 studebaker custom airplane bullet nose commander
(Image/OnAllCylinders – Katie Rockman)

Studebaker made its living cranking out vehicle design unlike anything most of us had ever seen. One of the biggest head-turners was the third-generation Studebaker Champion.

Because of the spinner grille, mainly.

 …

DeLorean DMC-12

1982 delorean dmc-12 at indoor car show
(Image/OnAllCylinders)

“If you’re gonna build a time machine out of a car, why not do it with some style?” said Dr. Emmett Brown in Back to the Future, the movie that made the way-cool DeLorean DMC-12 an automotive icon.

Gull-wing doors? Stainless-steel body panels?

DeLorean Motor Co. built about 9,000 of them. Fewer than that are on the road today. Not unlike the Superbird, this vehicle is unique in so many ways.

There was never anything like it before. And there’s never been anything like it since.

This baby wants a medal. And when it hits 88 miles per hour? You’re gonna see some serious…

Volkswagen Beetle

vw Volkswagen beetle bug
(Image/OnAllCylinders)

The Volkswagen Beetle came to be after Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler instructed Ferdinand Porsche to design a small, inexpensive car. This design would give birth to the automaker Volkswagen, to one of the very first rear-engined cars, and to what would be the world’s longest-running, most-manufactured car from one design platform in automotive history.

That’s a whole bunch of “unique.”

But is it the most unique?

That’s for you to decide!

Tell us the most-unique vehicle design in the comments below.

Author: Matt Griswold

After a 10-year newspaper journalism career, Matt Griswold spent another decade writing about the automotive aftermarket and motorsports. He was part of the original OnAllCylinders editorial team when it launched in 2012.