Filed under: Time Warp, Etc., Safety, UK
Ugliest Car Ever: The Aurora (no, not that one)
click above image for gallery of the Aurora Safety Car
"We pass the basket for a second collection this week at Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration so the parish project car can be finished." It didn't go down quite like that in the Branford, CT parish of Father Alfred Juliano back in the 1950s, but the priest did build a car of his own design that was partially funded by parishioners. I remember rifling through a stack of musty Mechanix Illustrated backissues in my misspent youth and coming across a feature on this vehicle, called the Aurora. A lot of people have declaimed the hideousness of Juliano's "safety car" throughout the years. It certainly has a peculiar reverse rake to its stance, while the flowing, organic form of the fiberglass body give the Aurora the appearance of a quickly departing Sea Ray , rather than an automobile headed at you.
Father Juliano had a lifelong automotive avocation and studied art before entering the priesthood. His intent with the Aurora was to create the world's safest automobile atop a salvaged Buick chassis. The body was hand-laid fiberglass and the bubbilicious daylight openings are rendered in plexiglass. Despite his efforts, things did not go well for Fr. Juliano. The car's press unveiling was a disaster, and Juliano ultimately ended up in financial trouble and was forced to leave his order. The Aurora was given to a garage to settle a debt, and that's where England's Andy Saunders tracked the vehicle down. Andy runs an auto import and customization business, and relishes a challenge. Restoring the Aurora was an arduous process, but as you can see, it's risen like Lazarus from the very disintegrated state Andy found it in. Since its restoration, the car has appeared at several events and museums, including Goodwood. Quite the resurrection.
[Source: NY Times, Photo: Andrew Saunders / NYT]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kevin 2:14PM (12/24/2007)
I like it.
Just kidding. *snickers*
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Tim 11:47AM (12/30/2007)
I actually took pictures of this car years and years ago at a bodyshop in Cheshire Ct. one town away from where I live andgrew up. It was in a state of disrepair then. Glad to see someone redid it.
Chris 2:25PM (12/24/2007)
It looks like some As Seen On TV battery-operated power dustpan.
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Spike 2:27PM (12/24/2007)
I wonder why it was restored as opposed to being recycled. :-)
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Aaron 2:38PM (12/24/2007)
Still looks better than the Aztek
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MemphisNET 3:01PM (12/24/2007)
Pimp my ride!
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3seriesisking 3:02PM (12/24/2007)
I looked directly at it.....now I'm blind.
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broosewee 3:17PM (12/24/2007)
It's just so... WRONG!!
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leather bear 3:23PM (12/24/2007)
I also remember the Aurora from back in the day (I was just a kid then). It was probably the same Mechanix Illustrated magazine (my dad subscribed to MI, as well as Popular Mechanics and Popular Science) referenced by Dan that also caught my young eye. Although the Aurora’s styling is beyond bizarre to modern eyes, to a kid in the ‘50s this fit right in with the flying/floating/submersible vehicles that frequently filled the pages of MI, PM, and PS back then. Car magazine did a short pictorial on the car a while back when Andy Saunders brought it to England and when I saw that, all of those forgotten memories came flooding back. Thanks for the follow-up to the Car article, and thanks to Andy for preserving this unique example of automotive “design”.
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Kaptain75329 3:43PM (12/24/2007)
Still lightyears better than the automobile equivalent to pig vomit seen earlier this year...
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/31/sema-2007-ugliest-mustang-ever/
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Mike 3:53PM (12/24/2007)
Dude its close, I could at least remove some of that crap off the Mustang and have a nice lookin car. There is no hope with this thing.
3seriesisking 4:06PM (12/24/2007)
Hahaha......I just got that thing out of my nightmares. Now it's back. God no!
Mike 3:51PM (12/24/2007)
I dont know if it coming or going. lol Thats just bad!
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Phil Perman 3:54PM (12/24/2007)
I've seen this thing in real life. Was at the Beaulieu Motor Museum in the UK, although I can't remember how long ago it was (fairly sure it was a number of years ago)
Its meant to be the safest car they could build, but I remember it being near impossible to see through the windscreen (sorry, windshield). The way the plastic is moulded distorts the image so much you can't make out what you're looking at. Not much of a surprise it was such a failure.
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Phil Perman 4:01PM (12/24/2007)
Aha, found a photo, was from 2005
http://img509.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscf2206lk8.jpg
Just try and have a look through that screen
oby 4:11PM (12/24/2007)
Yuck! oddly enough it shares it's name with one of the best looking sedans to hit the street, the Olds Aurora. Why oh why did GM kill Olds instead of Buick!
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j_diesel 5:44AM (12/25/2007)
i have owned 2 auroras (97 & 98 currently) and whatever that thing is, it does not deserve the name aurora.
Matt Keller 4:37PM (12/24/2007)
Ooolder than the internet itself. Must be a slow news day if you're gonna post this.
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Jeff 5:06PM (12/24/2007)
My reaction:
"Well, I think it actually looks pretty cool, except for that weird sheet metal rear fascia...Oh wait, that's the front. Jesus."
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Mobius_1 11:38PM (12/24/2007)
My thoughts were pretty similar except I thought of JESUS!!! at the end there...