No matter how fun it is to run through the spec list, sometimes picking out a car just comes down to the looks. Something just hits you right, a shape or detail or color, and you have to have it.
Today, on Dopest Cars, we’re talking cars that just look good. Or at least interesting. Or... unique. Let’s see what we’ve got.
Black hood. White body. Gold and silver multi-piece wheels. Is there a better combo on this planet? If there is, I haven’t seen it.
This Galant VR4-RS is a Japanese import, with 240 horsepower and no AC. It’s a race car, you see, and race cars don’t need air conditioning. What else would you expect from a four-door Mitsubishi?
You can’t go wrong with a bright orange off-roader. A bright orange anything, really, but it plays particularly well with the round headlights of a vintage ‘froader. Cars just don’t come in fun colors any more.
Lucky, then, that the old trucks are still around. You can still buy a 1970 International Harvester Scout, in a bright orange color with big round headlights. And you should.
Do you ever remember, on occasion, that BMW made diesel X5s? And that they even brought them to the U.S. for a shocking duration? I do, bolting upright in the middle of the night drenched in a cold sweat. An X5? Diesel?
It’s true, and they’re in fact very cool. This model seems to be a pristine example, with no snow driving and no rust. It even has straight pipes from the turbo back to the tailpipe, which could either sound incredible or terrible. No middle ground.
There’s something nice about seeing a truck this old, carrying a modern dump insert in the rear. The Ford is weathered, rusted, but the tires are good and the bed still holds cargo — it’ll do its job.
The seller claims the dump-truck setup in the bed cost five grand, so they’re really only asking $600 for the truck. At that price, you can’t afford not to buy it.
This Disco sits on Cape Cod, and looks to have been well-maintained over the past 77,000 miles. The seller says it would need little work to be showroom fresh again and ready for Concours events, but that’s not the life this Rover is meant to lead
This Discovery is meant to ferry beachgoers around, carrying them from the house to the ocean and back again. It’s done its time with the old-money types, now it’s ready for someone who just wants a stylish way to bop around the coast. You could be that someone.
The seller on this Bel Air doesn’t seem to know much about the car. It doesn’t run, but they haven’t tried to turn the motor over by hand. The floors are gone, but there’s no mention of if the brakes have met the same fate. It’s a box of mysteries, this Chevy.
Luckily, it’s a very pretty box. The patina on this car could never be replicated with paint — it’s old, earned, mismatched and flaking. This car has seen some years, some miles, but damn if they haven’t left it looking cool as hell.
This 280SL listing has some beautiful photos of the interior, and for the outside we get... this. Sure, I can pull up a 280SL on Google Images if I want to really see one, but this is for sale — I want to see the actual item I may be buying.
I, of course, will not spend over half my salary on a single old Mercedes, but you should. Beyond wear parts, this sedan seems to be all-original. The chrome is perfect, the interior is a time capsule — it’s ready to whisk you back to 1972.
I know what you’re thinking. Here I am, saying this is going to be the week of cool-looking cars on Dopest, and then here I am with a Dodge Journey. What gives? Well, this Journey has a unique feature: It’s very far away.
You see, most Journeys weren’t far away at all when they were released. The aftermarket stepped in, building parts to move Journeys further and further from their owners and photographers, but this particular car doesn’t seem to need the help. That’s all-original distance, through and through.
Dodge really has the best colors, doesn’t it? Sure, this is no Plum Crazy, but a bright-green muscle car is something you don’t often see. Generally these are blacked out, emblazoned with skulls, and sent down the strip, not dolled up in bright shades like exotics.
But not this Dart Sport. It wears its near-dayglo green with pride, shouting that it can take on any Lamborghini you send its way. It can’t, of course, but it’s nice to pretend sometimes.
Old Toyota pickups were Spartans. They had a bed out back and seating for a few passengers in the front, and not much more. But as Ford Maverick supplies stay dry, those looking for smaller trucks know they have an alternative: Toyota.
This Toyota Pickup looks to be in good shape, though a bit of wear is seen all around the car. It’s perfect for people who need their truck to do Truck Stuff, rather than to just look like they do it.
If the earlier Scout had just a bit too much saturation for your tastes, that’s okay — we’ve got a K5 Blazer for you too. Of no relation, of course, to the Kia or to the Suzuki GSX-R.
With those all on the table, however, picking the right K5 can be tough. I hereby petition automakers to retire the letter-number combo, in favor of something that hasn’t been used before.
This is a perfectly reasonable price for a recent Miata, but it holds a secret: This ND looks to be the Club package, which got better tires, brakes, and suspension. How could you not love those in a Miata?
The package got so popular that Mazda began bundling it with the Miata’s performance package, creating the ultimate MX-5 spec. A Grand Touring with a limited-slip in the back is perfection.
Remember when I said some cars may just be interesting-looking? This is that car.
I can understand what the seller went for here, though they claim that the car exited the factory like this. Either way, whether it’s a dealer accessory or a DIY solution, I can tell you one thing: This does not look great.
Look, you can’t turn down a truck that’s actively rock crawling in its listing photos. That’s just inhumane. Don’t you want to do that? Don’t you want to go there?
If you do, you could get there through much worse methods than this 4Runner. It’s been lifted for clearance, and aided further by big off-road tires. It’ll get you wherever you need to go.
Someday we’ll do a Dopest Cars where every vehicle has a claimed horsepower number. Today, however, we only have one: A sleek late-aughts Mercedes, graced with 600 horsepower.
Well, okay, 560 at the wheels. Still, it’s more than enough to hustle this C36 around at an entirely reasonable pace. All that carbon fiber adds Stoplight GP-winning weight reduction too, I’m sure.