Posted at the Cohort by William Rubano
Sacrilege! Who stuck this piece of dull, fading black rubber on this fine SL? Ok, this is actually a Mercedes factory spoiler, but it was not original to this Euro-spec 280SL or the great majority of R107 SL/SLCs. Then what did it come on originally? And it begs asking, what was the worst-looking factory spoiler?
Mercedes did feel the need to install these spoilers on the quite fast 1978 450SLC 5., which premiered their new alloy-block 5.0 L V8. In European tune, these engines delivered 237 hp, and could propel these cars to 140 mph (225 kmh). At these speeds, the rear end tended to get a bit light, so the spoiler was a necessary tool to keep them properly glued to the autobahn. Mercedes was not sticking these own for looks alone. The subsequent 1980-up European 500SL/SLC also got the spoiler, as these were essentially the same.
Unfortunately, many a non-500SL/SLC has been the recipient of these, which are available as aftermarket items. And nowadays, the trend is to remove them again, for obvious reasons, which inevitable requires filling of the holes and a respray.
This 280SL is still sporting its European composite lights, which are rather more organic to its design than the quad sealed beams that US spec R107 all got. And of course, it has the lovely delicate bumpers too. Looks great, and from this angle, the rear spoiler has become invisible.
And regarding the performance of these European 280SLs: since they lacked any meaningful emission controls and had high compression, output was a quite healthy 185 hp. And these European 280s often came with 5 speed manual transmissions, so they could actually outrun a US-spec 175 hp 450SL. But they still didn’t need the spoiler.
Now back to that question…
That’s an easy question!
Ugly factory spoilers, thy name is Merkur XR4Ti
Ding Ding… We have a Winner!
On top of being ugly, they rattled, too — or at least ours did. Dealer never seemed to be able to reproduce the problem, naturally.
“A defect fails for the V.I.P., but not for the repairman.”
It’s over the top, but also an integral part of that specific model. Just like the Ford Escort RS Cosworth below and the well-known Subaru Impreza Turbo rockets.
Yeah, Sierra and Escort Cosworths need a tea-tray, otherwise they wouldn’t be flashy enough for Essex Man. And I seem to recall the Escort Cosworth being promoted as the world’s first production car with positive downforce – it was a genuine rally homologation special, and I always thought the unspoilered ones looked wrong.
In Ford’s defense, they did tidy things up a bit for the last model year or two.
Yes, when one bad spoiler isn’t enough, add another!
That is one of the most awesome spoilers ever fitted to a production car. Some mid 80’s Mustangs also had them
Mustang SVO also had a biplane spoiler.
I actually like them both.
1999 Pontiac Grand Am. Because of course they needed just one more thing to make this car even uglier: a “finned” spoiler.
That was my first choice as well.
I actually liked the biplane Merkur and Mustang SVO spoilers.
The Grand Am spoiler reminds me of a body colored, full width 1950’s hood ornament on the trunk.
Any on Cadillacs or Impalas and Tauruses. Ridiculous.
My Cadillac begs to differ.
Nope, still silly. The Eldo is supposed to be a personal luxury coup, not some fan boi racer.
Who’s to say a personal lux coupe can’t have a spoiler?
What’s the point when you are driving something designed with oozing around town or cruising down the highway in mind? You aren’t carving corners on the autobahn.
People can put whatever they want on their cars as can the factory, but the design language of a personal luxo coupe Caddy and a spoiler clash.
The Buick GN/GNX had a lip spoiler and it’s technically a personal luxury coupe, as did the Monte Carlo SS, 442 and Grand Prix 2+2 Cousins. Some worked better than others, and I wouldn’t say there’s a set in stone requirement for it – in the 80s-90s PLCs were evolving much more into the European mold of Grand Tourers, away from the puffy top/velour clad fad of the 70s. Do I think this Eldo looks good with it? Nope. But I don’t feel that way because it’s marketed as something different and therefore it’s inappropriate. If it works, it works.
Those were also the very intentionally sporty versions.
I guess I have in my mind an Eldo around here, a silver one with fake drop top and spoiler. Also a gold/beige DeVille with the same treatment. Yuck. Now that is confused aesthetic language if I ever saw it.
Sporty versions, but personal luxury nonetheless. The G body coupes were consolodated to one bodystyle, and that bodystyle was the formal one. Remember, sporty oriented SS, GTO/Grand Am/Can Am, 442 and Century GS on the previous Collonade era used the fastback rooflines, while the Monte Carlo, Grand Prix, Cutlass Supreme, and Regal used the formal one.
The 90s Eldorado was pretty sleek looking, certainly as much so as the G bodies I mentioned. Now in padded top garb and a rear spoiler, that doesn’t really work, that’s akin to putting a Mach 1 spoiler on a Mustang Grande.
If it were the body color it would not be that bad.
It’s stupid regardless, especially on FWD where it doesn’t even do any good anyway.
I think that its RWD. Granted that it was not needed.
FWD, like every Eldo since 67
The Mercedes is RWD. My comment was regarding the top picture of the 280SL
My bad, last night it looked like this branched from the Eldorado comment tree above.
Forgive my ignorance but what difference does FWD make to the usefulness or otherwise of a spoiler?
The whole purpose of a rear spoiler is to provide downforce on the rear of the car at high speed to increase traction on the rear driven tires.
A common misconception. Traction at the rear is required for stable cornering at high speeds, regardless of which axle is driven.
True, and no market that GM was shooting for with cars like any Cadillac or an Impala is going to be driving it in such a way for it to matter, let alone if any of those cars would even be capable of it.
the ETC pictured above should have been capable of 150 MPH.
I was just going to type the same thing. That Eldo with the factory Z rated gumballs and no limiter was good for about 150mph top speed.
And unless you are on a private track, going that fast will get you killed or thrown in jail.
Maybe I’m unaware of its existence, but were Eldos ever popular racing cars with any group?
A common misconception. Traction at the rear is required for stable cornering at high speeds, regardless of which axle is driven.
Traction is required at all speeds, but it’s much more critical to have it at the rear on a RWD car since engine power will be able to break grip ever easier the higher the speed, it’s much more critical. Placing a park bench on mom’s old Civic? Not so much
Cadillac did have hopes of selling the STS and ETC in Europe where speed limits are somewhat higher. For normal highway driving in the US spoilers are of little value.
2005 and up W-body Impala spoiler. Looks like a JC Whitney accessory – I would not buy the car unless the swapped another trunk lid. I wouldn’t even care if the car ended up mis-badged because of it. (LTZ badged as a LS)
It’s just the Cult of Sport. MAYBE on an SS, but otherwise it’s just as stupid as all the stick on chrome BS.
Honestly there are too many spoilers that look like an assist bar for a handicap toilet. Am I supposed to use that thing as a handle for opening and closing the trunk lid?
The Impala’s spoiler is handy for when you have to bungee cord the trunk closed either due to excessive cargo or damage to the trunk lid.
How much downforce do those little things generate at speed? I have doubts about that. And they won’t help fuel economy either.
Small ones may reduce aero drag, e.g. the Honda Civic Hybrid has one similar to the one on the Benzes, & that’s surely not for copping the Boy Racer look or reducing lap times.
Enough to compensate for the increasing uplift at high speed. It doesn’t take much, really. And obviously, Mercedes was doing this strictly for functional purposes, which helps explain why it’s so small. Most spoilers are more for looks, or exaggerated for looks.
I could be wrong but I seem to recall that these lip spoilers were not meant to create downforce but were designed to “break away” the air flowing over the rear which reduces drag.
There again, they could just be a useless cosmetic appendage.
It just occurred to me that perhaps such spoilers could work both ways: at Interstate speeds, drag reduction, but at Autobahn speeds, net downforce. If you think that’s crazy I won’t be offended.
Alpina is an automaker, so I nominate this. Same material as on the Benz, although it seems to be a bit bigger.
I think the German engineers who designed that spoiler called it “rubber sausage” — I believe I read that somewhere, but don’t quote me on it.
Also, that’s a 280SL. So that means it has the M110 engine, right? Those seem pretty rare, usually you hear about the 380/500/560 SL.
That’s because it’s a Euro model, as I made quite clear in the post; the 280SL was never sold in the US. The 280SL was quite common in Europe; I’m pretty sure it outsold the V8s there.
…also in England where 280 SL and later 300 SL seem to outnumber v8;s. Here in Australia the V8’s were much more popular than the 6’s. I don’t think the 280 R107 was actually sold here though the 300 was.
I agree the spoiler is awful and accentuated by the fact it is always black. I think it first appeared on the 450 SLC 5.0 and then stated to appear on 500 and 560 SL’s. It was never standard on the 350/450 variants and may have been an option on 380/420 versions. That said I have never seen one on the most common R107 here, being the 380.
When I was looking for an R107 a year ago I came across two with spoilers, both 500 SL’s and both were private imports. Interestingly the 500 SL in R107 was never sold in Australia, yet we were one of only three markets to get the 560 SL.
I ended up with a very nice 380 SL (and 380’s sold in Australia always had the double row timing chain so don’t suffer that issue and I had the chain replaced within a month of buying it anyway as a form of insurance!!). Needless to say it does not have a spoiler!
Just back up a little bit…I think I’m sensing irritation in your post?
What I meant to say, and maybe should have said, is that maybe some 280SL’s were grey market imports that were brought over to the U.S.
And I knew the 280SL was sold in Europe, for sure. I was just wondering about the designation given to the engine.
And just to be clear, I did read your whole article. It would have been lame/not made sense to just look at the heading and then make a comment about a topic that was covered within the article itself.
Definitely. I don’t have any figures here but when I was in my teens the great majority of the SLs I saw on the street in France/Belgium/Germany (not that it happened every day either) were 280s. And the most rare one was the 350. Given the gas prices and taxation levels in Europe I guess people with V8 money were able and willing to go all the way and pickup a 450. I would have, certainly…
It doesn’t get much worse than this one from the dull decade, on a 1991 Dodge Stealth.
Everyone’s picking the spoilers I like LOL
Beats it’s platform mate
I think the question is, “was there ever a good looking factory spoiler.”
Nope. Factory is a pretty tough standard. It seems like a huge number were dealer installed, some were probably OEM parts.
Thank heavens the spoiler fad is mostly dead. In 1995, I was shopping for a Chrysler Concorde. A dealer did a trade to get me the car I wanted, and it showed up with a dealer installed spoiler on the deck lid. It was perfectly painted to match the car, but was heavy enough to mess up operation of the deck lid. And, they wanted to jack me for another $300.00 for this pointless abomination.
I ended up walking and picked another car at another dealer.
On a Concorde? Yuck. That is about as bad as the ones one sees on a DeVille every great once in awhile. Abomination is right!
Pontiac G6 GXP
GAH! I was trying to come up with one and saw this.
Turn out the lights folks. That thing, along with the droopy twin grilles in front absolutely ruin this car.
Yep, that’s got to be the worst factory spoiler.
Ick, I’ve never seen one of those, and now I’m glad I haven’t. A winner is you!
[mic drop]
I saw one yesterday and thought it looked awful, especially with both CHMSL’s lit up. I’d have to disconnect the one inside the rear window.
Holy Hannah! That is downright ghastly!!
I’m surprised the Superbird hasn’t yet been nominated. Yes, I know it made a difference on the racetrack, and they were only sold for homologation purposes. But I would think actually driving one to the Safeway for a grocery run would generate a lot of sniggering behind one’s back about the inverse relationship between the spoiler and a certain part of one’s anatomy.
Yeah, that’s what came to mind for me too. Sure it was functional…at the track…as was the nose cone. But they had trouble selling the limited amount they did produce because they were so ugly.
But since it was done for racing purposes I can excuse it.
These cars were a tough sell when new. It sounds strange today, considering that they are now prized by MoPar collectors.
At the time, they were widely considered clownish and goofy looking. They languished on dealer showrooms and many times were discounted in order to get rid of them.
Many of these had their wings clipped and noses bobbed in order to move them off dealer lots. I’ve always had a soft spot for them, though.
Another nomination is the basket-handle spoilers that were briefly popular on Japanese sports coupes a few years back. The worst ones were probably aftermarket, but this assault on the eyes was an OEM spoiler for MY 2009.
OK, I’ll be “That Guy” . . .
Given that there was still a national 55 mph speed limit in the U.S. when this was built, I think the mockery is at least somewhat justified. Most of the people who bought these never got near an Autobahn or a racetrack.
Yeah, but vehicles are always fitted with tyres with the appropriate speed rating, even if that speed is illegal.
Some people exceeded the speed limits of the day. Some still do. Every car sold today can physically exceed the highest speed limit in the US. Every car should be able to safely perform at its highest rated speed. Some cars are dumbed down for markets such as ours, such as cars that were (or are still) speed-limited so that less capable (cheaper) tires can be fitted. The Porsche’s spoiler may be one of the largest examples relative to the car itself ever fitted but it has more actual functional purpose than 99% of the others posted here or ever on the market.
Beat me to it!
I was under the impression that the spoiler doubled as a place to mount the intercooler on the turbos.
Which would still make it potentially silly on the NA models (although 911s of that era possibly could have benefited from the marginal increase in downforce).
Makes a great picnic table at a day at the Polo. Seen it done more than once!
The naturally aspirated 911 of the era pictured is capable of over 140mph so the spoiler could certainly be of use.
Blasphemy. I’ve hated 911s since they got rid of the whale tail in favor of the stupid extend o wing thingy. That irked me more than the switch to water cooling!
The windshield spoiler on some 1990s De Tomaso Panteras.
That might actually help wiper function at higher speeds.
Should you really be going at ‘higher speeds’ in the rain?
I’ve driven at +80 mph for hours at end in raining conditions.
If you have good tires, I don’t see a problem with it.
Um, that rear spoiler is no great shakes, itself.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it pointless to put a spoiler on a convertible anyway? I can’t think of one example where having a convertible top, raised or lowered, would have the aerodynamics to benefit from a rear deck spoiler.
You do know that these also came with a removable hardtop? Anyway, as I said in the post, the overwhelming majority of these cars didn’t come with the spoiler, just the Euro-spec versions with the 5.0 L V8, which made it fast enough to need it.
The spoiler on that Mercedes looks very much like the FOHA-branded item I pulled from a ’79 or later Volvo 242 in a wrecking yard in the late ’90s. Three-piece item, that: the main spoiler across the trunk lid, and end trim corner pieces perched atop the aft corners of the quarter panels. Numerous photos here. When I posted it for sale on a brick-Volvo listserv, there was enough interested chatter that I did some digging and found that it was something of a rare bird; Polytec FOHA (see also here) told me they discard the tooling once they’ve made a run or two of any particular aftermarket part like that. They also told me the tool-retention policy varies on automaker contracts for factory-installed or official-accessory items.
I nominate the Ford Focus Street Appearance Pkg spoiler.
At least they didn’t feel the need to come up with a something similar for the hatchbacks, and just shipped the ZX3/5 SAPs without any rear spoiler other than the designed-in-from-the-start sheetmetal peak over the rear window.
This game is fun, SHO’ nuff.
This one was my first thought. Worst spoiler ever. Looks like a skateboard bolted to the trunk. Painful to look at.
The whole car is painful to look at…
Yuck! I had forgotten about that one.
OMG….people bought this…..?
This generation of the Ford Taurus looks hideous as it is, add a spoiler to the trunk, and looks even worse!
This is the one I was going to post after reading replies. I recall one magazine ‘like putting a thong on a fat girl’.
Those wags can be pretty non PC sometimes…
The spoilers on some of the WRX(s) come to mind here…
…and although functional and supposedly automatic, the goofy little one on the back of a Chrysler Crossfire is pretty dumb looking…
Oh, and my wife’s Mitsubishi Lancer has a spoiler that is not needed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her drive over 70. ;o)
I mean, it’s not like it’s an EVO or anything. (Although I will say this generation of Lancer really looks naked without it.)
I’ve read this was for bumper-height regulations, but I really don’t know.
I actually thought that was a clever execution, and leaps and bounds better than the block US spec bumpers used later in the 80s
I’ve seen Lamborghini Countachs with a front spoiler, and I thought it just looked hideous. I thought the rear end spoiler looked better.
I’m surprised no one has yet nominated the forst-gen Audi TT. What a great looking car before they tacked on the spoiler. I seem to recall that the wing was added for downforce after a couple of accidents on the Autobahn-but since VW already had a solution (the mechanized popup wing fitted to turbo New Beetles) I’m surprised they didn’t use it.
Not quite factory, but I believe this Jaguar XJ-S spoiler was available as a dealer-installed accessory for a few years, modeled (I think) after a similar spoiler on a Lister aftermarket car.
Anyway, it doesn’t complement the Jaguar’s flowing lines, but it also has another oddity. There’s a hole on the right-hand side of the spoiler for the power antenna. I assume it would be a pretty bad mistake to raise the trunk lid while the antenna is up!
I’ve seen cars that look attractive with rear spoilers, and I’ve seen some cars that just look hideous with them. It all depends on how they were installed. If there’s a functional purpose to them, then I’m all for it. If it’s just there for looks, and there’s no functional purpose to it, then the rear of the car should just be left alone with nothing on it.
The hood spoiler from the last gen Toyota Celica counts?
I liked the 1986 Honda Prelude rear spoiler. It just extended the trunk lid.
Besides the G6 GXP Street Edition coupe shown above, this was my least favorite spoiler in recent times. Too bad, as I would rock one of these for a daily driver/commuter…
You’re not the only one who rocks a Colbalt SS…. There’s this guy:
*Microsoft Sam’s WTF Train playing in the background*
Surprised no one’s mentioned the Infiniti J30t’s spoiler yet. That thing was unnecessary, and apparently no one at Nissan figured that a wouldn’t look good as something as blobby and jellybean as that thing.
I’ve always thought that it would be cool to stick some sort of a spoiler in between the tail fins on something like a ’59 Cadillac or a late ’50s Chrysler product.
I had that same idea back in high school. I called it the Daytona De Soto. A cross between a Dodge Daytona and a 1958 De Soto. Two examples of extreme styling on the same car!
Here’s a mk2 VW Scirocco showing you how old dry german rubber is done
Were they called “spoilers” because they spoiled the cars styling?
I always disliked the spoilers that were stuck on 1st and 2nd gen Camaros and Firebirds. They were integral parts of some of the SS, RS, Trans Am, Formula packages, but I thought the cars looked better without them.
I agree on the first gens, second gens with the droopy tail looked better IMO, mostly on the firebird though.
Surprised no one mentioned the Pontiac GTO, as I’ve already seen comments here at CC (Catera post I guess) saying “God bless everyone who removed it”
I don’t think it looks that bad, but it definitely looks meaner without it
+1 my friend deleted the one on his 04 and utterly transformed it, and my opinion of it. I never understand why GM saw it so necessary to mandate the installation of one in the first place, I can understand in the case of many examples where there’s a perceived need to visually enhance a high level model(mustang base vs GT, stealth vs. stealth R/T) but the GTO was a stand alone package. It didn’t even play into the heritage well, the only classic GTOs that had them were Judges.
Spot on about heritage. When I posted the comment above I pictured a spoilerless GTO in my head and thought it resembled the old GTO’s so much more, with that “I have more power than I should” mean look.
Actually, the Aussie Holden Monaro CV8 is spoilerless, so I guess Australia had bigger luck…
My dad has an 06 GTO and that spoiler overwhelms the trunk hinge springs so that the trunk will slam shut hard if you don’t let it down easy. Has been that way since new…
ROFL!
Pontiac, we build excitement… right down to the way the trunk lid closes!
Even Alfa Romeo caught unnecessary real spoiler fever in the 80’s – here’s a 1986 with the mandatory black spoiler.
I always thought it looked like God took a boat tail Spider (Duetto) and used it as a pencil eraser to rub out one of his lesser creations….
Oops -here’s the picture
I’m going to say every mustang between 1994 and 2009 looked better without the spoiler, which for most of those years unfortunately was prerequisite for the V8. The worst was the 99-00 one, which to add insult to injury seemed to be mounted to the middle of the trunklid.
Edit: for some reason I’m having trouble getting pictures uploaded (could be this hotel’s wifi) but here’s an example https://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/1999-chevrolet-camaro-z28-and-ford-mustang-gt-coupes-photo-345211-s-986×603.jpg
After all these bad spoilers, I have a need to see one of the best…
How about roofline spoilers on hatchbacks…i.e. Suzuki swift
The ultimate Corvette accessory.
Let’s not forget the two wheeled version of the Pontiac Trans Sport: The Honda Helix.
Last year, I added a trunk-spoiler to my ’98 Nissan Altima. It actually improved the profile by eliminating the droopy trunk look. Got it, including a matching trunk-lid, for half-price at the Pick-N-Pull. Saving my original trunk-lid, so no holes to fill if something bad happens to the spoiler.
Happy Motoring, Mark
Oh, not concerned about down-force, but the spoiler does let me see the rear of the car when I back up!
Happy Motoring, Mark
I saw your bets and I’ll raise…
Paul,
The 1978 450SLC 5.0 was a homologation special which I suspect had many special or HD parts to make it suitable for competition. Maybe not I don’t know. You stated that
“The subsequent 1980-up European 500SL/SLC also got the spoiler, as these were essentially the same.” Were these also homologation specials?
No. I didn’t write that well/properly. I meant to say that the 500SL/SLC also had the equally-powerful 5.0 L V8, and thus were capable of the same high speeds, and therefore needed the spoiler. But they were regular production cars.
The spoiler on the subject Benz convertible is hideous, but I can remember another Benz abomination only two feet away. I was working in Midtown Manhattan, NY and had a habit of looking in the window of the MB dealer on Park Avenue. The third brake light regulation was brand new and they had on display a red convertible with the very ugly brake light stuck in the middle of the trunk lid. It looked like it came from JC Whitney for ten bucks and was superglued on. Ruined the car for me. (Not that I had the $$$ to actually shop there.)