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Maybe they could have picked more American cars... Such as the 1968 Dodge Charger R/T, 1959 Oldsmobile Super 88, 1949 Buick Roadmaster, 1949 Cadillac 62, 1957 Cadillac Fleetwood, and more.. even the 1948 Tucker Torpedo... and the 1954 Corvette. No offense but I think they paid too much attention to European vehicles.. most of which were very expensive if you were to buy them.
Other cars they should have included (also not from Europe) are the Toyota 2000GT, and the rotary powered 1967-68 Mazda Cosmo..  

My suggestion would be to include the BMW 850  

Cumberford et al missed a real dues'y, literally.  The '35 Duesenberg SJ Dual Cowl Phaeton or the '32 J Boattail (or at least the Jag XK8) should have been there in place of the old Jaguar XJ6.  The BMW 3.0CS\CSi or CSL should never have been there. In it's place should have been the '56 BMW 507. Waaay better.  

I would question the inclusion of the BMW , while it is a handsome car, I would not call it beautiful. I think the writers included it because they thought they had to include a BMW, just like on every other list.  

I agree with those who say the the Jaguar XK8 should be on the list. It is a work of exquisite styling and feline grace. It could easily replace many of the other choices in the article.
(Full disclosure...I'm still in love with my 2000 XK8.)  

I enjoyed the story but I know my issue is missing a page.
Where is the 1935-1936 Auburn Speedster?  I can't find it.  

Car and Driver did a list of the ten most beautiful cars in 1982 (ties lengthened it to twelve) that sort of mirrored this one; six of theirs (XKE, Cord 810/812, Daytona, Starliner, XJ6, Cisitalia, 1961 Continental) were in this list.

My personal additions to the Automobile list (which includes three of the others of Car and Driver):

1970-3 Chevrolet Camaro/Pontiac Firebird (Try to visualize one that hasn't been altered by someone with too much testosterone and too few brains.)

1977-85 Ferrari 308GTB/GTS (Forget the Daytonas and Testarossas; this is the car people think of when they think of Ferrari.)

1964-96 Porsche 911 (Was that the last year for the first body style?  What I said of the 308 could be said of Porsches here.  The earliest ones were so cleanly styled that even something as outrageous as the 930 Turbo looks great.)

1993-97 Mazda MX-6 (I am surprised that more people don't recognize this car for its styling.  One of many that Mazda got right in this time period, the others being the third RX-7 and both Miatas.)

1974-87 Lotus Esprit (It looks like an atomic doorstop, but what a doorstop.  This, along with the XK-E, were about aerodynamics when that was done mostly nonscientifically, without the apparent aid of a wind tunnel.)

I suppose the only two I would disagree with on the list would be the Bugatti and Talbot-Lago--not because they're not beautiful, but because few are likely to see them in person even in a museum.  How about cars produced in reasonable quantities?  

Sorry, make that seven (not six) from the Car and Driver list included here, 24 years later.  The ones missing:  1970-81 Camaro and Firebird (treated as separate entries), Ferrari 308, Porsche 911 and Lamborghini Countach.  

Ok what kind of BMW with CA painted on its flank and a blue sided tail fin was on the cover, yet not in the 25 most "drool" cars ever.  Also props on the vette, & the  toranado. There is a really great Toranado in a certain  Steven King film with "one toned son of a *** pin striped on its rear that made me a Toranado fan from the first time I saw it.  

No namesakeone, Porsche stretched the wheelbase of the 911 in 1968, which cost the car it perportion. And in 1974, they added those gawd-ulgy crash bumpers, with the accordion bellows on the sides.

A good write-up on the early 911s can be found here: http://www.sportscarmarket.com/profiles/2000/October/German/index.html  

Rackfokus, that cover shot was of a flaired-fender version of the BMW 3.0 CSL. It's good that they didn't show a full picture of it, or any other CSL, because they all look like some teenager's attempt to "customize" his car - tacked-on doodads everywhere.

By the way, I've written a letter to the editors, suggesting they follow this up with "25 most beautiful race cars" and "25 most beautiful customs" issues.  

What about the 68 Dodge Charger. This was "the" muscle car in its purest form. It seems Mopars were left short here: 1933 Chrysler Imperial, 1957-59 Chrysler 300's, 1970 Barracuda. Also, you could have put at least 10 Ferraris on this list. Where's the 250 Spyder, Dino, even the common 308 should be here! Most beautiful means "most" beautiful!  

Cumberford generally deplores American styling of the late '50 - Early '60s. This can be seen both in the "what were they thinking" sidebar on wings, in this article, and his earlier column deriding the '57 Chevy - likely the most iconic car of the period, and one he himself worked on.  

Oberlonoa, actually I was referring to the year that the Porsche 911 turned to water cooling.  Wasn't that in 1997?

And you are probably correct regarding Cumberford's distaste of the styling of American cars in that era--somewhat ironic, since he took credit for the 1958 facelift of the Corvette, and (if I remember correctly) had a hand in the 1957 Chevy.  

I opened this article expecting to be outraged, but quite a few of my personal favorites made the list, including some obscure ones:  the Bentley Continental and the Cadillac 60 Special.  The BMW had me scratching my head.  So did the Maserati Ghibli, until I saw one at this weekend's Meadowbrook Concours.  Now I see the point of that one.  I might have picked the Avanti over the `53 Stude, and the `41 Continental and the 60 Special are basically the same design, so I don't know that they both need to be on the list.  That would make room for either the first Camaro or the related `65 Corvair.