Look Back at It: 6 Great Automotive Rear Ends

Every part of a car is—or should be—a marriage of form and function, the front no less than the rear. Grilles often hog the glory, so we decided to take a cue from this 2022 story and share a few vehicles whose rear ends are just as handsome and integral to the design of the car as are the fronts. Fins or no fins, front-engine or mid-engine, lots of glass or just a peephole—our choices run the gamut of type and time.

Gearheads like yourselves are bound to spot some obvious omissions from this list—and we have an explanation. We wanted to highlight vehicles that didn’t get their moment in the sun within that 2022 article. So, let it not be said that we at Hagerty Media ignore, dismiss, or otherwise do not recognize the 1948 Cadillac and its taillight humps, the Forward Look cars and their soaring fins, the 1971 Buick Riviera and that famous boattail, or the Split-Window Corvette of 1963. All hail those heroes—and onto six others who belong in the pantheon!

1953 Bentley R-Type Continental

The original Bentley R-Type Continental from the early ’50s has, in my opinion, the best butt in car-dom. It has hips and thighs, oh my, but stays focused enough to be the world’s fastest four-seater when it was new. The front ain’t bad, either. — Andrew Newton

1968–82 Corvette

I’m going to select the C3 Corvette, especially the early, chrome-bumper models. The 1968 Corvette brought a totally new look with bulging fenders that match the front. Combine that with the deeply tunneled rear glass, with sweeping C-pillar buttresses, and—apologies to Chris Evans—you’ve got America’s A**.

The 1969 Corvette tied things up even more by incorporating the backup lights into the inboard taillights, one of a few things Chevy improved on the second year of the C3 generation. — Brandan Gillogly

1936–38 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic

There are so many great rear ends in the car world. It’s hard to choose what I consider to be “the best.” The Ferrari F40 is a good shout. So is the Porsche 959. And the Volvo 1800. But I’ve got French streamliners on the brain lately, so it’s hard to ignore just how elegant the backside of a 1936–38 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic is. The entire car is dreamy, but the riveted seam that bisects the car’s roofline, rear window, and perfectly round spare tire cover is just wild. There’s nothing else like it. — Stefan Lombard

1963 Studebaker Avanti

Like many car-crazed children, I built models, though I lacked the patience and talent to build good ones. There was a lone exception, where everything, even the candy-apple green paint, turned out right, and that was a 1963 Studebaker Avanti. Even then, I loved every angle of the Avanti, but especially the rear, which was so simple, so clean. That car was way, way ahead of its time. — Steven Cole Smith

2013–15 Porsche 918 Spyder

Porsche is remarkably adept at translating design cues from the 911 to other vehicle formats—even if you resent their existence, you have to admit that Macans and Taycans are immediately recognizable as Porsches. The 918 makes you forget every Cayenne Coupe you ever saw. Those wide haunches flow over tires that are over a foot wide, the use of negative space is beautiful and functional (diffuser! vents!), blade-like trailing edges are juxtaposed against flowing curves, and then there’s the top exit exhaust . . . yum. Just yum. — Grace Houghton

1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville

I gravitate toward the rear of any widebody Corvette (specifically the C6, with its round lights), but for the purposes of this exercise, we can’t leave out the ’59 Caddy Coupe de Ville. It’s . . . a lot—tons of chrome and detail work, massive jet-age fins, two jet-exhaust-like light cones on each side, and a trunk you could fit four bodies in. Love it or loathe it, you won’t ever forget it. — Eddy Eckart