My Toyota was ugly, but it ran forever - if I recall correctly close to 700,000 km, largely winter driving.
40s and 50s cars were art - they were creatively designed and sculpted. 60s and 70s, other than early mustangs, were evolving toward looking like aircraft carriers. My Dad's 1957 Buick Special, which he bought for $50, was a thing of beauty. Nothing ever rusted like it, but the fins... like a fish!
I bought an Americanadian car to replace my 98 tercel, and the tercel was on the road doing fine for 7 years after the Ford had gone for scrap. I'll never make that mistake again. But I do wish carmakers would get creative and make small, fuel efficient cars as pretty as late 50s vehicles. Not copies - new designs. Those overly large SUV behemoths, and urban trucks are awful things. I recently looked at a bunch of SUVs for both sports and utility. You'd need a ladder to hoist a kayak onto the roof, so they were useless at anything but just being big.