The Buštors and their Ugly Duck (car) below the Chimborazo mountain in Ecuador in July 2024. (source: Facebook/Ugly Duck Tales)
Mountain roads, rushing rivers, dark tunnels. Would you dare to conquer these in a car repeatedly named Family Car of the Year – back in the early 2000s?
Bratislava newlyweds Ivan and Jana Buštor took on the challenge. Two years ago, they attempted to drive 11,000 km from Slovakia to Kyrgyzstan, a country in Central Asia known for its mountains, and back. Now, to celebrate their marriage, they are attempting to drive through every country in Latin America (they are currently in Peru). Their car of choice? A heavily modified Fiat Multipla, which they lovingly named the Ugly Duck.
“Our goal is to travel through every country in South America and find out – is the Multipla really the ugliest car in the world?” the newlyweds say.
The Multipla, an Italian family car first released in 1998, looks like two different cars stuck together. The top of the car has a sort of bubble shape, with an additional pair of headlights embedded just below the windscreen. It’s an unconventional look, to say the least. But the Buštors, who are both professional photographers, gave their car an even more unconventional appearance. The car has been fitted with raised suspension and a reinforced oil pan for easier off-road driving.
“We’ve now got a brilliant fold-out bed, a kitchen, and even a toilet. The biggest change is our pop-up roof,” the couple announced the novelties added to their Ugly Duck back in early February, when they had their car shipped from Bremerhaven, Germany, to Colombia.
Their car is really hard to miss on the road. The bonnet is adorned with a blue rubber duck that lights up at night, and the rear of the car carries stickers of all the countries they have visited. Most eye-catching of all, next to the ‘Multipla’ name badge, is a picture of Milla Jovovich’s character Leeloo, from the 90s sci-fi blockbuster The Fifth Element. In a famous scene from the film, the childlike Leeloo holds up a card and repeatedly says, “Multipass!” The “Multipass” card has been edited so it now reads “Multi Plas”, in honour of the vehicle.
The rear of the car, featuring Leeloo from The 5th Element. (source: Oscar Brophy)
Almost all of the modifications were done by the couple themselves (except for the suspension and oil pan), as they taught themselves through YouTube videos. The car has proved extremely reliable, according to the couple.
“We did 11,000km to Asia. We had zero problems,” Ivan tells The Slovak Spectator.
