About Ugly Fixes

What this is

Ugly Fixes is an independent review site for products that solve a specific, irritating problem and look ridiculous doing it. Bulky, over-engineered, oddly specific, visually offensive — and genuinely worth the space they take up.

It is not a gadget blog and it is not a list of things that were trending on Amazon last week. Every recommendation starts from a problem someone actually has, and has to survive three questions before it appears: what exactly does it fix, does it work in normal use, and is it worth the money, clutter and appearance.

Who writes it

Antoni Daskalski. Owner and maintainer of a 1976 Mercedes-Benz 450SL and a Mk1 Golf Cabriolet, working out of a one-car garage that is too small for either of them.

The launch focus is garage and automotive problems because that is where the first-hand experience is. A 1976 Mercedes and an early Golf Cabriolet between them generate a steady supply of the exact problems this site is about: batteries that die in storage, chrome trim that cannot be cleaned with anything abrasive, and a garage with no room in it.

What is in the workshop now

Keeping a 1976 Mercedes 450SL reliable — 1976 Mercedes-Benz 450SL (R107).

• The car sits for weeks between drives, which is where the battery trouble starts. Working out what a maintainer actually needs to do on a car with a period alarm still drawing current.
• Chrome window trim that cannot be cleaned with anything abrasive, on a car where replacements are no longer cheap.
• Storage: a one-car garage that also has to hold everything else, with a car in it that nobody wants to reverse around.

Being straight about what we have and have not used

The site is new, and most of it is honest research rather than hands-on experience. Rather than blur that, every page says which it is. Only pages marked Tested describe first-hand use, and that label requires a recorded test date, a described setup and original photographs before the site will even build.

Read how we test for the full detail. It is short, and it is the page we would most like you to read.

How it pays for itself

Affiliate links, disclosed on every page carrying one. Nothing is ranked by commission, no placement is for sale, and no manufacturer sees a page before it is published. The editorial policy spells out what that means in practice and what we would refuse.

Get in touch

Corrections are especially welcome — contact details are here. If a product has been discontinued, has changed materially, or simply does not work as described, we want to know and we will say so on the page.