A lot of the old 60's / 70's cheap guitars that weren't off shoots of famous models are often cooler that the regular strats and les pauls.
There's a picture of an aluminium custom jazzmaster on the EGC website that's probably the most amazing thing ever. I also have perverse liking for the flying V (but not any of the modern pointy sharp edged metal V models).
The bloke from part chimp has wonderfully smashed up old hofners:
