Throughout the years, there have been many classic car designs and types produced, from sports cars to supercars, pickup trucks to humble sedans. But one of the most iconic of these forms is the incredible phenomenon of the muscle car. The muscle car is synonymous with the United States, and throughout the years a huge variety has been produced and a massive number have earned reputations that spread far and wide.

Of course, you can always count on the most recognizable iteration of the muscle cars genre to be the original Ford Mustang. It is the gold standard that all muscle cars must follow, and it is amazing that is revered to this very day and still spoken about in such incredible terms. But Ford wasn't the only producer of muscle cars. Pontiac, Chevrolet, and, of course, Dodge also produce some wonderful examples.

But not all muscle cars can be the greatest thing on the road, and there have been some downright duds throughout the years. Every manufacturer has had their hits and misses, and with so much pressure from fans of muscle cars who always expect great things, bad muscle cars can be some of the biggest disappointments of all. And yes, the Mustang has suffered a rather bad generation or two, as well. In this list are a number of the best muscle cars that money can buy, and of course, there are quite few that should be avoided at all costs.

23 Weak: Ford Mustang II

When it comes to bad muscle cars, it doesn’t get much worse than the Mustang’s second generation. Coming off the back of the world-renowned first generation of the car, expectations were naturally going to be high for the model's second iteration. But things went quite badly. It was underpowered, and its V6 simply was not up to producing the power a big muscle car needed. On top of all that, its styling was off and it handled atrociously. It was heavy and sluggish, and nothing like the generation that came before it. The Mustang’s copybook is great overall, but the second generation is quite a big mistake in that book.

22 Weak: Chevrolet Vega

The Chevrolet Vega is undoubtedly a pretty car, and if looks alone made a car good, the Vega would be great. But it had many problems, not the least of which was that it was badly put together. It was designed by GM designers—as opposed to Chevrolet designers—and they really didn’t care much for the car. The rumor is that when John DeLorean went to inspect the first example of the car, the front bumper simply fell off when he looked at it. That story very much summed up the car: a pretty one but just poorly built by people who didn’t give it the time it deserved.

21 Weak: Mercury Capri RS Turbo

The Capri was, in effect, Mercury’s version of the Mustang. Indeed, it shared the same platform and engine options with the Mustang. But unlike the Mustang, it featured catastrophically bad styling and it didn’t look anywhere near like what a muscle car should look like. Body color exterior accents and a huge bulging hood took away that specific muscle car feel, and it just looked rather average compared to the Mustang. Performance-wise though, it could really match the Mustang and it was nothing for Mercury to be embarrassed about. So, it was indeed a strong effort performance wise, but looks really let this car down.

20 Weak: 1980 Pontiac Trans Am Turbo

The 1973 model year saw the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD-445 launched, and it was the final big fling for the muscle car in the 1970s before normality started to creep in more and more. Pontiac tried to revive the craziness with the 1980 Trans Am Turbo, but it is safe to say that things did not go so well. Its 4.9-liter V8 with an added turbocharger somehow only pumped out 210 bhp in 1990 and 200 in 1981. But trying to improve the product was hard. Reliability products plagued this car, and when Pontiac introduced the third-gen Firebird in 1982, the turbocharged car disagreed altogether, bar a Trans Am that ran in limited numbers in 1989.

19 Weak: Second-Gen Dodge Challenger

When people are asked to draw a Dodge Challenger, they are unlikely to think of the 1982 edition. The second-gen model certainly had nothing on the looks of the white one featured in the movie Vanishing Point. The original version petered out in 1974 before the idea of a new version was floated in 1978, but as you can see it certainly took a very bad turn. It was, in effect, a coupe borne out of Chrysler’s close relationship with Mitsubishi, turning the new Challenger into nothing than a glorified commuter. The Challenger vanished once again in 1983, and quite frankly, it was a relief to everyone that it did.

18 Weak: Chevrolet Impala SS

One seriously incredible muscle car launched by Chevrolet was the Impala. Over many generations, it featured a range of V8 engine options that kept it in the running for serious muscle car contention. But somehow, a front-wheel-drive version was born later as a successor. By that point, the Impala was nothing like the original SS version and quite a bland car with little to offer. A supercharged V6 was offered with the new SS model, but it fell flat on its face compared to the earlier Impala SS. The front-wheel drive meant it had lost all of its street cred as well.

17 Weak: Oldsmobile 442

The Oldsmobile 442 certainly started out well, and it was a classic muscle car design. An interesting fact is that the 442 name was derived from the car's four-barrel carburetor, four-speed transmission, and twin exhaust pipes. But come the late-1970s and the 442 was to lose all of its performance and strip away what its name suggested. The car also gradually became a worse-looking vehicle, and the fourth generation became nothing more than a hatchback-style monstrosity and had none of the roots from the 442s that made the model famous.

16 Weak: Buick Regal Sport Coupe

The Buick Regal Sport Coupe is certainly not a good looking car. It looks something of a basic Buick with enhancements put up in some sort of DIY workshop, but that really is the least of its issues. The Regal Sport was also incredibly hard to maintain and was a pain in the neck for a huge number of its owners. The thing was, many did find it rather exciting at the time but by modern standards, it would fall flat on its face. It holds nothing like the allure of the first-generation Ford Mustang or a Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.

15 Weak: Pontiac Grand Prix

The Name ‘Grand Prix’ certainly brings about a sort of allure to it, doesn’t it? But the Pontiac Grand Prix wasn’t nearly as alluring as a Formula 1 race or even an IndyCar Grand Prix. The original Grand Prix was a cool car and the later model by Pontiac was aimed at improving it and making it better. But the huge V8 it featured produced so much torque it became somewhat dangerous, and thus it really didn’t last a long time before being canned. It was a horrible handling car as well, and it was particularly bad when being driven at slow speeds.

14 Weak: 1982 Chevrolet Camaro

The Chevrolet Camaro is one of the most well-known cars to come from Chevrolet, but the designers and engineers really did let themselves down come 1982. The car's story actually closely follows that of the Fox Body Ford Mustang, which is that the performance of the cars started off pretty bad but got much better towards the end of their model runs. When the 1982 Camaro was launched, its performance figures spoke for themselves. It produced a startling deficient 90 horsepower, which for a muscle car is absolutely pathetic and far worse than what some cars from the 1970s could produce. It’s absolutely crazy that a muscle car would hit the streets producing so little power.

13 Weak: Chevrolet Monza

Monza is, of course, the fabled Italian Grand Prix circuit, where automotive Tifosi idolize Ferrari. But no one is flocking to idolize the Monza from Chevrolet anytime soon. The cars baseline is similar to the Vega, and that’s because the Vega is what it is based on. A GM Wankel engine was supposed to go into the car, but issues regarding emissions and fuel economy meant it debuted with the Vega’s pitiful inline-four engine. This meant it was a terrible car to work with, although certainly an improvement over the Vega it was based upon.

12 Worth It: Original Ford Mustang

When it comes to good muscle cars, there are a few out there and truth be told, there are more good than bad. But nothing can really come close to the original Ford Mustang, even if modern cars do perform better than the original ‘Stang. The gold standard for all muscle cars, that V8 rumble is distinctive enough to be known worldwide, and demand was incredibly high for the car as soon as it hit dealer floors. Various generations have come and gone since the original Mustang, and it went through multiple changes during its run, as well. But we will always remember the original as being the one to won

11 Worth It: 2019 Chevrolet Camaro

Now this isn’t all based on looks, and the 2019 Camaro is far from being the best-looking muscle car out there. But there is no doubting how good a car the Camaro now is, now that we're some years on from the rather troubled 1982 version. The Camaro itself returned to the market in 2010 as Chevrolet took a step into the muscle car world once again, and its V8 engine is a power unit to behold, pumping out all the horsepower and noise that a muscle car requires to be considered a true muscle car. The looks, though, are something of an acquired taste, and it certainly doesn’t come close to the original Mustang in that regard.

10 Worth It: Chevrolet Chevelle SS

This car just oozes the drop-dead gorgeous looks that are expected of a classic 1970s muscle car. The Chevelle SS, and it’s offspring variants the SL5 and SL6 are all absolutely superb cars. Its 450-hp engine and incredible performance earned it huge praise worldwide and incredibly, it was just as economical as other models (such as the Impala) which also featured in the Chevrolet lineup. It isn’t often a muscle car is not only fast but economical at the same time. The Chevelle SS isn’t too expensive to operate either, which is another bonus for those which own it.

9 Worth It: 1963 Chevrolet Corvette

The 1963 Corvette was the first in the legendary Sting Ray (sometimes Stingray) series, and its looks alone ensured that it would go down as a legend. It was a huge success and is, without a doubt, one of the best cars that Chevrolet has ever produced (and arguably the best Corvette, as well). If anyone wants to get their hands on a classic Corvette, they should always look at getting one of these cars as well. Even by today’s standards, this is still a very fast car and is certainly liable to surprise even modern sports car drivers.

8 Worth It: Plymouth Superbird

There are not many cases when a car can be so totally defined by its looks, but surely one of those rare exceptions is the Plymouth Superbird. There is something incredibly iconic about its shape and styling that holds up to this very day, although it doesn’t seem to be talked about as much as it really should be. Equipped with a typically massive muscle car V8, it never sold that well in the first place but it is recognized as one of the best-looking designs ever put into production, and that alone is reason enough to own one.

7 Worth It: Ford Torino GT

The Ford Torino GT is an epic muscle car, and quite possibly one of the best that has ever been produced. But it doesn’t quite seem to get enough recognition compared to cars like the Mustang or Corvette. The Torino GT was a powerful muscle car through and through, and the 1968 model featured a V8 that pumped out over 390 horsepower, which is a startling figure for a car from the late-1960s. Its styling is simply beautiful, and it is quite sad that the Torino GT doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. It is a wonderful car in every way, and a muscle car that helped define the genre.

6 Worth It: Dodge Charger Daytona

The Dodge Charger Daytona, or Dodge Hemi Daytona, featured a huge rear wing much like the one seen on the Plymouth Superbird. This is a true muscle car with racing in mind, and it is incredible how much one of these can go for nowadays. In 2017, The Clever reported that one had gone for $900,000 at auction, which is an astonishing price. And what’s more, this car had only done around 6,500 miles according to Mecum Auctions. It is one of the most elusive muscle cars out there, and worth every single penny that anyone who buys one pays for it.

5 Worth It: 2017 Ford Mustang GT

The 2017 Ford Mustang GT is one of the latest generations of the Mustang to come from Ford, and to be fair, it is probably one of the best Mustangs that money can buy. It is certainly among the fastest muscle cars of modern times! Upwards of 435 horsepower comes from the modern Mustang’s engine, and it is still that iconic V8 just like the original. Not the exact came, of course, but you catch my drift. A 0-60 sprint takes just 4.3 seconds, and it takes just 13 seconds to run the quarter mile. That is simply incredible performance from a great muscle car.

4 Worth It: 2017 Dodge Challenger

There is something very cool about a Dodge Challenger, and they can certainly give a modern Mustang GT a good run for their money. A tough-looking machine, you get 485 horsepower and a 0-60 time of 4.2 seconds, and the quarter mile is achieved in 12 seconds. That is certainly Mustang-beating performance, even if the car doesn’t quite have the allure of the Mustang itself. And if you so desire, you can get a retro shaker hood with an air intake sticking out, giving it that real cool 1970s style to it. It's a pretty good modern muscle car that carries on the legacy of its forebears (and in Hellcat trim, perhaps even exceeds its predecessors).