A fool and his money are easily separated. Perhaps that is why so many collectors go to extreme lengths to buy classic cars that rarely live up to the hype?
We are, however, all unique and have individual views on what makes a good car bad and vice versa. For some, it might come down to a lack of simple creature comforts—one high profile celebrity recently parted with a Lamborghini over a cup holder.
This just leaves the elephant in the room so to speak: what about the design faux-pas that carmakers roll out the door hoping we won't notice? Everyone has heard of the Edsel saga, a car so modern and yet so terribly styled no one wanted to be seen driving one.
Here are some of our favorite "terrible" cars that are now worth a fortune.
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9 Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary
Long before the discovery of girls, the Lamborghini Countach was the pin-up poster on many boys' bedroom walls, with its futuristic wedge shape hinting at the best ride you could get this side of a NASA rocket. In truth, the experience fell way short of the dream due to heavy clutch, transmission, and steering making daily use all but impossible, coupled with the worst cabin ergonomics of any car ever built.
Even the 1989 Anniversary edition with its 5.2-liter 455-hp V12 engine couldn't hide its shortcomings. Even if gearheads were brave enough to test its potential 183 mph top speed, they would be too sore to reminisce about the experience. How much they are worth today is purely down to nostalgia, with low prices starting at $250,000, and going as high as $599,000.
8 DeLorean DMC-12
Without big-screen appearances, we suspect the DeLorean DMC-12 would have faded into obscurity along with much of the darker side of the carmaker's history. Plagued by production delays and missed delivery deadlines, dealers and customers alike effectively received an unfinished product.
All could have been forgiven if the DMC-12 actually had any sporty characteristics, but saddled with a PRV sourced 2.85-liter V6 engine rated at 130 hp, the DeLorean didn't deliver the affordable sports car experience previously promised. If ever there was proof every dog has its day, DeLoreans are highly sought after with prices reaching as much as $110,000 to the right buyer.
7 Plymouth Superbird
Where this race car starts and finishes is hard to tell. Taking to the NASCAR scene the Superbird made perfect sense, but as a road car, gearheads were less than convinced with the outrageous nose and rear wing combination.
Essentially a Road Runner on steroids, its 200 mph performance claims are based on its 426 Hemi V8 producing 425 hp. A great race car, but a terrible road car from a dealer's perspective, sales of the production cars stalled with most examples spending lengthy periods of time on forecourts. In a bid to shift unwanted stock, most Superbirds were returned to Road Runner spec. Finding an original now can set you back as much as $300,000.
6 Chevrolet Corvette (C1 / 1953)
Easily America's favorite sports car, the Corvette has been in production since the 1950s, delivering the kind of performance normally associated with European exotica without the inflated sticker price. It would be easy to think every Corvette is a winner, but the first generation cars from 1953 were far from it.
Early impressions left customers with mixed reactions; while Chevrolet had nailed the styling, under the skin things were less impressive with outdated sedan-based suspension and weak engines. This wasn't the sports car gearheads had hoped for, with 150 hp available, performance was average at best. Ironically, the early '53 cars are highly sought after, with auction prices exceeding $500,000.
5 Jaguar E-Type S3/V12
One of the most beautiful and desirable sports cars of all time, then Jaguar engineers intervened and transformed the S3 model into a bit of a backward step. In any other car of the time, adding a bigger engine would have been viewed as a positive; for Jaguar, though, all it did was made the E-Type worse.
As great an engine as the V12 was, the E-type didn't need more cylinders. With tiny power gains nullified by the added weight, the later S3 cars were actually slower in daily use. Although deeply flawed, the later V12 powered cars still have their followers. A well-sorted and cared for S3 can easily fetch over $100,000.
4 Ferrari Testarossa
Another '80s pin-up poster dream car that promised more than it could deliver, unlike the Countach that was hard to drive, the Testarossa was much more user-friendly. That isn't to say it was without its problems. Try driving one of these down a narrow backstreet and its immense rear end makes itself known
These flagship models were all about delivering both visual and aural drama. It looks cool and sounds fantastic thanks to a flat-12 boxer engine chucking out 385 hp, but even the much-despised F-348 could lap Fiorano quicker. Big Ferraris go through phases of popularity; two years ago $90,000 would have bagged a decent car, now expect to pay $200,000.
3 Pontiac Trans-Am
Chances are that growing up in the late '70s with a passion for fast cars, every gearhead would have seen at least one movie involving a Pontiac Trans-am, outrunning the local law enforcement with ease. Surely, this must have been the fastest car on sale.
Nothing could have been further from the truth. Pontiac, like other carmakers, had been crippled by stricter emissions regulations to regulate pollution from vehicles. The unfortunate knock-on effect being less power, even with a 6.6-liter V8 engine under the hood the best owners could hope for was 185 hp. A cult following helps to keep Trans-am prices buoyant, later special edition cars fetching $110,000.
2 Porsche 914
Porsche or Volkswagen? Depending on the model and engine size, it could be either, leading to a long-running argument over who really designed and built the 914. Developed to meet requirements for both carmakers, it was actually Porsche that handled the bulk of design and development.
It's not hard to see why Porsche fanatics looked down on these cheaper 914 offerings, with smaller 1.7-liter four-cylinder engines producing just 80 hp doing little to add prestige or performance to the 914 range. In a sign of how times have changed, even the base models are becoming collectible, with fully restored cars regularly reaching $80,000 at auction.
1 Lotus Elite (Type 14)
Groundbreaking innovations are something of a specialty with Lotus Cars. If there is a way to reduce weight and manufacturing costs, the UK-based carmaker has probably already moved on to the next step. Early adopters of the next technology can go wrong, as the 1958 Elite featured fiberglass.
Adopting a new material for both body and chassis proved to be the Elite's Achilles heel as weakly bonded suspension mounts often failed under load, a fault that was never corrected over the model's production life. However, the weight-saving did allow Lotus to run smaller engines, with the Elite outperforming its rivals despite having a simple 83 hp 1.3-liter engine. Despite their weakness, the Elite is still collectible, with prices currently hovering around the $100,000 mark.