There have been muscle cars of such repute in the market that keeping them in your garage increases not just the value of your car, but yours too.
But not all muscle cars are as reputed, and sometimes even the best of nameplates unraveled down the years into nothingness. The malaise era cars, the ones made from the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s are expected on the list simply because the oil crisis and new emission controls strangled muscle car engines.
But there are plenty more surprises on this list as well that came well after the malaise era had long gone. Calling them muscle cars is more of a misnomer but since the nameplates meant muscle, these became big disappointments on the market.
These muscle cars were unpopular back in the day and can be had pretty cheap on the used car market today, even though technically, some of them are classics. Expect to get any of these under $10,000 and some even under $5,000. They're not worth more than that, period.
10 1976-80 Plymouth Volare Road Runner: The End Of A Legend
The Plymouth Roadrunner was one of the coolest muscle cars ever, stripped down of even the carpeting to make it the fastest thing in the ‘60s and ‘70s. But when the malaise era came around, Plymouth discontinued the model and instead put its hallowed name as a trim on the Volare.
Despite the car being rather beautiful, the Volare is known to be one of the worst rust buckets in the history of all bad cars, and with the V8 jetting 120 horses, it wasn’t worthy of its muscle car name. Instead, it sullied the legacy of the Roadrunner.
9 1978-79 Oldsmobile 4-4-2: The Ignominious Power
Once upon a time, Oldsmobile made some cool cars, the kind when rightly tuned turned out to be the best sleepers in town. But by the mid-70s, it too had been swept up by the malaise brought on by strict emissions and the oil crisis.
The Oldsmobile 4-4-2 coughed up 115 horses in its base trim in 1979, and could not go beyond 109 mph to save its life, coming to an end in 1980. A 1985 revival did not bring about many sales either.
8 1978 Ford Mustang King Cobra: Big Only In Name
By the late ‘70s, even the Mustang could not carry on its jolly ride unchanged. Luckily for Ford, the Mustang managed to keep on selling, but then again, at the time, people bought the Ford Pinto in droves as well so the buyers could not afford to be particularly discerning at the time.
The V8 in the King Cobra made only 139 horses, but Ford very cleverly dressed up the car with vinyl decals, spoilers, a hood scoop, and aluminum wheels. Thankfully for the Mustang’s longevity, by 1979, the Fox-body rolled in to save the day.
7 1982-85 Chevrolet Camaro Iron Duke: One Bad Joke
If the Chevrolet Camaro didn’t sell these cars, we’d have called it a prank. But these cars were sold, and the joke, ultimately, is on the people who bought them. The Chevrolet Camaro Iron Duke, despite that stately name and some elegant looks, carried a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that came mated to a three-speed transmission.
This made the Camaro, a muscle car, hit 60 mph in an excruciatingly slow 20 seconds. Considering the double-digit horsepower, some 90 sickly horses, we are not surprised.
6 1999-2002 Mercury Cougar: Not Even A House Cat
In the ‘60s, the Mercury Cougar offered Mustang-like performance with different looks and styling, despite the rather offensive ad campaign of the time. Even after it moved off the Mustang platform, the Cougar remained a rear-wheel-drive option, perfect to amp and tune and take on the track.
But in 1999, the Cougar was shifted onto the Ford Probe platform, and considering the Probe in itself has been one of Ford’s rather distinctive fails, the now front-wheel-drive Cougar that bore a 2.5-liter V6 in the highest trim, could bring no joy. A muscle car, hardly!
5 1971-75 Ford Maverick Grabber: Thanks, We’ll Pass
The compact Ford Maverick wasn’t really a true muscle car and came based on the Ford Falcon of the ‘60s. But it did look good and initially, the 5.0-liter V8 engine did make some 210 horses. Couple with the dual-dome hood, and some really cool graphics, the Maverick Grabber looked and did okay.
But when the oil crisis hit and the emission control rules made Ford put in catalytic converters, the same engine now jetted just 129 horses. Now, no one wanted to grab the Maverick Grabber and it was discontinued as a nameplate.
4 1978 AMC Gremlin GT: Muscle Car Dreams Poofed
So technically, the Gremlin was never a muscle car, just a compact car with a rather spunky drive and some cool features, even though most found it to be one ugly car. But sometimes, there is beauty in ugliness and the Gremlin was cheap enough for the youth of the time.
In 1978, the last year of the Gremlin, the GT option was introduced, carrying a 3.3-liter inline-six that jetted 128 horses and took the car at its fastest speed yet, all of some 96 mph. The GT may have had some muscle car dreams but they spiraled down and the Gremlin was taken off in 1979.
3 1978-1983 Dodge Challenger: No Challenge At All
The Dodge Challenger remains a popular car today for those who only have a need for speed, but not comfort. And the first ‘60s run of the car firmly established it as muscle. So when it brought out a second-generation in 1978 after a four-year hiatus, people flocked to it.
And then they discovered that lack of a challenging engine under the hood. No V8. Heck, not even a V6. The engine in this “muscle car" was a 2.5-liter four-cylinder one that made 100 horsepower. Technically, a rebadged Mitsubishi Galant coupe, the Challenger wasn’t a bad car, just a bad muscle car.
2 1974 Pontiac Ventura GTO: Who Killed The Goat?
Much like Plymouth who ruined the Roadrunner name by downsizing it into trim for the Volare, Pontiac killed the goat by turning it into a Ventura trim. Once a great muscle car, the end of the GTO came via the malaise era, mixed in with a hefty dose of a marketing ploy.
The Ventura GTO carried the GTO decals and a body kit and made all of 200 horses. The GTO was finally gone from the market in 1975, but honestly, the worst as yet to come in the late ‘70s and the early ‘80s.
1 2004-05 Chevy Impala SS: A Weakly Gasp
The Chevy Impala SS was always a cool car, and in the ‘90s, it was perhaps the best muscle car in town bearing a Corvette 5.7-liter V8. Then, in 2000, Chevy did the unspeakable. They took the bad-selling Lumina and rebranded it as the Impala making it a front-wheel-drive.
To make matters worse, in 2004, the Chevy Impala SS now bore a supercharged 3.8-liter V6 that made only 240 horses. On a front-wheel-drive, this was not even enough muscle for the road, let alone the track.
Sources: Jalopnik, Hemmings