The Chevy Corvette is pretty awesome, right? Well, most of them are. There’s no denying the consistently innovative sporty styling of the Corvette. This car has captured our hearts, tugged at our gasoline-filled desires, and become an icon in the automotive world. That said, there are still a few that didn’t quite achieve true Corvette driving excellence, and we’ve got five of those for you.

1980 California 305 Chevy Corvette

The C3 Corvette was off and running with a great start when the 1969 ZL1 and 1970 ZR1 models appeared, but then the government got its grubby hands on things. Strick emissions standards caused this icon to lose a lot of power throughout the 1970s, bringing us to the 1980 California 305 model.

This model of the iconic Chevy sports car only had 180 horsepower in California, where state laws were stricter than in the rest of the country. All other states saw 190 horsepower for this car.

The 1980 California looked great but was one of history’s lowest-powered Chevy Corvette models.

1975 Chevy Corvette

We’ll not belabor the strict emissions regulations imposed by the US government in the 1970s much longer. That said, the first Corvette impacted by these new rules was the 1975 model. That made for a great-looking car that had very little power.

To put things in perspective, only one year earlier, the 1974 Corvette made 265 horsepower. While this is a low number today, it was still 100 more horsepower than the 1975 version, which showed up with a paltry 165 ponies slowly walking under the hood. So much for a powerful sports car.

1995 Corvette Pace Car

Someone must have been colorblind to allow the pace car for the 1995 Indianapolis 500 to head to the track with the color scheme offered. This C4 Chevy Corvette could have caused the race organizers of the Indy 500 never to use a Corvette as the pace car again; it was that ugly.

The creation of this pace car was done by adding some safety features required by the race to a stock Corvette; so far, so good. The trouble with this car wasn’t performance but the color scheme chosen. This Corvette had a white lower body, maroon upper body, and white roof. The front donned a red strip around the hood. This combination still turns gearheads away.

The 1995 Chevy Corvette Pace Car was made in 527 versions and was likely the ugliest car ever made for a racing event.

C1 Chevy Corvette

The very first Corvette isn’t anything spectacular, but no other Corvette would exist without it. This factor makes it hard to hate the C1 model, but it had issues. Some issues should be expected of this first-ever model, especially since it arrived in the early 1960s, but maybe not what appeared.

What problems did the C1 Corvette have? The biggest issue was the engine. The power only reached 150 horsepower, which was awful. This was supposed to be the car American heroes wanted to drive instead of cars like the Mercedes-Benz 300SL. Unfortunately, the Merc at that time made more than 200 horsepower.

The C1 Chevy Corvette started it all, but it was severely underpowered.

C4 Base Model

Moving away from the dog days of the C3 Corvette with its government-strangled engine into the C4 model should have brought us a car we would all love. Unfortunately, most of what changed from generation to generation was the body style, not the power offered.

The 1980s are often considered the worst decade in the history of the automotive world as many companies tried to find allowable power. Edmunds tells us the 1984 base model of the Chevy Corvette carried over with the same horrible engine from the 1983 version, which only offered 205 horsepower.

The first model of the C4 Corvette was so underpowered it could have killed the nameplate for good. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.