Italian sports cars are known for their stunning looks and breathtaking performance, but sometimes, the performance doesn't match the looks.

The Italians are responsible for creating some of the most beautiful automotive creations on our planet, but sometimes they just don’t go the way they look.

Sometimes they get let down by their engineering, lacking the necessary performance to get the beautiful body moving, other times they were never really designed to go all that fast in the first place. Either way, whether their sports cars are able to tear up the track or just sit helplessly on the side of the road with their hood up, they are still great to look at.

Pretty much everything on the road back in the 60s was front-engine, rear-wheel-drive. So when the Fulvia hit the streets, it quickly became the benchmark for all front-wheel-drive sports cars. It was significantly lighter than the competition and the more powerful HF punched well above its weight.

Sadly its light weight was in part, thanks to its inferior build quality with desperately thin sheet metal. The small 1.3-liter and 1.6-liter cars are peppy, fun to drive, and now very expensive. The more affordable, less fancied 90 horsepower 1.2-liter cars are also less fun, and by modern standards pretty pedestrian.

Widely regarded as the worst Ferrari of all time, it is physical proof that not all Ferraris are created equal. Somehow its badge still attracts attention, though in all honesty it isn’t exactly justified.

Only producing a pitiful 200 horsepower, it took over 9 seconds to get to 60. Most modern pickup trucks are faster.

It had serious potential to become the Maserati for everyone, costing far less than other models of the time, but sadly it just became the Maserati nobody wanted.

Mass-market materials were in, bespoke Italian leather was out, build quality went to the dogs, and the engineering was outdated. These cars were, and still are, cheap for a reason, no matter how pretty they are, they will cost a fortune to run and will struggle to keep up with cheaper more modern cars.

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Lancia themselves, and most fans of the brand (that's us, we will find excuses to own a Lancia) will claim it is an “easy fix,” but when “welding the frame” is part of the necessary work, it just isn’t true.

These Lancias were never really made very well, and they return to the earth faster than they actually go, but they are still gorgeous.

You would be forgiven for getting excited over this little car, close to 100 horsepower in a tiny unibody mid-engine car that weighs around 2,000 pounds.

Although it was powered by Fiat and wore their badge with pride, it was designed and exclusively manufactured by Bertone for many years. Sadly, these cars returned to the earth faster than anything Fiat had previously been able to conjure (which is really saying something). It also won’t exactly keep up with hot hatches from the same era…

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Pininfarina created a bit of an understated masterpiece that will beg you to try the forbidden fruit.

If you do grab a hold of one of these lemons, just remember, under no circumstances turn the steering to full lock. This crime is punishable by catastrophic engine failure thanks to the power steering pump being driven off a timing belt (for whatever bizarre Italian reason) rather than the crank pulley. It also doesn’t exactly set the world alight with its performance in standard trim.

The sheer beauty of the Ghibli, both inside and out made it a solid seller, but that can’t ever compensate for its awful reliability.

In many ways, it feels like they are determined to unlearn all the good things Ferrari (its parent company) has learned over the last couple of decades and seem bereft of any clue on how to produce a reliable performance car. Once you are able to get going it is brisk, but so focussed on being a GT car it loses pretty much all its sharpness.

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These beautiful little sports cars are a whole lot better than people will give them credit for, although the Alfa Romeo nameplate will never be associated with any form of reliability, they offer astonishing value compared to other convertibles.

Unfortunately, by modern standards they are pretty slow in every respect of the word. It will give you an unrivalled driving experience, it will just happen at a more sedate pace.

When it came out, it truly set the benchmark for affordable sports cars, quite possibly one of the best affordable sports cars in history, as long as you got the manual transmission model.

If you somehow got your hands on a horsepower sucking 3-speed automatic you will regret your decision pretty much every waking moment of ownership.

This is a fantastic example of a car that can lure you with looks alone. It could result in a rather big mistake. Most people will be familiar with the fact that these cars were not built very well, like many Alfa Romeos, they suffered from the usual poor reliability and rust issues.

What you may not notice is a 1.6-liter version, with no badging, you could easily get suckered into getting a car with a good, yet underpowered engine to add insult to injury.

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Luke Zietsman is an all out automotive enthusiast based in The Philippines. If it has two or four wheels he has either owned it, researched about it or dreamed about it.