My '71 SS-454

[HerrKooled]

That's one nice Chevelle Herrkooled.

The Red with Black stripes is my favorite on the '70.

LS6 huh? daayum! power antenna?

Prior to me buying the '71 from my bro, I bought a '70 SS-396 4-speed Dk Green with white stripes, cowl induction and gauge package, strato-buckets. My bro called me and said it was for sale in So Ill. He knew the original owner and thought it would be a great buy for me. It had headers but retained the stock exhaust to the rear. They had put a mild solid lifter cam, and a spread bore Holley on it. I drove it back to Mpls and totaled it after owning it 1 1/2 weeks. I will never forget that car. It was a joy to drive. A damn shame I screwed that deal up. That's what happens when a 17 yr old becomes too confident with a hi-perf car with F70x14 tires on a wet street.

Thanks for the positive comments Glenn

the power antenna was dealer installed, because the young aspiring business man who bought this car brand new needed to have a lot of things optioned out, including the highest motor avalible in 1970. i also have the regular tailights with silver argent trim, it's an easy switch. although it dosn't have power steering or air conditioning and it's a 4 speed, a street brawler if you will. trying to figure that one out.

i'm sorry to hear about your 70' was it a L34 or L78 car?

[Z28SSMAN]

The antenna in the windshield wasn't spectacular on them anyway.

I'm sure it wasn't the L78. They chose a nice cam profile on it though. It had a crisp healthy snarl to it. Great idling and driving manners. When you just barely touched the secondaries...the car hauled ass.

I also owned a Fathom Blue w/white stripes and Cowl Ind '70 SS 396 4-speed. I bought it from a kid in So Mpls named Givicky (sp) in around '77. It had an L88 cam, 4.88 gears and lakewood snubber traction bars. It was nowhere near as nice as the Green car. After I bought it, I decided to put 3.31s and a mild Crane hydraulic cam in it. He also had monster 2 1/8 headers on it so I put small tube street headers with exhaust out the back with factory chrome tips.

He had it jacked up in the back, so I lowered it back to stock and basically converted it to a daily driver before selling it to my brother in law.

[MR.hp]

Stop talikng about this makes me miss my '69SS '70 and my '71SS

[Z28SSMAN]

Yeah, it hurts to think about the Green Car to this day.

I wrecked it on Halloween '73 and bought the '71 from my bro in March '74.

Pretty interesting about the LS7 heads being ordered by the Vietnam vet.

[HerrKooled]

well somthing didn't seem right as i think the LS7 crate motors just had iron heads with square ports, that wouldn't really do a lick extra. i just went through paperwork as it was bugging me and it wasn't LS7 heads he had down, they were L88 heads. all i know about L88 heads are that they are aluminum and they are from a corvette motor. with that in mind, i delete the older post as it makes me sound like an idiot.

it dosn't really matter anyway as unfourtunatly the original motor is no longer in the car, nor was it in the car when i bought it. So there goes numbers matching high value, unless i come across a date correct block. I do, however have correct buildsheet, and a 4 bolt 454 @ 500 horse so it is still a fun car to drive, even if it is not numbers matching.

[Z28SSMAN]

Well there are numbers matching cars that are not very nice and there are numbers correct cars which if nicely done can be as valuable or even more valuable.

I got caught up in the numbers matching thing and ended up selling my wife's '69 RS/SS 396 Camaro which needed major work. I sold it and bought my 2000 SS. She kept reminding me that it wasn't a good idea to sink money into it because it wasn't a numbers matching car. I thought about it and gave up on the project and sold it to a friend Greg Krause. He ended up selling it to someone in Winsted who had the resources to restore it.

At the time, I figured I would have to spend about $25k to do a basic restore. I had even bought a Texas body with A/C do a transplant. After seeing how much work and money it would end up costing, I figured I would find a turn-key '69 and would be farther ahead.

The reason I was reluctant to get rid of it was the fact that it was pretty rare. It was Hugger Orange with Black vinyl top, RS/SS, 396 (not original block) A/C, Pwr windows, rear defog, tinted glass, Comfortweave interior, TH400, 3.73 12 bolt, and fiber optics. Not many 396 factory a/c cars with power windows around. I think the production numbers were around 1900 for this combination.

Oh well, I'll buy another one someday, but only the right one. I know it'll cost me tons of dough, but it's only money. lol

[HerrKooled]

i just did a little reading into the L88 corvette, and apparently even though it was rated at 435 horse from chevrolet it made an average of 550 to 570 in production trim and had a top speed of 170mph, and can be easily made a 600 horse motor. i can see why the fellow wanted the high flowing aluminum heads on the LS6, it probably heavily outperformed the motor i have in there now! and the ZL-1 corvette pushing upwards of 780 horse with full aluminum build and a top speed of over 200mph with stock gears? that's craziness i tell ya, and it's pure bliss at the same time and i love everything about it. i thank God for creating the BBC dino pushrod V8 on the 8th day.

i agree with you on the numbers matching deal. unfortunatly, you can't really build and beat on a numbers matching car, at all. those are the cars that sit in your garage and you look at. i don't want one of those cars, i want to drive mine. i love the smiles i put on peoples faces and the 360 degree head turns. i once drove through a trailer park during a big BBQ they were having and became God for an hour, and a man even offered me his daughter in marriage. True story. i also once caused a cop to hit a stop sign, while he was doing the neck twist. I love it.

i love the 69 RS/SS camaros and those headlights. really valuble car you had, imagine what it would have been worth in mint condition. about the only thing above that is the 69' vert camaro RS/SS. Your right about money, you only live once and life is short. drive what you love and enjoy yourself. if you get your chevelle out, we'll have to get some pics together this summer.

also, i was stuck on reading your post about wrecking the car in 73' on halloween. that really sucks, but you posess a wealth of knowledge many of us here do not have, you actually drove these cars when they were only a few years old and you were young in a time when big block pony & muscle cars of all makes roamed and ruled the streets. that must have been an awesome sight to behold, i'm actually jealous.

[Z28SSMAN]

Pretty interesting info.

Well, I do feel fortunate to have been around those cars. It was tough though from '65-70 because my bro and I weren't old enough to be able to go out and buy hardly anything. All we could do was stand outside the dealerships and dream about owning an SS-396 or 454 Chevelle.

The area we grew up in was one of the poorest counties in Southern Ill. and is even worse now. That state is run totally different than Minnesota. The poorest counties here make some of the better counties there look bad.

Anyway...it's refreshing to hear you appreciate what guys like myself have experienced about muscle cars of all types. People from that era are slowly becoming fewer and fewer. I'd like to interview many guys from that era and put it in a book before they take those stories to their graves. It would take a lot of sorting out because from what I've noticed, many exaggerate what really happened back then.

I know that many around town have called me names that I won't repeat here. There has been a strong dislike for me around this town. After all is said and done, I know where I came from and what I've been exposed to, so it's hard for me to take any shit from anyone. That's one of my weaknesses. I could take the easy route and try and be everybody's friend, but that's not my style....never has been and never will be.

Those same people who have a strong dislike for me don't realize that if they ever needed help, I would give them the shirt off my back without needing anything in return. I do think that most people who are into cars probably feel the same way that I do.

When all this snow melts, I'm looking forward to bringing the Chevelle out and swapping stories with car guys.

[HerrKooled]

i agree with you some seem to exaggerate or BS about what they experienced back in the day, (apparently over half of the metro also owns an LS6 chevelle, as from my data of people coming up to me as gas stations and such. i guess i'm not original ) but you also have to remember over half of these people have probably never had access to the top trim model cars, such as L88 i mentioned which is very limited production and very expensive even then doubling the price of the car, or even the LS6 for that matter. it would be a simalier to a 19 year old going out now and picking up a Z06 corvette, or the cobra R mustang, or an SRT8 challenger which i garuntee you will be be near strickely baby boomer. Sure some of them had it, but don't count on many.

a popular motor then as i'm sure you were aware of was the 327 chevy, a lot were running around much like the chevy 350 of today. they were cheap to modify, were good in drag racing and could be made to produce high horsepower for their size, 350-370 horse and up.

about you mentioning that not a lot of people like you, i'm not sure about that side of the story but even you being around cars as long as you have should know that one needs thick skin when getting into a hobby, expecially like automobiles. my advice, just take everything said with a grain of salt, and don't let it bother you. sometimes even joke back, and you may be suprised what it may yeild. i don't think that anyone is out to personally get anyone, try and put yourself in their shoes as well.

also, you mention being from illinois. that is where my car was sold new and resided most of it's life. it was sold at Celozzi-Ettleson Chevrolet, Elmhurst IL.

[Guest]

HerrKooled, have you looked into buying a correct date code LS6? It would be interesting to see what something like that goes for.

[DNeinstadt]

I need to have you over for a steak and some help with my Chevelle... :)

[HerrKooled]

HerrKooled, have you looked into buying a correct date code LS6? It would be interesting to see what something like that goes for.

well, most of the time you won't find a motor all together. i'll notice the block themselves, 4 bolt just the block for around 2-2.5k. and i will want the LS6 pistons, cam, intake, heads etc etc (L-78 shared parts if i can use) so it will bring the price up. but in the end, for the value of my car it will most likley be worth it. i don't plan on selling the car anytime soon, if ever so i'm not really looking at the moment.

[Duece Bignlow]

Hey Z28SSMAN I might know where your Camaro is. Was it severely rusted? Did it have pop machine style locks (barrel key?) for hood pins and a Minnesota Dragway sticker on the driver side qtr window?
By the way I love your Chevelle.

[Pool Boy]

very nice chevelle, its a keeper thats for sure.

[Z28SSMAN]

Hey Z28SSMAN I might know where your Camaro is. Was it severely rusted? Did it have pop machine style locks (barrel key?) for hood pins and a Minnesota Dragway sticker on the driver side qtr window?
By the way I love your Chevelle.

Thanks Duece. I really like your Chevelle too. I've only seen a handful of those post Chevelles around.

Yeah, the Camaro was severely rusted. It was real bad. I did put hoodlocks with the pop machine type keys on it. I only remember a Northstar Dragstrip sticker on the qtr window. Wow! I'd like to know what happened to the car.

I need to have you over for a steak and some help with my Chevelle... :)

lol. I would like to see the car. I don't know how much help I would be other than war stories. 602hp is a good source on those cars too.

very nice chevelle, its a keeper thats for sure.

Thanks Pool Boy.

a popular motor then as i'm sure you were aware of was the 327 chevy, a lot were running around much like the chevy 350 of today. they were cheap to modify, were good in drag racing and could be made to produce high horsepower for their size, 350-370 horse and up.

My bros '65 Malibu SS came with a 327/300 4-speed. He built a 331 for it and that's what we street raced back in '70. It had Crane SS-330NC solid cam, 11to1 Forged Manley, Tarantula, 780 Holley, Jardine headers, & can't remember the type of heads. I remember the pressed-in studs kept pulling out of the double-hump heads and he ended up buying I think a set of LT1 heads with the screw in studs. He had 4.88s and we demoralized many a factory musclecar with it. He made sure to remove the 327 emblems and put on 283 emblems. lol That's the car that got totaled and he ended up buying the '71 SS-454.

about you mentioning that not a lot of people like you, i'm not sure about that side of the story but even you being around cars as long as you have should know that one needs thick skin when getting into a hobby, expecially like automobiles. my advice, just take everything said with a grain of salt, and don't let it bother you. sometimes even joke back, and you may be suprised what it may yeild. i don't think that anyone is out to personally get anyone, try and put yourself in their shoes as well.

Of course I have thick skin. I sleep very well at night. lol Just thought I'd explain why I feel the way I do.

also, you mention being from illinois. that is where my car was sold new and resided most of it's life. it was sold at Celozzi-Ettleson Chevrolet, Elmhurst IL.

We grew up on the other end of the state 13 miles north of Cairo. I've done business with Celozzi-Ettleson. They do a good fleet business. Real good people to deal with. We went to Nickey in '72 in Chicago to get a quote on the LS6 and they wanted $1200 for one. Pretty neat to see all the Dick Harrell trophies and memorabilia. Also stopped by Mr Norms Gran Spaulding Dodge to look at the Screamin Demons.