**The History of the Chevrolet Chevelle SS**

In the early 1960s, General Motors (GM) introduced a new line of cars that would become iconic in American automotive history: the Chevrolet Chevelle SS. The SS badge was reserved for only 323 cars built with this special designation, which were essentially Bass Coupes with a custom options package.

While the Chevelle was never equipped with the ZL1 engine, it did get the next best thing: the L72 427 cubic inch V8. This powerful engine produced 425 horsepower via a solid lift of camshaft, cast iron heads, and an aluminum intake manifold with a big old Holley carburetor inside.

In the cabin, you could operate the beast with the Chevelle's strongest regular 4-speed, the Rock Crusher. With this setup, they ran low 13s in the quarter mile, over a second faster than their SS 396 brothers. The LS6 454 was also a popular option among muscle car enthusiasts.

When GM finally relaxed its rule of not putting engines larger than 400 cubic inches in their mid-sized cars, it set off a muscle car war. Oldsmobile put the 455 into the 442, and so did the Pontiac GTO. But the most popular of the bunch was the Chevelle LS6 454.

This powerful engine came in two options: the base LS5, which got a hydraulic cam and a horsepower rating of 360 ponies, or the optional MacDaddy LS6 with 450 horsepower. If you wanted even more performance for your 454, you could order the optional ZL-1 induction hood, a rear-facing scoop with a vacuum actuated flap - tech baby! It was the dragstrip king.

In 1970, the only other car that could touch the Chevelle in the mid-size muscle car game was the Roadrunner with its 426 Hemi. By 1971, government emission standards forced a switch to low lead fuel, which meant they couldn't run as high of a compression ratio. So while the Chevelle engines of the 70s looked the same on the outside, they changed on the inside.

The only 454 option was the LS5, and Chevy said they would bring back the LS6 but never did. Keep promises if you overpromise and underdeliver, everyone's hurt, especially those who were looking forward to more powerful engines.

In 1972, it was the last year of the second junctionville government emissions standards had begun to take their toll on the car. The LS5 454 engine rating was 270 horsepower with the Turbojet 400 now making 240 net horsepower.

Chevrolet wanted your new Chevelle to be the best car you'd ever owned. Chevy built nearly 300,000 SS 396 and 454 SS Ravel's from '68 to '72 - no other muscle car had a higher volume 4-year run. But with insurance costs rising for fast cars and the rising price of gasoline, the muscle car movement was coming to an end.

It's a really sad story if you think about it. The third-gen Chevelles came out in '73 due to proposed federal standards, they installed five-mile-per-hour rear bumpers, discontinued convertible and 4-door hardtop models, and the front ends now featured new Mercedes-inspired chrome grills made of diecast steel.

Motor options also suffered; the LS5 got a reduced compression ratio. You know what happens when you do that - you lose horsepower. This was the last year of the SS as well but it was simply an appearance package at this point. Third-gen Chevelles don't get nearly as much love as the earlier models, but the car did make a name for itself in NASCAR.

The highest trim level of the Chevelle, the Laguna, was piloted by Benny Parsons in '73 to win the Winston Cup Grand National championship. Cale Yarborough won 34 races in '76 and '77 and would go on to earn the first two of three consecutive Grand National championships in the Chevelle Laguna.

Though they obviously weren't the same cars being sold to the public, they still proved to be good on the track. But even NASCAR success couldn't save them, and in 1977 Chevy put the kibosh on Chevelle production - ending an era of one of the sweetest cars to come off the GM assembly lines.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enfrom a two-door coupe to a four-door station wagon a 327 small-block to the glorious 454 big block this juiced up beast rumbled down the quarter mile and left the competition rushing out to build a car that could beat it and if Chevy had never made it Ricky Bobby would have never got his current best this is everything you need to know to get up to speed on my first favorite car the Chevy Chevelle before I get into the story of the Chevelle I have a huge announcement to me this is a big day for us a donut thank you all for being here I know a lot of you probably have stuff to do so get right into it I'm stoked to announce that up to speed has officially partnered with nos energy drink thank you thank you there's a lot of good energy in this room right now and in my body nice energy drink gives me that good energy that has my body and the mind feeling great now nos energy drinkin donut have a lot of cool stuff coming up so I guess looking out for that now no more questions got some work to do you ready for this James I was born ready for this Chris in the 60s Chevy was a rollin in dollar bills GM made roughly 53 percent of all new cars sold in North America which accounted for more cars than all other automakers combined oh let's just say business was good but with great business comes great jealousy GM's competitors like Ford AMC and Chrysler were super gently of all their sales success and they didn't like a GM was creating a potential monopoly they wanted Big Brother to step in and do something about it so GM nervous about the possibility of an antitrust suit being filed against them decided that if they really stuck to their self-imposed racing ban from 1957 it would keep the government off of their backs so while the other big three brands bailed on the anti racing agreement they'd all made and headed back to the track GM was stuck on the sidelines just a watching hey boss don't you know we're all done supporting race teams right oh you're not don't you know hey um also let's uh make sure we still develop performance-based cars a big horsepower don't you know fur on the street oh good thinking boss that's why you're the boss don't you know on the surface GM wanted to appear as if they weren't a brand focused on dangerous motorsport racing but it was simply a Sharad and in 1963 only a year after GM made the anti racing policy mandatory a car that would change the market forever was released the Pontiac GTO the beginning of the muscle car Golden Age was upon us taking big v8s and throwing them into mid-sized chassis x' was the formula for success not only were they the cat's meow on the drag strip they were the lion's roar on sales floor oh hey boss aren't we trying to not sell so many cars don't you know yeah don't you know well Pontiac sold over 32,000 GTOs in the first year don't you know what yeah but we're not racing right no no I'm still not racing fuel scare me there for a second don't you know I'm not racing is very important to us don't you know so all boys over at Pontiac was partying it up with the success of the new GTO their Chevy brothers we're left looking pardon my french like a bunch of chumps see back in the day brands within the main corporate division would battle each other just because Chevy was the main squeeze for GM didn't mean that they would be the first to release the best stuff that the GM brand had to offer so Chevy Pontiac controls my appeal are all vying for Papa GM's attention and in 1964 Chevy responded to the GTO with the Chevelle good old Bucky Knutson introduced the Chevelle as the car to fill the gap between the smaller Chevy 2 and their larger full-size models like the Impala unlike the GTO which was really just a Pontiac Tempest with a gto options package this Chevelle was its own unique model bucket Pontiac Chevelles came in two series the 300 which is named after that Spartan movie and the fancy Malibu named after the exotic city of Malibu California what are your favorite cars that are named after City Dodge Durango Kia Rio Datsun Boca Raton the Chevelle came in a ton of body options from a two-door coupe to a four-door sedan to two-door wagon but the trim package that brought that Chevelle to the muscle car game was the Super Sport package the SS package got you front bucket seats wrapped in vinyl full gauges radio pattern wheel covers and of course SS emblems on the door panels and the glovebox the SS option was only available on the Malibu and came with a few engine options we're here to talk about big beefy muscle Somaly is going to speak about the v8 starting with the small-block 283 cubic inch four-barrel v8 making 220 horsepower you want to get a little beefier how about a 327 cubic inch air making either 250 years prayers at 300 her Spurs why would you get the 250 here's perversion I don't know maybe you like low power baby no come on we're not gonna put that on her shirt a year later in 1965 Chevy gave the 327 the regular production option L 7 9 and juiced it up to make a mulberry 350 to be exact for all you non chevy buff boys out there quick heads up Chevy likes to use a lot of elves and Z's plus numbers to distinguish engine models and options packages it can get pretty confusing pretty quickly moving on the rarest of the 65 Chevelle was the Z 16 made possible by Chevy executives they wanted a high-profile car to showcase their new mark 4 engine the L 3 7 big-block 396 turbojet v8 fitted with hydraulic lifters instead of the solid lifters using the Corvette the motor got a forged crankshaft and pistons for boat mains ported cylinder heads and an aluminum intake with a Holley 4 bill carb that produced a very peppy 307 prayer all that power was put through a Muncie 4-speed would sent power to the rear wheels through a 12-volt differential regular models had 10 bolt dips a 12-volt rear end it could handle more power over and apparently there's one convertible z16 built specifically for bunkie nuts but it is lost apparently in 1966 this Chevelle got a complete restyle it now had a coke bottle body shape and a new grille that wrapped around the sides and unique tail lights the Malibu SS name was dropped now it was just the SS 396 the SS 396 got three power options the l 35 baby bear which got 325 first person the l34 tween bear got 360 years bird and the l78 buff bear put out 370 and the l78 buff bear got 375 first pers I'm giving a lot of attention to the performance-based Chevelle but let's not forget that in 1966 to 1967 Chevy sold over 850,000 Chevelle's that's bananas the all-new 2nd gen Chevelle's came rolling off the assembly line for 1968 the wheelbase was shortened the hood was lengthened and the fenders got tapered like my jeans the new Chevelle look was an instant hit it looked tough you want a 250 cubic-inch 155 horsepower six-cylinder in a two-seater four-door wagon or do you want to go full bore and get the SS 396 in a 2-door sedan pickup oh the Chevelle was a pickup you betcha because the El Camino was actually a Chevelle a 69 Chevelle and Camaro boys wanted the best GM had to offer but at the time GM had a long-standing policy that only their full-size cars and the Corvette could have engines over 400 cubic inches they didn't want their showpiece that to be out shown by the Chevelle well that's good for mr. rich pants over here that's stunk for Chevelle lovers and here's where Don Yenko showed up Don Yenko is known for a few things the first is finding a way to sell spiced up Chevy's like the Nova Camaro and Chevelle using and the second is having the haircut of an angel GM had a program called COPO the central office production order system that was created so that cop cars of heavy due to suspensions and taxicabs with stain-proof interiors could be ordered but certain dealers with the right connections such as Yenko Chevrolet and Canonsburg Pennsylvania the city of sweatpant figured out that cars like the Camaro and Chevelle could also be ordered using the COPO system the Copa chevelles might be the ultimate sleepers none of the 323 cars built had the SS badging they were just bass coupes with a custom options package and while the Chevelle was never equipped with the zl1 it got the next best thing the L 72 427 cubic inch v8 it squeezed out 425 Hurst per by means of a solid lift of camshaft cast iron heads and an aluminum intake manifold with a big old Holley carburetor inside the cabin you can operate the beast with chevelles strongest regular 4-speed the rock crusher they ran low 13s in the quarter mile over a second faster and their SS 396 bros oh that reminds me we're coming out with a whole bunch of new shows in the next couple months to make sure you don't miss any of them go ahead take a little second to yourself and hit that subscribe button when GM finally relaxed its ridiculous rule of not putting engines larger than 400 cubic inches in their mid-sized cars it set off a muscle car war Oldsmobile put the 455 into the 442 the Pontiac GTO also got a 455 and so did the Buick GS ex but the most popular of the bunch was the Chevelle ls6 454 that's 7.4 liters for you trying to convert cubic inches to leaders the 454 SS came in two options the base LS 5 which got a hydraulic cam and a horsepower rating of 360 ponies or the optional macdaddy ls6 with 450 hurst per in a 500 pound feet of turf if you wanted even more performance for your 454 you could order the optional ZL to Cal induction hood a rear-facing scoop with a vacuum actuated flap that's tech baby it was the dragstrip king and in 1970 the only other car that could touch the Chevelle in the mid-size muscle car game was the roadrunner with its 426 Hemi by 1971 the government put in place emission standards that forced a switch to low LED fuel and when you remove lead from fuel you can't run as high of a compression ratio so while the Chevelle engines of the 70s looked the same they changed on the inside the only 454 option was the LS 5 Chevy said they would bring back the Alice 6 but they never did keep promises if you over promise and under deliver the only one you're hurting is everyone 1972 was the last year of the second junctionville government emissions standards have begun to take their toll on the car the ls5 454 is rating was 270 horsepower with the turbojet 400 now making 240 net horsepower Chevrolet wants your new Chevelle to be the best car you've ever owned Chevy built nearly 300,000 SS 396 and 454 SS Ravel's from 68 to 72 no other muscle car ever had a higher volume 4-year run but with insurance costs rising for fast cars and the rising price of gasoline the muscle car movement was coming to an end it's a really sad story if you think about it the third gen chevelles came out in 73 due to proposed federal standards they installed five mile-per-hour rear bumpers discontinued convertible and 4-door hardtop models and the front ends now featured new Mercedes inspired chrome grills made of diecast steel motor options also suffered the LS 5 got a reduced compression ratio you know what happens when you do that you lose horsepower this was the last year of the SS as well but it was simply an appearance package at this point third gen Chevelles don't get nearly as much love as the earlier models but the car did make a name for itself in the NASCAR see the highest trim level of the Chevelle the Laguna was piloted by Benny Parsons in 1973 to win the Winston Cup grand national championship Cale Yarborough won 34 races in 76 and 77 and would go on to earn the first two of three consecutive grand national championships in the Chevelle Laguna though they obviously weren't the same cars being sold to the public they still proved to be good on the track but even NASCAR success couldn't save them and in 1977 Chevy put the kibosh on Chevelle production ending an era of one of the sweetest cars to come off the GM I love you I love youfrom a two-door coupe to a four-door station wagon a 327 small-block to the glorious 454 big block this juiced up beast rumbled down the quarter mile and left the competition rushing out to build a car that could beat it and if Chevy had never made it Ricky Bobby would have never got his current best this is everything you need to know to get up to speed on my first favorite car the Chevy Chevelle before I get into the story of the Chevelle I have a huge announcement to me this is a big day for us a donut thank you all for being here I know a lot of you probably have stuff to do so get right into it I'm stoked to announce that up to speed has officially partnered with nos energy drink thank you thank you there's a lot of good energy in this room right now and in my body nice energy drink gives me that good energy that has my body and the mind feeling great now nos energy drinkin donut have a lot of cool stuff coming up so I guess looking out for that now no more questions got some work to do you ready for this James I was born ready for this Chris in the 60s Chevy was a rollin in dollar bills GM made roughly 53 percent of all new cars sold in North America which accounted for more cars than all other automakers combined oh let's just say business was good but with great business comes great jealousy GM's competitors like Ford AMC and Chrysler were super gently of all their sales success and they didn't like a GM was creating a potential monopoly they wanted Big Brother to step in and do something about it so GM nervous about the possibility of an antitrust suit being filed against them decided that if they really stuck to their self-imposed racing ban from 1957 it would keep the government off of their backs so while the other big three brands bailed on the anti racing agreement they'd all made and headed back to the track GM was stuck on the sidelines just a watching hey boss don't you know we're all done supporting race teams right oh you're not don't you know hey um also let's uh make sure we still develop performance-based cars a big horsepower don't you know fur on the street oh good thinking boss that's why you're the boss don't you know on the surface GM wanted to appear as if they weren't a brand focused on dangerous motorsport racing but it was simply a Sharad and in 1963 only a year after GM made the anti racing policy mandatory a car that would change the market forever was released the Pontiac GTO the beginning of the muscle car Golden Age was upon us taking big v8s and throwing them into mid-sized chassis x' was the formula for success not only were they the cat's meow on the drag strip they were the lion's roar on sales floor oh hey boss aren't we trying to not sell so many cars don't you know yeah don't you know well Pontiac sold over 32,000 GTOs in the first year don't you know what yeah but we're not racing right no no I'm still not racing fuel scare me there for a second don't you know I'm not racing is very important to us don't you know so all boys over at Pontiac was partying it up with the success of the new GTO their Chevy brothers we're left looking pardon my french like a bunch of chumps see back in the day brands within the main corporate division would battle each other just because Chevy was the main squeeze for GM didn't mean that they would be the first to release the best stuff that the GM brand had to offer so Chevy Pontiac controls my appeal are all vying for Papa GM's attention and in 1964 Chevy responded to the GTO with the Chevelle good old Bucky Knutson introduced the Chevelle as the car to fill the gap between the smaller Chevy 2 and their larger full-size models like the Impala unlike the GTO which was really just a Pontiac Tempest with a gto options package this Chevelle was its own unique model bucket Pontiac Chevelles came in two series the 300 which is named after that Spartan movie and the fancy Malibu named after the exotic city of Malibu California what are your favorite cars that are named after City Dodge Durango Kia Rio Datsun Boca Raton the Chevelle came in a ton of body options from a two-door coupe to a four-door sedan to two-door wagon but the trim package that brought that Chevelle to the muscle car game was the Super Sport package the SS package got you front bucket seats wrapped in vinyl full gauges radio pattern wheel covers and of course SS emblems on the door panels and the glovebox the SS option was only available on the Malibu and came with a few engine options we're here to talk about big beefy muscle Somaly is going to speak about the v8 starting with the small-block 283 cubic inch four-barrel v8 making 220 horsepower you want to get a little beefier how about a 327 cubic inch air making either 250 years prayers at 300 her Spurs why would you get the 250 here's perversion I don't know maybe you like low power baby no come on we're not gonna put that on her shirt a year later in 1965 Chevy gave the 327 the regular production option L 7 9 and juiced it up to make a mulberry 350 to be exact for all you non chevy buff boys out there quick heads up Chevy likes to use a lot of elves and Z's plus numbers to distinguish engine models and options packages it can get pretty confusing pretty quickly moving on the rarest of the 65 Chevelle was the Z 16 made possible by Chevy executives they wanted a high-profile car to showcase their new mark 4 engine the L 3 7 big-block 396 turbojet v8 fitted with hydraulic lifters instead of the solid lifters using the Corvette the motor got a forged crankshaft and pistons for boat mains ported cylinder heads and an aluminum intake with a Holley 4 bill carb that produced a very peppy 307 prayer all that power was put through a Muncie 4-speed would sent power to the rear wheels through a 12-volt differential regular models had 10 bolt dips a 12-volt rear end it could handle more power over and apparently there's one convertible z16 built specifically for bunkie nuts but it is lost apparently in 1966 this Chevelle got a complete restyle it now had a coke bottle body shape and a new grille that wrapped around the sides and unique tail lights the Malibu SS name was dropped now it was just the SS 396 the SS 396 got three power options the l 35 baby bear which got 325 first person the l34 tween bear got 360 years bird and the l78 buff bear put out 370 and the l78 buff bear got 375 first pers I'm giving a lot of attention to the performance-based Chevelle but let's not forget that in 1966 to 1967 Chevy sold over 850,000 Chevelle's that's bananas the all-new 2nd gen Chevelle's came rolling off the assembly line for 1968 the wheelbase was shortened the hood was lengthened and the fenders got tapered like my jeans the new Chevelle look was an instant hit it looked tough you want a 250 cubic-inch 155 horsepower six-cylinder in a two-seater four-door wagon or do you want to go full bore and get the SS 396 in a 2-door sedan pickup oh the Chevelle was a pickup you betcha because the El Camino was actually a Chevelle a 69 Chevelle and Camaro boys wanted the best GM had to offer but at the time GM had a long-standing policy that only their full-size cars and the Corvette could have engines over 400 cubic inches they didn't want their showpiece that to be out shown by the Chevelle well that's good for mr. rich pants over here that's stunk for Chevelle lovers and here's where Don Yenko showed up Don Yenko is known for a few things the first is finding a way to sell spiced up Chevy's like the Nova Camaro and Chevelle using and the second is having the haircut of an angel GM had a program called COPO the central office production order system that was created so that cop cars of heavy due to suspensions and taxicabs with stain-proof interiors could be ordered but certain dealers with the right connections such as Yenko Chevrolet and Canonsburg Pennsylvania the city of sweatpant figured out that cars like the Camaro and Chevelle could also be ordered using the COPO system the Copa chevelles might be the ultimate sleepers none of the 323 cars built had the SS badging they were just bass coupes with a custom options package and while the Chevelle was never equipped with the zl1 it got the next best thing the L 72 427 cubic inch v8 it squeezed out 425 Hurst per by means of a solid lift of camshaft cast iron heads and an aluminum intake manifold with a big old Holley carburetor inside the cabin you can operate the beast with chevelles strongest regular 4-speed the rock crusher they ran low 13s in the quarter mile over a second faster and their SS 396 bros oh that reminds me we're coming out with a whole bunch of new shows in the next couple months to make sure you don't miss any of them go ahead take a little second to yourself and hit that subscribe button when GM finally relaxed its ridiculous rule of not putting engines larger than 400 cubic inches in their mid-sized cars it set off a muscle car war Oldsmobile put the 455 into the 442 the Pontiac GTO also got a 455 and so did the Buick GS ex but the most popular of the bunch was the Chevelle ls6 454 that's 7.4 liters for you trying to convert cubic inches to leaders the 454 SS came in two options the base LS 5 which got a hydraulic cam and a horsepower rating of 360 ponies or the optional macdaddy ls6 with 450 hurst per in a 500 pound feet of turf if you wanted even more performance for your 454 you could order the optional ZL to Cal induction hood a rear-facing scoop with a vacuum actuated flap that's tech baby it was the dragstrip king and in 1970 the only other car that could touch the Chevelle in the mid-size muscle car game was the roadrunner with its 426 Hemi by 1971 the government put in place emission standards that forced a switch to low LED fuel and when you remove lead from fuel you can't run as high of a compression ratio so while the Chevelle engines of the 70s looked the same they changed on the inside the only 454 option was the LS 5 Chevy said they would bring back the Alice 6 but they never did keep promises if you over promise and under deliver the only one you're hurting is everyone 1972 was the last year of the second junctionville government emissions standards have begun to take their toll on the car the ls5 454 is rating was 270 horsepower with the turbojet 400 now making 240 net horsepower Chevrolet wants your new Chevelle to be the best car you've ever owned Chevy built nearly 300,000 SS 396 and 454 SS Ravel's from 68 to 72 no other muscle car ever had a higher volume 4-year run but with insurance costs rising for fast cars and the rising price of gasoline the muscle car movement was coming to an end it's a really sad story if you think about it the third gen chevelles came out in 73 due to proposed federal standards they installed five mile-per-hour rear bumpers discontinued convertible and 4-door hardtop models and the front ends now featured new Mercedes inspired chrome grills made of diecast steel motor options also suffered the LS 5 got a reduced compression ratio you know what happens when you do that you lose horsepower this was the last year of the SS as well but it was simply an appearance package at this point third gen Chevelles don't get nearly as much love as the earlier models but the car did make a name for itself in the NASCAR see the highest trim level of the Chevelle the Laguna was piloted by Benny Parsons in 1973 to win the Winston Cup grand national championship Cale Yarborough won 34 races in 76 and 77 and would go on to earn the first two of three consecutive grand national championships in the Chevelle Laguna though they obviously weren't the same cars being sold to the public they still proved to be good on the track but even NASCAR success couldn't save them and in 1977 Chevy put the kibosh on Chevelle production ending an era of one of the sweetest cars to come off the GM I love you I love you