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1970 Chevrolet El Camino 454 SS
When Ford introduced the Ranchero in 1957, Chevrolet didn’t have anything similar. Since Chevy and Ford are two of the car industry’s biggest arch-rivals, the Bowtie company introduced the El Camino two years later, in 1959. Like the Ranchero, the El Camino was half car – half truck. They built it on an Impala chassis and it shared most of its design, interior components, and engines. Arguably better looking than the Ranchero, the El Camino didn`t have the same market success and eventually they downsized it to a mid-size platform.
At the end of the 60’s and muscle car madness, the El Camino got the proper firepower and one special trim level, called the SS. Chevy introduced the El Camino SS in 1967. It included a 396 V8 engine with 325 HP. That was plenty of power for a midsize compact truck, so it provided a serious level of performance.
However, the first rule of the muscle car culture is that bigger is always better. So, for 1970, the El Camino SS got its ultimate update with a brutal 454 V8 engine. The mighty 454 V8 LS6 was a 7.4-liter Chevrolet big block engine with an official rating of 450 HP. The engine delivered around 500 HP in real life. It was a fire-breathing beast and one of the best engines of the muscle car era.
The El Camino SS engine provided significant performance figures close to the best regular muscle cars of the day. The 0 to 60 mph time took just 5.0 seconds. The biggest problem was the lightweight rear end. This meant that hard launches off the line produced much wheel spinning and smoke. The El Camino SS 454 was one of the first vehicles people recognized as a collector models, so they became quite sought after and desirable. Today, finding a true El Camino SS 454 is hard and they are expensive, as well.