LS5 Garage Find: 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454
The Chevy Chevelle SS 396 gained a bigger brother in 1970 in the form of a 454 cubic inch V8. And two versions of that engine were offered including the LS5 which produced 360 hp. We’re told this Chevelle is numbers matching, so we assume it’s the real deal and not one of many clones. A tattered build sheet is there to help validate the automobile. Likely in storage for many years in Holyoke, Colorado, this beast of a Chevrolet is available here on Facebook Marketplace for (wait on it) $100,000. My first tip from Barn Finder John Johnston!
After 1968, the Chevelle/El Camino Super Sport reverted to option status and RPO Z15 covered the SS 454. Just under 4,300 of them were ordered with the LS5 while another 4,500 had the even more robust LS6 (450 hp). In addition, 3,800 Monte Carlos had RPO Z20 which implemented the SS 454, too. This excludes the SS 396 which sold in even greater numbers (though now 402 cubic inches) making 1970 a solid year for mid-size muscle car sales at Chevrolet.
If the documents the seller offers prove this car to be a legit SS 454, you have to wonder why so few photos are offered and why would you advertise a $100,000 automobile on Facebook. Perhaps it’s listed elsewhere, and the sales presentation relies more on a one-minute video rather than anything else. The clip shows someone working on the engine, but no mention is made of the running condition of the vehicle.
We get the impression this car has been tucked away in the garage with a cover over it for ages. It’s said to have just 55,000 miles and parts of the see-through vinyl seat covers that the original owner installed are still there (what’s left of them). In addition to the 454, this Chevy also has a manual transmission which would be a 4-speed. The body looks okay, but the Mint Green paint looks faded. When this auto was built, the buyer opted for a bench seat rather than buckets (so his girlfriend could sit closer?).
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Comments
If it sells, it’s the easy way out of going through a real auction.
If it doesn’t work on FleaBay or FarceBook, then maybe the car will get cleaned up and listed through a real site.
Seems expensive to me, but I think with growing electrification and what’s generally happening in the car industry and politically, someone who has a lot of money will pay this. This is really from the bygone era that some pine for.
As you said, if’s a free way to see if somebody wants it. The auctions charge an entry fee plus they take around 10% of the bid price. And it takes money to get the car to them. Then there’s the chance that it doesn’t sell, so you’re out a bunch of money and you still have the car.
I won’t mention the storm that happened at Mecum Harrisburg last year. There were a bunch of beat up cars after the tent collapsed on them. No slam on Mecum, they’re good people, It was a freak storm and it wasn’t their tent.
Not a serious seller at that price.
Rare and desirable, the ad will make the rounds on relevant forums, but it’s hard to see it selling with so little effort and such a high asking price. If it were an LS6 it would be a different story.
Steve R
My friend in High School had a 70 Chevelle 396 Blue with White strips……I drove a 67 Corvette blue fastback. Parking lot was filled with classics, tri 5 Chevy’s, all types of Mustangs….Class of 73. We knew then these were classics…..but had NO idea the future values.
$50k car as it sits.
I think that’s to high 35-40K
$50 as it sits. $75-80 cleaned up and running. A couple of thousand in detailing would go along way.
Been for sale for almost two months should tell you what the market thinks. Green on green is always less sought after and coupled with a “I just watched a Mecum auction” asking price, it’ll still be for sale this time next year. What a lazy sales effort too…
Putting in minimum effort to try and gain maximum reward. Good luck!😂
12,000$
The seller either has no idea about the real value or is just keeping his fingers crossed that a fool makes an offer. I believe BW is high with his price assessment.
They’re just trolling the waters for a sucker. If they hook one, they’re good. If not, well they weren’t really serious about selling anyway unless they hooked the right sucker at a ridiculous price. Most suckers don’t have 100k to below on a toy car, but then again there’s a new sucker’s born every minute so there is hope.
Think this is ballsy? A few months ago Hemmings had a guy listing his 1980 Ford Fairmont Futura at $75K. I crap you negative. It even had around 40k on the odometer and a dent in the fender to magnify the crassness.
You can buy one done for this price and still have forty k left over
Here fishy fishy fishy.
How did it get that dirty if it was covered?
Jus’ askin’
100,000 ??? What mental institution is this guy living in.. don’t believe it’s a legit auction.
Laughable, not even an LS6 for that kind of money. Guys watching too many auctions.
The guys no dumb bell , make sure you don’t leave money on the table, or it will be resold. Ask me how I know.
All the traffic will bare.
It’s a business! While it may not be as desirable as an ls6, it’s not a 396, and it’s original.
So bean counters know it has value.
It’s a 70 chevelle SS it will sell it’s itself.
What’s not to like?? This is what I drove in high school,
Paid a lot less in 1980!
I had a friend in high school had one same color of green 454 four speed I don’t know if it was a 5 or a 6 if I ever see him again I’ll have to ask this was in the mid 70’s
Mona Lisa Vito: The car that made these two, equal-length tire marks had positraction. You can’t make those marks without positraction, which was not available on the ’64 Buick Skylark!
Vinny Gambini: And why not? What is positraction?
Mona Lisa Vito: It’s a limited slip differential which distributes power equally to both the right and left tires. The ’64 Skylark had a regular differential, which, anyone who’s been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows, you step on the gas, one tire spins, the other tire does nothing.
Juror #1: That’s right.
Vinny Gambini: Is that it?
Mona Lisa Vito: No, there’s more! You see? When the left tire mark goes up on the curb and the right tire mark stays flat and even? Well, the ’64 Skylark had a solid rear axle, so when the left tire would go up on the curb, the right tire would tilt out and ride along its edge. But that didn’t happen here. The tire mark stayed flat and even. This car had an independent rear suspension. Now, in the ’60s, there were only two other cars made in America that had positraction, and independent rear suspension, and enough power to make these marks. One was the Corvette, which could never be confused with the Buick Skylark. The other had the same body length, height, width, weight, wheel base, and wheel track as the ’64 Skylark, and that was the 1963 Pontiac Tempest.
Vinny Gambini: And because both cars were made by GM, were both cars available in metallic mint green paint?
Mona Lisa Vito: They were!
Vinny Gambini: Thank you, Ms. Vito. No more questions. Thank you very, very much.
[kissing her hands]
Vinny Gambini: You’ve been a lovely, lovely witness.
Note: This has nothing to do with anything except the metallic mint green paint on this example of GM automobile!
All I can say is that in 1971, I went to Chevrolet and bought TWO new clear parking light lenses and amber bulbs as OEM on SUPER SPORTS for my 350 Malibu ragtop replacing the AMBER lenses and clear bulbs. Buick GS’s and GTO’s and 442s were the same. At the very least, this is a replacement Malibu/Chevelle bumper/lense replacement on the front.
My Dad did the same thing in reverse with my Mom’s 1961 Buick Special. It came with amber bulbs and clear lenses, so he bought special paint at the auto parts store you could use to paint the clear lenses amber, and substitute cheaper and easier to find clear bulbs for the amber bulbs that were stock! Did I mention that back then, the lenses were made out of real glass and everything, not plastic!
Wooderson says “Let’s race”.
If this 454car has a four speed it has to have the desirable M22, rock crusher, transmission with that sweet sound. The LS5 is not an LS6, but this car would be a lot of fun to drive. Clean it up and let people decide how much it is worth.