Willpower. Some of us have it, while some of us don’t. I would firmly place myself in the latter category…and I’m proud of it. If I had bought this 1990 Chevrolet 454 SS Pickup when it was new, I doubt that I would have had the self-discipline to leave the plastic on the seats and floors for all of these years. Forget that, because I would most certainly have clocked up a lot more than the genuine 26 miles that this classic is currently showing on its odometer. However, the owner obviously has plenty of self-control but has decided that the time has come to part with this cool pickup. It is located in Sarasota, Florida, and has been listed for sale here on Classic Cars of Sarasota. The sale price for this unbelievable vehicle has been set at $52,900.

As far as the color choice was concerned, the 454 SS was only available in Onyx Black for the 1990 and 1991 model years, with Summit White and Victory Red made available for the 1992 and ’93 models. The Onyx Black exterior of this Chevy looks just as good as you would expect from a vehicle whose accrued mileage hasn’t manage to creep into the dizzying heights of triple digits. The paint has a high gloss to it, while there isn’t a ding or a mark to be seen on the panels anywhere. It isn’t clear where this vehicle has spent its somewhat dormant life, but the fact that there is no sign of any surface corrosion, nor of any oxidization on the wheels, suggests that the storage conditions were pretty favorable. It’s no surprise to find the paint in the bed free of scratches and marks, and the only thing that the next owner will need to do to have the Pickup presenting perfectly will be to blow off some accumulated dust.

In keeping with the theme of limited color choices, potential buyers of a 454 SS in 1990 could have their interior in any color…as long as it was Garnet Red. I’m not going to criticize it, because I believe that this trim choice imparts an air of class on what is a pretty tough vehicle. Having said that, just look at all of the plastic! For me, owning a vehicle like this and leaving it untouched would be something akin to waking up on your birthday, and deciding not to open this year’s presents until next year, or possibly the year after that…or the year after that (I think that you get the picture). The owner hasn’t even removed the protective plastic film from the gauges, and as is the case with the rest of the vehicle, that film still wears its original factory crayon markings. Below all of that plastic is an interior that would be classed as nicely equipped in a 1990 context. As well as the Garnet Red cloth upholstery on the bucket seats, the owner found themselves with air conditioning, power operation for the windows and locks, cruise control, a tilt wheel, tinted glass, a sliding rear window, and a premium AM/FM stereo with cassette player and graphic equalizer.

Lifting the lid on the engine compartment revealed part of what made these pickups pretty special. There’s no substitute for cubic inches, and you get 454 of them in the Chevy. Backing the 454 is a 3-speed Turbo Hydramatic transmission, while the vehicle is also equipped with a 3.73 rear end, power steering, power brakes, and uprated sports suspension with Bilstein shocks. By today’s standards, the fact that the 454 produced 230hp probably sounds a touch on the asthmatic side. However, the beauty of the 454 SS was that it had the ability to effectively utilize that power. At 4,420lbs, this was no lightweight. Even so, it was a vehicle that could still accelerate effectively from 0-60mph in 7.7 seconds, while the ¼ mile could be despatched in 15.9 seconds. Of course, with a mere 26 miles on its odometer, I highly doubt that these figures have ever been tested by this vehicle. I guess the big question has to be whether the Chevy has been maintained and run regularly over the past three decades, or whether the next owner will need to have the whole vehicle inspected and tested before it could potentially commence a life of active duty.

In 1990 there was no shortage of C1500 Pickups to be seen on our roads but during its 4-year production run, only around 16,953 examples of the 454 SS rolled off the production line. Some of these have remained fairly nicely preserved, while some have been beaten mercilessly by owners keen to see if their rig could match the claimed performance figures. The original Window Sticker that remains attached to this vehicle shows that the Pickup cost the owner $18,863 when it was new. Today, values have been creeping up slowly but steadily, and a really spotless example with less than 20,000 miles on the clock will cost somewhere in the vicinity of $35,000. The reality is that with only 26 miles on the odometer, this is a vehicle that delves into essentially uncharted waters. That means that fixing a value is pretty difficult, but if the owner does achieve his asking price, then I really wouldn’t be that surprised.