Ultimate Muscle! 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6 4-Speed
When you’re selling a decent example of “The Ultimate Muscle Car,” the 1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6, and it’s an original four-speed car to boot, not even the NOM (Non-Original Motor) can temper the bidding. This never-restored SS from East Greenbush, New York, and appears here on eBay where bidding is fast approaching the “Buy It Now” price of $55,000.
The Barn Find story comes from the previous owner who held the car more than 30 years. The seller includes a picture of the build sheet found in a door panel. Aside from anomolies in the engine compartment (more on that later) this Chevelle needs some rust repair and interior touch-ups, but presents much better than may cars featured here.
You have to love a bench seat floor-shifted big-block muscle car! In addition to permitting an extra passenger to enjoy the 454’s ample thrust, the bench seat’s advantage becomes obvious the first time your significant other slides in close on a Fall evening. This all-business black interior combined with the red exterior rates broad appeal for the investment-conscious.
The seller says this non-original 454 (apparently not the mighty LS6) “runs and drives very well,” and the new owner may endure some headaches sourcing unique parts that are not reproduced. However when it comes to popularity it’s hard to beat a Chevrolet, specifically a Chevelle. Barring thermonuclear war, this four-speed LS6 SS should outpace the stock market into the foreseeable future. With complete restoration practically inevitable, I might suggest running it like this while gathering parts.
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Comments
I am just going to not look any more before I get temped to do something that I know I shouldn’t, Like buy this.
According to the build sheet, not only is the an LS-6, it’s also got an M-22 and 4:10 posi…the holy grail…too bad it’s NOM…that aside, this car should bring all the money…
and with 4.10 gears gauaranteed 10 miles per gallon at 55 grand bet ya you will another 40 grand in it to make it right!
wow !!!
Investment conscious, my foot! Step aside! Let me at it. Will repair rust later. Yo Ho!!!
These prices are to unrealistic to me.
It needs everything restored.
I bought a 1961 Corvette.
When it got shipped to me, I find the engine has spun bearings, and nocked.
Now I’m doing a body off, and had no intention. Crazy ?
Forest green 48 is the original color.
Yes. Someone did a very high end repaint in the past (quite possible), or this build sheet isn’t for this car.
That’s what I was thinking. Either they took it completely apart to paint it, or it was never green in the first place.
Build sheet is for this car. When they painted it they did take it apart based on what I have seen. I only was able to find some green paint showing through on the center bar of the grill.
There is an active thread in this car on the team Chevelle forum. There is some interesting information about this car, such as a link to a recent auction where it sold in the low-30’s. Which is probably about right for this car.
Why are there no pictures of the floors, frame or door jambs?
No pictures of the floors, frame or door jambs because we showed everything and stated what was rusty and needed to be repaired. This car is as solid as they come with no rust hiding. You can tell by close inspection that it was never a rusted out piece, and with perfect body lines appears to have never been hit. Probably about the best start to a project you could ask for.
With BIN price of $55,000 on a car that looks that rusty why should a potential buyer take any sellers word. An eBay seller is just some random stranger that hasn’t earned any level of trust, their interests are not aligned with those of the buyer. The undercarriage and frame may be fine, if so why not show it. Doing so would go a long way towards demonstrating the car isn’t a rust bucket, it’s the smart thing to do.
You’re apparently right Steve R. I thought it would be better to show what the car needed, as opposed to what it didn’t need. With only a certain number of pics allowed, you need to decide which ones to use. Going forward I will do it differently.
nick, just link to a photobucket account and supply a lot of photos. I did that with my Vette and sold it easily through Craigs List. It answered a lot of questions and kept the naysayers away.
nom!😣
70,red,white stripe,454,4spd now that’s a muscle car but can’t you get a shinny one that’s turn key for 55k
You might be able to get a bad LS6 clone from a dealer for that amount. A nice documented one will cost close to six figures, probably more.
Steve R
Just love how some of the same people overlook the NOM issue on a Chevelle
but call a ’69/’70 Mach 1 428CJ or SCJ car just another Mustang when the engine is missing.
Seems just little pricey to me, I would really crawl around underneath b/4 I shelled out that kind of scratch. She looks a little crispy around the edges.
A real muscle car tho.
It needs restoration, but no where does it say it hasn’t been restored at some point. The colour code says it should be green, and they state it’s not the original motor, so it’s had work done to it.A truly original car is truly rare!, which is why they are so expensive, and rightfully so.
Now that’s NICE! I even like the paint (no, I’m not calling it “patina”, I’m just saying I like it).
This is a was better car for cheaper!!!!
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/cto/d/1970-chevelle-street-or-strip/6493690599.html
It’s a race car. There is no price comparison between race cars and street cars, in fact it would be considerably overpriced if it weren’t a Chevelle. You can easily find quality, competitive, turn key bracket cars for well under $20,000.
I’d bet this doesn’t have a chassis cert, so it will be limited to 10.00 and 134.99mph.
Steve R
Auction ended at $42.7. That’s a lot of bread for a car that will take what this one needs to bring it back, not including the NOM.
Got to love those that think the tooth fairy is out there in the wild.
And was a no sale at that price.
Or this one!
https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/cto/d/chevelle-1968-ss-396/6447287921.html
Yup!
No doubt a clean car for sure but; what were they thinking with the red stripes that really sucks out-loud!!! Black is the only thing that would work on this car! I last thing a 1969 Chevelle S/S is no where even close to the class/$$$$.00 a 1970 S/S LS-6 with the OEM M-22 would bring anywhere! But I will say this if the color has been changed and it appears it has and the engine is NOM IT WILL HURT THIS 70 S/S, I PERSONALLY WOULDN’T WANT IT FOR AN INVESTMENT BUT COULD BE A DRIVER FOR ME. but it would take a bunch of work, just don’t know yet. Make no mistake about it this car is rougher than a cob, just wait until you start grinding and sanding on it, you’ve maybe not seen nothing yet! There are way better deals out there than this that’s for sure!!!! I would although think the bench seat w/OEM M-22 4-speed may be rare, not sure about this. Most if not all I’ve seen are bucket seats.
…. that’s a 396. No price comparison to a documented ls6 with build sheet.
What makes a Ls6 the engine which this isn’t. 30000 would be over price for a rusted out plain. Nmn chevelle which this is.
Wowsa bringing or wanting high dollar for NOM and needs work💰💰💰
I have a non original big block let me look at the swag meter for guesstsmation.
Hmm if I’m dpunt list 59k ✅✅✅✅
Pray someone goes for it 🤠🤓🤑🤑🤑
These are crazy pricing but sometimes one throws crap on the wall and it sticks !
Maybe some imbezler has a spare hundred grand to invest and says why not 🤣
Without the original LS6 it might as well be a 82 Toyota Corolla in my opinion.
The build sheet VIN matches the listed VIN in the add – assuming neither has been faked. Hopefully this one goes to a good home. At this price, another quick flip seems unlikely. Hopefully we see it in a future car magazine!
This car was sold at Mecum FYI
https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0118-312176/1970-chevrolet-chevelle-ls6/
Those pics show the build sheet being removed, which is important because it absolutely links it to this car.
Pretty impressive sale price. The old adage of “It’s worth whatever one is willing to pay” always holds true. The price is taken into account upon appraisal, and up we go on all comparable cars !
Rare car. Too bad about the NOM engine.
i’m not an expert but i doubt that car was ever green. if it were me i would be looking really hard at the vin on the car and that build sheet. all sorts of funny things happen when big bucks and emotion are involved.
wouldn’t you expect to see some green paint where the red has chipped and/or rusted? or somewhere along the hood, trunk, jambs etc?
I do agree this bad boy has the potential to one day be a six figure investment in or about the next decade after extensive work. My concern lays in those parts required that was said difficult to get or find. Machine those parts and your speaking boocoo bucks. So the question remains, what parts are missing?
As previously stated, there is some green showing through on the center bar of the grill. And I have pictures of it when it was green back in the day.
The absolute nastiest Chevelle ever made that a person could actually order in SS trim from the factory.
A silver one ran our neighborhood, owned by the fiancee (later, the husband) of a girl a couple of doors down the street. With just a couple of modifications, it became the county’s street racing (for $) scourge. Shortly after it’s time in the sun began, I went off to school in another state; never saw the SS again. I have always wondered what became of that insane car.
Growing up in the belly of the muscle car era was awesome. Our small double cul-de-sac sub was chock full of great and now iconic cars, owned by residents or driven in by visiting friends. I knew that it was cool then, but of course didn’t realize how absolutely nuts it really was until much later in life.
That car has that bad kinda rust. That pockmark rust that will never be flat metal unless cut out. Or you hit it with mud and it just keeps going even after you blast, sand, dip, coat, whatever to it. There is a reason it’s being bounced from new owner to new owner.
Ended: Feb 12, 2018 , 3:45PM
Current bid:US $42,700.00
Reserve not met
[ 38 bids ]
Price:US $55,000.00
Buy this, fix it up and be one of only two dozen guys at the big cruise-in with the exact same car. Sweet.
Badass car but for how much it would take to restore it, way too overpriced. It’s a shame that it’s getting to where only the wealthy can have a cool old car. Some older guys,smarter than me,that had one back in the day had te wisdom to keep it
I’m trying to imagine the stress on the bench seat mountings, with 3 portly front seat passengers leaving a traffic light, with a seriously dropped clutch.
We were all kinda skinny way back then, before the food industry set the hook and reeled us in.
Too much money for this condition.
Buy a restored one unless you enjoy and can do most of the work yourself.
Money Pit. Rare one tho
I see a dash with chrome around the 4 small dash bezels. That always screams beware to me!!!
grins..that’s Silver Paint. All of the Repro Dash’s being made today are wrongly produced with Chrome on them. The Factory only used Silver Paint. And Yes you are correct about the 4 small pods that surrounds the Speedo. The Factory never painted those and they are supposed to be solid black. Good eye Sir. This is a Pic of my Daily Driver 72’s Factory Dash with no painted small pods. Mine is Factory Correct and All 70 thru 72’s should look like mine to be 100% Correct.
This auto because of non original motor will never be more than an LS6 clone.
IF it has any of neeer 454, different heads, loeer than loe compressio, (dogs) and are lots and lots of them outhere, a good 68-70 396 375 horse eould eat it up.
Not saying one could not cheat and find those who got bucks to impress the richer in coins to pay more after a not full resto.
GIVE ME A 69-70 396 at 30k in more than just daily driver shape, #’ s matching
REALITY CHECK:
LS 6 Chevrolet was fast but on the street it was damned close between them and 396/375 h p , 4sps, and sometimes but a drivers skills that won.
STOCK WITH STREET TIRES YOU HAD TO WATCH BREAKING TRACTION 1-3 GEAR SHIFTS.
LOVE EM AND DROVE AM BOTH.
Am I missing something? An SS with a bench seat? I thought an SS model came with buckets.
Only if Buckets were Ordered would it come with them. Option A51 for Bucket Seats. Just like the Stripes if no Cowl Induction was only an Option. Many Factory Super Sports from 70 thru 72 never came with Stripes either. All Standard SS’s only came with a Bench Seat and Column Shift if it was an Auto. Just like the Optional Needle Gauges with a Tach, it was only an Option called U14. All Standard Issue Super Sports from 70 thru 72 only came with a large Gas Gauge on the Left and Speedo in the Center and a Blank spot on the right where an Optional Clock would go if wanted…the rest were called Dummy Lights…regardless of what engine it came with. Everything else was simply an Option. Hope this helps and here’s a pic of my 72 SS402’s Gauges. My other 2 SS’s came with the Optional Gauges with Tach but not this one.
Back in the 80’s, my mother rented a house to an elderly guy and his wife with a 100% original 1970 SS396 Chevelle, bench seat, column shifter, but it had a cowl induction hood on it. So the bench seat and 4 speed doesn’t surprise me a bit. I can’t believe they want $50k for a car that needs $70k in work though. This hobby has been priced out of my pay grade though. I can do all the machine work to build a bad ass engine, any kind of fabrication needed, rebuild nearly anything on the vehicle except maybe the radio, and I still can’t afford it. Well, afford the car, my motorcycles , dogs, house, vacations, kids, medical bills, etc. If I were still single…..
Bad ass car but lots of red flags. Only a foolish person would buy from a flipper without seeing it in person and seeing serious legitimate documentation. Lots of fakes out there and original date code correct parts are hard to find.
Buyer beware!
Really? The heart of the car is gone! I could buy a near mint Chevelle and clone it for 40K. Some people have more money than brains. The poor sap that bought it will have to spend 70K at least to make that car right and still not be numbers matching. Pedigree is Everything when you are talking value!
OMG WHAT WAS I THINKING!!
Back in the 70’s this was my daily driver that I used to Tow my Mopar GTX Racecar to $$ Street races and the track.
Arrrggghhhh. Hind site sucks.
Just another chevelle. it was built to drive ,55g not worth it to me . I have one 70 ss 454 12bolt 411 im restoring frame off rotisserie the whole nine yards . In the end its still goin to be just another chevelle and im goin to beat the balls off it and do what it was built for from day one ! Have fun ! As far as selling a car more pics makes a better sale always and not 25 pics of the car in a 360* view with out engine ,trunk open or doors like most wanna be high end dealers. 55,000 should have 55 pictures none the same.
nobody ain’t going to buy your high expensive cars for that much knowing you get them real cheap and you think you going to sell them for more not in this game