The pickup truck of today is a family car, a work vehicle, and a sports car. It’s wonderful that you can walk into a dealership and configure something like the glorious Ford F-150 FP700, a truck with a corrupting amount of power. Thirty years ago, the performance truck was more of a rarity. One of the first modern performance trucks was the Chevrolet C1500 454 SS, and it paired GM’s legendary GMT400 truck body with a big block V8. In its best tune, it made just 255 HP, but churned out 405 lb-ft of tire shredding, stump-pulling torque. If you love the GMT400, this is the best of the best.
This week, I’ve been asked to give you a rare double dose of Holy Grails. Yes, that was supposed to be last week, but some odd timing meant the TRD Solara ended up publishing on Monday. So, you’re getting Holy Grails number two right now!
The performance pickup has long been a part of American truck lore. In the 1960s, truck buyers got to enjoy the Dodge D-100 with an optional 426 V8, good for 365 HP Gross, making for the truck equivalent of a muscle car. Some sources place the 1978 Dodge Li’l Red Express as the first American sport truck. Automakers were forced to bolt emissions equipment to their vehicles and at first, they couldn’t really figure out how to make an engine dole out healthy power while also not spewing out tons of hydrocarbons. As a result, you got cars like the Chevrolet Camaro Z28, which made 160 HP, and the Ford Mustang Cobra II, which made just 139 HP in its highest tune.
However, makers of trucks with a GVWR of over 6,000 pounds didn’t have to put the chokehold on their engines. Dodge pounced on that by fitting a version of the Chrysler 360 police interceptor V8 under the hood of a truck. The Dodge Li’l Red Express made just 225 HP, but that was more than enough power to smoke everything from the Chevy Corvette to the Pontiac Trans-Am. The Li’l Red Express wasn’t just a muscle car killer, at the time it was faster than any other domestic vehicle to 100 mph. The performance truck was born.
After the Li’l Red Express, America started getting a bit addicted to making trucks and SUVs go fast. Many car enthusiasts will remember the iconic GMC Typhoon and GMC Syclone, the slick Dodge Shelby Dakota, and maybe the forgotten Dodge Dakota Li’l Red Express. Later, we’d get greats like the Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 5.9, the Ford SVT F-150 Lightning, and the fabled Dodge Ram SRT-10.
We’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Let’s take a look at the truck that can be considered to be one of the first performance full-size trucks of the modern era. That’s the Chevy C1500 454 SS, and it’s ridiculous from the excess amount of fuel it drank to its reported ability to light tires at a moment’s notice.
The Legend Of The GMT400
Last week, the lovely Adrian Clarke gave us a design breakdown to explain why the GMT400 platform is a truck legend. I’ll let Adrian tell you why these trucks look so good:
Fortunately, it looked every inch the modern, capable all-American vehicle it was. Remember, this truck debuted in 1988, so serious design work would have probably commenced in 1983 or 1984. It’s staggering how advanced for the time it is – flush door handles, flush glazing (with an increased glass area), flush trim. Every detail sits perfectly on the surface without interrupting the overall cohesiveness of the appearance.
The profile is simple, almost like something a child would come up with if you asked them to draw a truck. Little more than three boxes placed end on end. But it’s not simplistic and rigid. The filet that runs along the top of the bed and continues into the cant rail and down onto the hood is subtle; not too soft, and not too tight. The feature line management is exceptionally clean; one single line that runs off the top of the taillight, down the bed, creates the bottom edge for the side window and gently arcs down the top of the fender.
There’s a neat inset feature running between the wheels and around the rear that provides a border for the trim pieces worn by the higher trim levels, so they look properly integrated and not just tacked on. The inset also works perfectly as the break separating the paint colors of two-tone trucks. The gentle curvature of the body side gives a feeling of solidity and strength – important because you don’t want a working vehicle to look weak. Anchoring the whole thing are wheel arch flares that are small but extremely sharply defined, meaning you get a nice straight consistent highlight along the length of the truck without any interruptions.
That’s just a clipping of Adrian’s great work and I recommend a read of it. For this, I will talk about the development of the truck itself. According to General Motors from the video below, engineers started work on the next-generation truck in 1982. Its designers and engineers had a monumental task ahead of them. The third-generation C/K truck, dubbed the Square Body by enthusiasts, was the best-selling series in the General Motors lineup. How do you top what’s already the best you have?
Leading the charge was Chief Engineer for C/K Pickups Mike Juras and he was joined by Manager of Production Engineering Assembly of GM Truck & Bus Group Bob Tilley. Project Manager of Commercial Vehicle Design Ken Hammer joined in the fray, as did Chief Designer Don Wood. In a 1988 promotional video for the GMT400, GM explained that development of these new trucks required thousands of people and an investment of $1.3 billion in its mission to beat its own trucks.
According to Wood in that promotional video, one of the tasks given to the troops was to design a truck that put Chevrolet on top of the domestic truck wars. As reported by the Chicago Tribune, Chevrolet had been beating Ford in sales since 1959. In the early years of the third-generation C/K, over a million units were going to new homes each year. However, by 1987, Ford sold 1,398,969 light trucks, surpassing Chevy’s 1,173,675 and retaking the sales crown. General Motors wasn’t fond of second place.
To get this job done, General Motors focused on exterior design as well as the cab. The new truck had to be stylish, but also easy to enter and easy to see out. Of course, the GMT400 is still a truck, so it still had to be a working tool as well. Also important was bringing the truck’s technology to the modern day. This didn’t mean adding screens like some automakers did in the 1980s, but using some electronics to make the owner’s life a little easier.
At first, the GMT400 trucks didn’t have the design we love them for today. According to that promotional video, GM took an early version of the truck to Dallas in 1983 and let prospective buyers give the automaker feedback. Some said GM made the truck have “a soft look” to it and it didn’t have “that tough truck, macho look.” Some of those who attended that consumer clinic said that the truck seemed vulnerable and that the body could be easily damaged.
General Motors held a number of these clinics, where designers and engineers learned that the American truck buyer had changed. Yes, people were still buying these trucks for work and commercial duty. However, General Motors found that there was an increasing amount of people who were buying pickup trucks as their family cars and daily drivers. So, the GMT400 trucks couldn’t be all for work, they had to be comfortable and easy to live with, too.
Taking in all of the feedback, GM’s designers made some changes. Bumpers were beefed up so they could better protect the truck. Changes were made to the slope of the hood, the design of the fenders, and even the headlights went back to the drawing board. Early iterations of the GMT400’s design also included taillights that went from high up on the bed right down to the rear bumper. However, putting the taillights right next to the bumper meant they could be easily broken, so the bottom portion of the lights were just removed entirely.
To ensure the trucks could still handle the work, engineers sent out about 40 trucks, half were rear-wheel-drive and the other half were four-wheel-drive, into the field. Customers would use the truck as they would normally while General Motors measured what they were doing with loads. Engineers then recreated those loads during development to make sure the truck could handle it. They also intentionally overloaded trucks and then took them for testing because General Motors knew pickup owners sometimes ignore ratings.
The cab was also to be a vast improvement over previous full-size trucks. Remember, these trucks were meant to be daily drivers now. For engineers, this meant designing a cab that didn’t allow an intrusive amount of outside noise in. To do this, engineers pinpointed the sources of noises and added sound deadening in those areas. Streamlining the cab and the mirrors also meant less wind noise. In its promotional video, GM claimed the GMT400’s quiet cab compares favorably to a European luxury car from the era.
The seats had to be cushy, able to restrain child car seats, and there had to be enough legroom for tall drivers, while the climate control had to be easy to operate. Engineers went so far as to create a plastic dummy to simulate a driver. That dummy was then placed in the cab and its angles were measured against medical data gathered by GM and universities about the optimal body part angles for comfort. GM says the GMT400 cab was designed to be comfortable for everyone from a small woman to a hulking football player.
We return to Adrian for a moment to talk about what went on under the cab:
Underneath, the front suspension did away with the live axle and all its attendant compromises, and replaced it with an independent control arm set-up – sprung with coils for the 2WD models and torsion bars for the 4WD trucks, which introduced the Insta-Trac shift-on-the-fly transfer case, further increasing usability. There was power steering as standard, and ABS on the rear axle to prevent empty-bed lock ups. The front frame rails were hydroformed to reduce weight and increase strength and rigidity.
The fourth-generation C/K was launched in the 1988 model year. Despite the efforts of General Motors’ talented truck team, Ford retained the pickup crown. That’s not to say the C/K was a failure, just the opposite. General Motors continued to sell hundreds of thousands of examples, many of which remain on the road today. Of course, those six years of development also paid off in a great respected truck legend.
The vast majority of these trucks aren’t rare and aren’t all that special. General Motors was willing to sell as many GMT400s as there were warm bodies to buy them. The platform did create a few interesting offshoots, including the shorty SUV GMC Yukon GT as well as the first-generation Cadillac Escalade. One GMT400 truck stands above the others.
Big Power In A Sinister Body
In 1990, Chevrolet rocked the pickup truck world with what’s sometimes called its first performance truck. General Motors hit the 1990s hard with hopped-up trucks. Before the Syclone and before the Typhoon was this, the C1500 454 SS. This beast arrived in Silverado trim and unlike the boosted performance trucks that would come later, the 454 SS delivered power to the ground from a big block naturally-aspirated V8 borrowed from the C/K’s heavier duty trucks. The result was a stormer.
This truck was recommended as a Grail by both Matt Hardigree and David Tracy. Americans love the performance truck, be it a stripped-out base model with 700 HP or a quick pickup that looks like a trophy truck. It can be argued that these modern trucks began right here with trucks like the 454 SS.
Part of what makes the 454 SS magical is that it’s a parts bin special. GM’s engineers didn’t bestow the truck with a new engine. The 454 SS didn’t even get a body kit that you couldn’t get on other trucks. Instead, the engineers paired some of the best parts from other GMT400s into one truck.
I’ll start with the exterior. The 454 SS starts as a C1500 in Silverado trim. Then, Chevy grabbed the Sport Equipment Package that was available for other trucks starting in 1989. This package took a truck painted in a single color and gave it blacked-out trim. In 1990, every Chevy 454 SS came in black, but later, you could get them in red or white. Black is the signature color for these trucks.
Also helping the killer stance of the Chevy 454 SS is the truck’s ZQ8 sport suspension package. This dialed-in C1500 rides with Bilstein shocks, BFGoodrich tires, and higher-rate springs. Of course, it’s still a truck, so don’t expect sports car ride and handling, but it’s supposed to be an improvement over the normally bouncy and giggly ride of a work truck. Adding to the platform changes are double control arms and a quicker 12.7:1 steering ratio.
The highlight of the Chevy 454 SS is what’s under the hood. Chevy robbed the parts bins of its larger trucks to lower a 454 cubic inch (7.4-liter) lump into the C1500. While not the largest engine offered in the C/K series, it was a perfect mill for the 454 SS. Initially, this engine was good for 230 HP. That wasn’t much and it was bested by the likes of the Camaro IROC-Z, which offered 245 HP on tap. What made the 454 a good engine was its torque, which delivered a 385 lb-ft wallop of power, more than the 345 lb-ft the Camaro could manage. Sadly, there wasn’t a manual here. Instead, you got a three-speed automatic.
These early 454 SS trucks were good for a sprint to 60 mph in under 8 seconds. Of course, that’s not bad for a big truck, though it should be noted that the smaller Syclone would come close to halving that time just a year later. The 454 SS also got an update in 1991 that gave the engine a boost to 255 HP and 405 lb-ft of torque. It was a small gain, but good enough to get the 454 SS to 60 mph in about 7 seconds. The transmission was also upgraded to a four-speed 4L80-E.
The interior of the 454 SS was unchanged from other Silverado-trimmed models. You got to sit in somewhat-adjustable velour buckets and fiddle with an electronic climate control system.
All of this added together to make a truck that could easily light up the tires and not even GM’s sound deadening could muffle the sounds of a furious big block V8. Here’s some of Car and Driver‘s review:
First impressions of the 454SS confirm its no-frills approach to high performance. That’s because the ride is necessarily firm, and the engine noises are guttural and emphatic. But the 454SS can scarcely fail to impress. With more than 400 pound-feet of torque at a leisurely 2400 rpm, the Chevy greets any pressure on the righthand pedal with an immediate lunge.
Never mind that this thing takes 217 feet to stop from 70 mph, and that the squashy pedal makes brake modulation a real challenge. Or that the anti-lock rear brakes sometimes lock up anyway. When you’re up there in that wide cab, listening to the big-block V-8 waffling under the deck like a marine diesel in a Cigarette boat, you’re king of the road. It isn’t long before you begin bullying motorists.
You can’t help it. The Chevy has a leer on its mug like Jack Nicholson in heat. Ease this broad visage squarely into the mirror of a driver squatting in the left lane and he’ll scamper for the right shoulder in a heartbeat. If that sounds like a crude power play, you’re getting the picture.
HIGHS: Unbelievable torque, rugged good looks.
LOWS: Same old Chevy interior, frightening fuel consumption.
THE VERDICT: Being the classroom bully is fun.
Note the lows Car and Driver placed there. Car and Driver observed just 10 mpg. MotorWeek didn’t do any better. Mind you, that’s an unloaded and overpowered C1500 we’re talking about here. The EPA numbers weren’t much better with 10 mpg in the city, 12 mpg on the highway, and 11 mpg combined. At the very least, you can expect that you’ll get 10 mpg basically no matter what you do.
While the spec sheet doesn’t seem that impressive compared to the compact turbo V6 GMCs that also launched in the early 1990s, the Chevy 454 SS was quick enough to keep Ford at bay. In Car and Driver‘s comparison test, the 1993 Chevy 454 SS proved to be a slightly faster truck than the 1993 Ford F-150 Lightning, beating it in every performance metric. However, the magazine still preferred the Ford as an overall better, more refined truck.
Production of the 454 SS ceased after 1993, leaving about 17,000 smiling owners with tail-happy, tire-roasting trucks. That’s a tiny production figure compared to the hundreds of thousands of GMT400 trucks that were sold each year. It’s also not hard to find a 454 SS for sale, but expect to pay around $20,000 for an example with a lot of miles. Low-mile examples have stunning asking prices such as $60,000. New, these trucks were $21,835, or $47,110 today.
Today, you can buy pickup trucks that turn you into a supervillain with 700 HP and frankly absurd performance. And you can buy them for not much more than what buyers were paying 30 years ago. It’s incredible to see how the performance truck evolved from that Li’l Red Express and the 454 SS to trucks like the Ram TRX today. Really, if you want a fast truck, it seems you can’t go wrong, past or present.
Do you know of or own a car, bus, motorcycle, or something else worthy of being called a ‘holy grail’? Send me an email at mercedes@theautopian.com or drop it down in the comments!
(Images: GM, unless otherwise noted.)
[spoiler title=”2024 Holy Grail?”] [/spoiler]
You can order a grail like this today. It’ll cost you $37,745 to get a new 2024 Silverado regular cab, short box 2wd truck in black. Just check the painted aluminum wheels and chrome bumper options.
https://www.chevrolet.com/trucks/silverado/1500/build-and-price/summary
And for that you get the “TurboMax” engine with 310hp and 430 ft/lbs of torque.
The sketch showed the taillamps with AMBER turn signal indicators! Chevrolet and GMC didn’t implement it until GMT-800 was released in 1998 and for only four years before its mid-cycle refresh for 2003. The taillamps in the sketch resemble too much like Mitsubishi Mighty Max/Dodge Ram 50/Plymouth Arrow.
“GM took an early version of the truck to Dallas in 1983”
Chrysler, GM, Ford, and others often introduce their pick-up trucks and SUVs at State Fair of Texas automobile shows during the 1980s and 1990s as Texas has been very important market for those pick-up trucks and SUVs.
Our company used to have a GMT400 with a cage and small crane hoist on the back. It had the massive 8.1 and a manual transmission. What little horsepower it cranked out came in almost immediately with an alarming lurch but with so few gears and a top-wheezy engine, it fell on its face very quickly.
One of the guys in my class had a C1500 454 SS. He absolutely loved that truck, but it also led to a semi-embarrassing moment for him.
During our senior year, he had a MASSIVE crush on this one girl. I don’t remember the details, but during a party in May at my parents’ massive country yard he finally managed to let her know how he felt and they went back to his truck. Since he wanted to be a little bit discreet and not have the windows completely fogged up from their fun, he left the truck idling so that the air conditioner would keep the windows clear. He parked back in a corner of the yard so not too many people noticed too much what was going on, and the burble of the engine was pretty much lost in the noise of the party.
At one point, though, everyone heard a monstrous *BA-ROOOOOOM!!* noise as the big-block surged; someone’s foot had hit the gas pedal inside the truck during a particularly exuberant moment, and at that point about 90 or so people knew exactly what had happened. He came out later a tiny bit embarrassed, but thankfully most people just gently razzed him for finally getting a chance to make out with his crush.
I wonder which was faster 0-60/quarter mile:
These 454 SS’seses
or
96+ single cab work truck spec, RWD, Manual 7.4 Vortec
Famiy car, sure, if you get a crew cab; work truck, yeah, if you actually use it for work instead of runs to Cosco for pallets of toilet paper. Sports car? Nah, not at all. Fast in a stright line doesn’t a sports car make, although a large percentage of the populace has deluded itsel into thinking that.
They’re damn near all crew cabs at this point.
Just give me a damn extra cab/access cab with a long bed, and minimal frippery. No need for jump seats or anything behind the bench seat except storage space.
My crew cab seems to haul about 1300 pounds without issue, maybe you,re doing something wrong?
I think you missunderstood my comment. I know trucks are capable cargo haulers; I was alluding to the fact that most are bought as lifestyle vehicles and rarely if ever used for their true purpose.
as opposed to subarus which are never rallied off road or camrys than never have more than two people in them? maybe next you can whine about people not putting convertible tops down enough or not taking their lambos up to 200 mph. the fucking dumb things people will find to whine about.
I don’t understand why you’re being so sensitive about a harmless comment. is it because you don’t use your pickup to haul things? Hey, you do you! It wasn’t a personal attack man, just an observation. Yeah, I also think 200mph sportscars are dumb, actually. I could elaborate on how the other examples you mention aren’t nearly as comparable because their capablities are more aligned with real world usage, but it seems you’re determined to just be angry about trivial crap and don’t care much about rational discourse. There’s already a massive excess of pointless anger and division in our country, so why fuel it? Tell me though, how is it that I’m whining but somehow you’re not?
This comment comes up in every truck article. We could make a dumb comment like this about most any vehicle, but we dont. Im not sure why trucks get singled out, but without fail someone has to make the comment. Pointless anger, pointless comments. You made the fire and then asked why fuel it. Its like Jalopnik all over again. A certain subset is always poked at and its acceptable. Its also irritating to read. I come here for the articles and discussion, somehow it always devolves in the discussion. Find a new stereotype, a whole lot of the population uses trucks as trucks.
There was no fire, no spark even. You’re just supremely thin skinned. Anyway, Merry Christmas and I hope you feel better about life in the coming year.
aaaaaaannnndddd, we’re completely off topic from automobiles. again. nice work.
I love my 454 in my 95 K2500, but I sure can’t see the TBI 454 being used in go-fast applications. Tow a bunch of crap applications? You bet. But goin fast? Ehhhh…. Would be worth it just for the cool factor though to have one in a half ton. I thought the note about designing the cab of these trucks to be quiet was interesting. It’s certainly true, they do compare really well to contemporary cars and quite a bit of more modern stuff. Now if only the interior panels werent made out of melted down play-skool toys.
Overall I didn’t feel like my 95 k2500 was a bad place to sit but I agree, the dashboards crack just by looking at them wrong. The only other complaints I have are the “replace the bushings every year” door hinges and the door handles made from the cheapest pot metal available
My dash is actually in great shape, and rattle free. My most obnoxious rattle is the power window switch panel, which I had the audacity to remove once (extremely carefully) and it’s never been the same since. I think I may have solved the door bushing problem, GM makes a greaseable kit now. Very expensive but seems like they might be worth it.
It was a weird time. I had the short wheel base stepside with a 350 TBI. the gearing of the 700R4 made it to seem peppier than it was, but show me a stepside sport truck with a relatively large V8 and only 2WD today. GM was really struggling getting transmissions to handle th motors in the day. the DOHC 3.4 and 3.8 Supercharged motors were detuned from what I recall because the transmissions of the time could not handle the power. same reason why the Tuned PORT 350 Irocs never came with a manual.
Holy grail of mediocrity maybe…
As much as I like the GMT400 the 1500 had horrible braking capacity for it’s size. I have owned quite a few, including one my dad had from new, and they simply just do not stop well and, as a result, eat pads real fast. If you want a truck that stops the 2500 and 3500 have the styling and you get to actually stop the truck quickly.
While it looked amazing the 454ss package just added a ton of weight in the form of the worst-performing 454 ever built with a 3spd trans so you could ALSO enjoy disappointing mileage as well as power.
“you could ALSO enjoy disappointing mileage as well as power.”
But at 10 mpg think of all the coal you could roll!! As C&D said “Being the classroom bully is fun.”
For the record I don’t like bullies.
The Trucks! series build off between the 454 SS and the Lightning is worth watching even if only for the finale.
Street racing these in like 1989 and 90 revealed an unexpected result. The 350ci trucks could usually squeak out wins with little or no mods. The thing that hurt the 454 SS trucks was that it seemed the 3-speed transmission wasn’t tuned for drag racing. Sure you could get a kit to help with the 3-speed shifts, but in near stock form, it seemed the 454 SS were not hugely more effective in drag races. Just my real world street experience. Wasn’t in that scene by the time the 4-speed came along though.
Tire selection also made some noticeable difference because getting a good hookup (not talking dates) required some skilled throttle control. If both trucks were running equivalent tires and suspension, again, the results were not significantly different.
The 700R4 had a better first gear than the TH400 and the power increase of the big block cost a pretty significant weight penalty for the marginal gains. Plus it was a torque monster in a platform that intrinsically has issues with traction…
Time, brain damage, and memories are strange things. It’s just weird.
For example I drove a lot of these trucks when they were brand new. Better to say I beat the snot out of each and every one. But here’s where things get a little fuzzy.
Even at sea level I can’t recall these being a tire smoking burnout machine. Except on wet pavement, which although fun, was an ill advised and dangerous idea. The torque was there but it didn’t impress me. (probably the result of owning a 69 Super Bee, and several Road Runners as a kid)
Despite the upgrades these still were terrible handling trucks. And the brakes were really beyond weak at highway speeds.
But what I do remember very well is that you could order, (or find sometimes at the dealer) what felt like an equal or even superior truck with better handling, gas mileage, and versatility. It should be understood that I have seat time in probably close to 1K of the GM trucks of this era.
Although the MSRP seemed reasonable, a lot of these sat in dealer inventory and had to be discounted to move. For comparable money you could get a decent 4×4 optioned pretty nicely, and it was capable of doing a whole lot more than the SS.
What sticks in memory though is how it seemed that 90% of these were trashed and used up by the rednecks in my area trying to be bad asses.
But I do prefer today’s trucks in most ways over what was available back then.
Now if we could only get them to bring the height back down to a reasonable level. Please.
The GMT400 1500s may be one of the most under-braked factory trucks ever built; and this is with a SBC.
All of a sudden I’ve got Pink Floyd on my mind.
I’ve drove a few of these trucks and yeah they are scarily underbraked, but so was everything else at the time. I had a 2000 Mustang GT and the brakes on that thing literally could not stop the vehicle in any sort of acceptable distance when going over 60 mph. I also think the lack of weight over the rear affects the braking too. I’ve driven Tahoes of the same gen and the brakes on those feel a lot better.
It may have been forgotten because the Syclone came out like a year later.
And today’s trucks can get 400+ tq from a turbo-4 LOL
As a massive GMT400 fan, I love the 454SS. If I were obscenely wealthy, I’d have a black-on-red 454SS and a red-on-red 1st gen Lightning right next to each other in my dream garage (next to the bays with the Syclone and Typhoon). Both the 454SS and Lightning are peak sport truck styling in my eyes, though the 2nd gen Lightning is a close second.
Actually, I believe the 454 was. The 8.1/496 came along with the GMT800, which was officially called “Silverado” not C/K.
Didn’t they put a 8.1 in special order GMT400 security vehicles in 2000?
I may stand corrected, per Wiki there were some chassis cab GMT400s built in 2001-02 with the 8.1 (after the 800s were introduced for the rest of the line). They may be the basis of said security vehicles.
Never knew that.
if any of you guys are big OBS nerds like I am,
Dax Shepard just had Lucky Acosta build him one of these, but with a LT4 (iirc) under the hood.
Also, check out Stangkilr Productions on YT for their shops two builds of an LT5 and LT4 powered OBS’s.
When you could buy a Camaro, Firebird, or Mustang that could do 0-60 in the mid-5s for less money, while also handling and braking far better, the 454SS and contemporary Lightning didn’t make sense. But these trucks weren’t about logic, and the cool factor was (and is) through the roof. I loved these things in the ’90s and still do today.
None of those cars broke 6 seconds 0-60 in 1990.
They did in 1993.
Giggly ride, eh?
I love that the first ad posted still has the squarebody dualIy in it. The squarebody 1 ton, Suburban, and K5 soldiered on till 1991, and for 1992 they debuted on the GMT400 platform.
I thought these SS’s were so mean looking as a kid. When I got a little older and new more about cars, they had just gone out of production. Even then, the HP number seemed so low. At the time, I had thought GM should have put the TPI setup on them. Not only does the TPI setup look super cool, it makes great TQ at low RPMs. I thought that would have been amazing on the 454.
The descent into madness via the short path of excess. That’s what sells to the American consumer! What would have been far more magical at the time is if they would have shoehorned that massive mill into say a geo metro – that would have been one hot hatchback!
You must have never opened the hood of a Geo Metro.
It does not go in the front:
https://www.motor1.com/news/565864/mid-engined-geo-metro-sale/
Speaking of. The Festiva SHOgun. That’s not just a pickup that makes less torque than a new base pickup. That is a grail.
I had an old Mazda Rotary Pickup shop truck with a 350 Chevy(pure sleeper, quiet, stock-looking) at the time when the SS454 was the new hotness, and it was a f*cking blast to race them, the look on the faces of the drivers when my old rattle-can painted mini-pickup walked right past them was priceless.
I had a differential rebuilding/fab business at the time and had several of them in the shop over the years, usually changing gear ratios, and adding the 4L80-E was a huge improvement, the highway fuel economy improved and freeway engine RPMS dropped to a more sedate range. IIRC, the original SS454 used 3.42 cogs in the rear axle and the later trucks went to a 3.73 once they got overdrive.
I’m not a truck guy, so have little useful to say on specs/experience, but it was the topshot that drew me into this.
That ad-copy-of-some-sort pic is so wonderfully of its time – bright and cheerful, even for this particular model, a guy who is sporting both a sleeveless T and a mullet, and what looks like a Suzuki Katana. Not to mention it’s a burger restaurant shaped like an actual burger.
It’s federal law that if a bro wears a sleeveless T-shirt, said bro must also sport either a mullet (preferred) or a shaved head. It was standard practice for a long time, but only formalized at the very end of the Carter administration.
This generally does not apply to individuals who don’t identify as bro, yet still insist on going sleeveless (however, in cases where said non-bro vocalizes any variation of “sun’s out, guns out!”, non-bro will be subject to follicular compliance within 72 hours of using that cliche).
There are a few exceptions though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHpoKROvnPk
My family had a 454 in a K2500, but it was the later Vortec with 290 and 410 lbs-ft. As other commenters are rightly pointing out, 410 just isn’t that much anymore, but in the 90’s and early 2000’s it felt like a lot. Even with a relatively heavy truck, and at high elevation, it moved along nicely with the 4L80. It’s truly amazing what we get for power and torque these days. Personally I think that transmissions are the bigger advancement here, as that 454 with an 8 speed would have been a monster, but its less fun to talk about driveline losses and ratios.
My granddad had a 1989 or 90 Suburban 2500 with the 454. What a beast it was.
410 lb/ft isn’t that far off, even for a modern HD engine.
The Ford 7.3 makes 475 lb/ft in top trim from approximately the same displacement, despite being designed some 25 years later (arguably 60 years later, since the Vortec is directly descended from the 60s big blocks).
HP figures have shot up over the decades, but honestly outside of forced induction, torque/liter hasn’t really moved much. The big advancements have simply been keeping that torque up through the rev range and raising that limit.
Eh. My 2023 throws down 430 lb.-ft. and it has the base engine.
That just goes to show how far we’ve come, as I pointed out in the piece. I mean, a few decades ago there were V8s that made less power than a four makes today!
30 years from now the base model is going to have 700 Hp. . .
Let me introduce you to the F-150 Lightning Pro ER.
It’s no secret that the power numbers have increased, but that is why I can’t really consider this a holy grail.
The V6 version with stickshift in the chassis image, on the other hand. Whoa, a full-size pickup with stick, they don’t make that anymore.
I guess you’d think my 2wd 5spd 6cyl 95 f150 is a holy Grail? I mean it’s a good pickup…….. if you like going 60mph.
Stick AND an inline-6
Yeah that’s how I like em, I have 5 vehicles with a straight six and a manual trans
To be clear, this series isn’t supposed to be a comparison of old cars to new cars. If it were, the new cars would win every time. And that’s great! Holy Grails is really supposed to celebrate the best, weirdest, rarest or unknown versions of cars and motorcycles throughout history.
“the new cars would win every time”
I disagree. Even in this article, there’s a stickshift full-size pickup (chassis picture) and a full-size two-door SUV (Yukon GT) that just cannot be had anymore.
But the 454 SS has not aged well. And I thought it was cool AF when I was a kid.
My 1993 F150 makes the same* HP as my 2018 Miata.
Shitload more torque on the truck, but still.
* Probably. Within 5-10HP or so.
My first enlistment a good friend of mine bought one of these. Absolutely loved that truck.
He threw on longtube headers and Quick Time Performance electrically operated cutouts, then would only close the cutouts when he was going through a drive through or the gate to get on base (even then, not always.) He lowered it. He threw Impala SS wheels on it and the combo was just absolutely superb.
He was about to throw a supercharger on it but he was going too fast on an off ramp and slid into a curb, bending the frame.
He kept it for a while, turning over whether he should keep it or not, but he eventually sold it when he got out of the military. Instead he kept his Dodge turbo van. Lost contact with each other after he got out and he moved back up north.
I didn’t realize how many good memories and how many laughs I had with him in that truck.
Keith, if you’re reading this, hope you’re doing well.
I hope Keith reads this. Shit. Autopian should find Keith.