The 1970 SS 454 is the granddaddy of all Chevelles, but knowing if your car is authentic can be tricky. These are some of the things to look out for.
When hunting down any classic car or stumbling upon a rare barn find, one of the most important things to check is that what you are buying is the genuine article.
This is especially true if you want to find the rarest and most valuable variant of a standard car produced in high numbers. With so many OEM parts that are interchangeable between models, it can be easy to buy a spruced-up imitation of the real thing.
HotRod Magazine Contributing Editor and YouTuber Patrick Glenn Nichols is a Chevrolet Chevelle SS specialist and runs through everything to look for while inspecting this Kansas City-built muscle car.
How Much Horsepower Does A Chevelle 454 SS Have?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3RHb5-2KC8
The 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle came with a wide array of engine options, with this SS having the 454 cu. in. big block V8 LS6 motor.
The LS6 came with a forged steel crankshaft and connecting rods with forged aluminum pistons, an aluminum manifold, a Holley four-barrel carburetor, and a Posi cowl induction. This resulted in the SS 454 producing 450 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque with a redline of 6,500 rpm.
Unfortunately, this particular car is missing the powertrain as it’s set to get a full restoration. However, Patrick says it’s the chassis he is here to authenticate.
Taking a look around, Patrick does say that the car does retain some of the original bill sheets which break down a lot of the information, as well as having the 1969-dated YV glass code on the original rear window.
How To Tell If Your Chevelle SS Is The Real Deal
This Chevelle was in an accident at some point in its life and so the rear bumper, left-front fender, and front grille, actually from a Malibu, are not original. This SS does have December ‘69 SS door panels, though, which matches up with the bill sheet.
This car was also a UM1 A-track car, with the rear parcel shelf containing the correct dual speaker provision, as well as the front stereo speakers. The interior also contains the original 6,500 rpm redline tachometer which was unique to the SS 454.
This Chevelle SS still has its original Fathom blue paint and Patrick notes that most Kansas City cars have the paint code written on the firewall – in this case, it’s code 28 which also matches up to the bill sheet.
Patrick also checks the cowl tag found under the hood and runs through all of the different numbers and codes and what they mean and says that this is the biggest giveaway if the car is genuine or not.
There are far too many little details to list here that can help you spot if your SS 454 is genuine, so we recommend checking out the full video. Either that or get in touch with Patrick as he is a grandmaster when it comes to 1970 Chevy Chevelles.