Chevrolet Chevelle 1967 SS Drag Radial

This black 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 trades its factory bias-plys for drag radials, and the difference shows the moment the light turns green. Chevrolet built 63,006 SS 396s that year across three engine options, topping out at a rare 375-horsepower L78 that only 612 buyers managed to order. The SS 396 package brought disc brakes, red-stripe tires, and unmistakable styling to the table, but it’s the modern tire upgrade that finally lets this big-block put its factory torque to real use.

There’s a specific sound a numbers-matching 396 makes when it’s finally free of the showroom parade lap and let loose on drag radials — a low, building rumble that turns into a snarl right before the tires hook. This black ’67 Chevelle SS wears that stance like it was born for it, sitting low and mean the way a big-block Chevelle should. Chevrolet built 63,006 SS 396s for 1967, but not many of them ended up wearing a drag-radial setup and still looking this clean doing it. The real question isn’t whether this thing is quick — it’s which of the three 396 options is hiding under that hood, and just how far down the strip it can pull before the tires start to spin.

Three Ways to Order a 396 in ’67

When Chevrolet spun the SS off into its own series in 1966, the 396 big-block became the whole point of ordering a Chevelle SS, and 1967 doubled down on that idea. Every SS came standard with a 396 rated at 325 horsepower, which was already enough to embarrass most of what else was parked in the high school lot. Step up to the L34 and you picked up 350 horses, but the one everybody wanted was the L78 — 375 horsepower on paper, and it didn’t show up in the order books until late in the model year. Chevrolet only sold 612 of those L78 cars for ’67, which is why finding one today, numbers-matching or not, gets serious money and serious attention at a show.

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Why Drag Radials Change the Conversation

A stock ’67 SS 396 off the showroom floor rode on bias-ply rubber that could barely hook the base 325-horse engine, let alone an L78. Swap on a set of drag radials the way this car has, and suddenly all that torque a factory big-block always had is finally getting to the pavement instead of going up in smoke. It’s the kind of update that respects what Chevrolet built back in ’67 while admitting the tire technology of the era was the real limiting factor the whole time. Enthusiasts running these cars today aren’t chasing originality points — they’re chasing the elapsed time this chassis was always capable of.

A Package Built to Be Noticed

Beyond the engine bay, the ’67 SS 396 package did its job at a glance — twin simulated hood air intakes, color-accented sill and lower fender moldings, SS 396 grille and deck lid emblems, “Super Sport” script on the fenders, and a set of red-stripe nylon tires that told everyone at the light what they were about to line up against. Front disc brakes finally became available this year too, which matters a lot more once you’ve got a set of drag radials putting real power to the ground. It’s a combination of era-correct style and modern grip that makes this black example look every bit as serious as it clearly runs.

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