In 1970 Chevrolet offered the El Camino SS 454 with the same big block as the Chevelle, including a 450 horsepower option. Here is the muscle truck Detroit forgot to brag about.
Fill in the blank: in 1970, you could order a Chevrolet El Camino with a ____ horsepower engine and a pickup bed. The answer is 450, and almost nobody remembers that the same big block that powered the legendary Chevelle SS 454 LS6 could also sit under the hood of a car-based pickup. Here is the story of the El Camino SS 454, the muscle truck Detroit forgot to brag about.
A Car With a Truck Bed
Chevrolet built the El Camino on its car platforms, first in 1959 as an answer to Ford’s Ranchero, and then again from 1964 on the Chevelle chassis. That meant the El Camino shared its front end, suspension and engine options with the Chevelle. When Chevrolet made big engines available in the Chevelle, the El Camino got them too. The result was a utility vehicle with the heart of a muscle car.
The 1970 SS 454 Package
For 1970, General Motors lifted its long-standing 400 cubic inch limit on midsize cars, and Chevrolet responded with the 454 cubic inch big block. The El Camino SS 454 package brought that engine to the pickup, along with a heavy-duty suspension, wider tires and the SS badging. The standard SS 454 engine, known as the LS5, was rated at 360 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque.
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The headline option was the LS6. It used the same 454 displacement but added solid lifters, higher compression and a larger Holley four-barrel carburetor, and Chevrolet rated it at 450 horsepower. It was the highest factory rating of the muscle car era, and it could be ordered on an El Camino. That means a buyer could drive away in a pickup with the same engine as the fastest Chevelle on the lot.
Why Almost Nobody Talks About It
The El Camino sold to a different audience than the Chevelle. Many buyers wanted a work truck with style, not a quarter-mile weapon. The LS6 option cost extra and was ordered on only a small fraction of cars, which makes the surviving examples very rare today. Because the El Camino was never marketed as a drag-strip car, the SS 454 LS6 version rarely appears in the same conversations as the Hemi Cuda or the Boss 429.
Ford had its own idea. The Ranchero, built on the Torino platform, also offered big engines in the early 1970s. But the El Camino SS 454 came to symbolize the idea best: a bed in the back, a serious engine up front, and a quiet reputation for taking on cars that looked much quicker.
What It Is Worth Today
Clean El Camino SS 454 trucks have become collectible, and the rare LS6 cars attract serious attention. If you ever see one with the correct documentation, treat it as a find. The combination of a muscle car drivetrain and an open cargo bed is a flavor that Detroit rarely repeated.
Did you know the El Camino could be ordered with the LS6? Tell us in the comments whether you would rather have the pickup or the Chevelle, and why.
Photo: 2022 Downtown West Allis Classic Car Show 030 (1970 Chevrolet El Camino SS).jpg by Michael Barera (CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons).
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