This has to be the black-tie-and-tails of pickups, if there is such a thing. An elegant pickup? Jumbo shrimp? I don’t know if any of that made sense, but this isn’t just any ol’ pickup, it’s a 1990 Chevrolet 454 SS! And, not just that, it has fewer than 5,200 miles on it! No, really. This two-owner collector truck is listed on eBay with spirited bidding, to say the least, with the bid being well over $15,000 and the reserve isn’t met. This highly-desirable collector truck is in Orchard Park, New York where it’s never seen a snowflake.
This is one tight truck. I really like this design, not overly-done, just tight, lean, and mean. I grew up with Ford pickups but I’ve never been one to look down on any make or model, I love everything. I would take this Chevy in a heartbeat (of America..)..
Ford made the SVT Lightning starting in 1993 so Chevy beat them to the punch. The 454 SS pickups were made for the 1990 to 1993 model years and they were around $18,300 when new. I bet this one will be close to that price, that may even be the seller’s reserve. A vehicle like this will most likely never go down in value: it’s rare, it’s unique in its configuration, and it’s most likely the nicest one left.
Believe it or not, and I know that by now you can believe it: there are no engine photos! A truck that’s mostly about its powerful engine, yet there is not one single photo of the engine! Ugh. It would have been Chevy’s 7.4L 454 cubic-inch V8 with not an overwhelming amount of horsepower at 230, but the torque rating was 385 ft-lb on tap. That combination put the 0-60 time in Mustang GT territory, not bad for a 4,400-pound pickup. The interior is as close to being like new as you’ll ever find. The seller says that everything works including the ice-cold AC. How’s the condition of the bed, you ask? It’s like it just came off of the factory floor. Have any of you owned a Chevy 454 SS or a Ford SVT Lightning? Which one would you choose?
I think the Blackwood is more likely the tuxmobile than this. This is James Bond holding an RPG.
I might even move the T-Bird out of the garage for that one (but don’t tell her ;-0 )
I’ve seen one of those just fry the tires the other year. Don’t know if it was stock or not, but it fried the tires like the owner was a major stockholder in Firestone or Goodyear.
Which one would I choose? Both….plus the Dodge SRT-10 featured yesterday….3 super trucks for the price of a rotted out engine-less Boss 429…
My son bought one of these used in 1995 at a small town car lot. His was red and yes it could strip the rubber off of the tires without even trying. The only thing that hurt that truck was a deer crossing the road at 60mph. The bodyshop owner bought it from him.
I hope the seller of this truck didn’t see this one and think lightening will strike twice…
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1990-Chevrolet-C-K-Pickup-1500-454-SS/162494112998?_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D40130%26meid%3D097c95e9b09e4b0385254915caeb8a54%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D182560866337
Bought a new one back in 1990. Loved the look (still do). Yea, it would indeed burn the rubber off the back tires easily. At the same time, and I’m saying this as a GM guy, it never really did it for me. As cool as it was, it was a bit underpowere. Mine had the turbo hydramatic 400 transmission (not the later overdrive) and it really made the truck feel like it was stressing the engine at highway speed. Add this to the horrible gas mileage (9-11 mpg) and it was definitely a Sunday driver. Sold it after 2 years.
Would I like to have it back today? Sure, just to look at and as a novelty item.
I can remember them in there day. I fellow in town had a new one and he always complained about fuel mileage. I would rather have the same truck with a 350 injected.
Like this ? I bought this new in 1990. 350, five speed and SS 454 suspension.
Ahem, it’s white tie and tails. 😊
Loved these when they came out. Nostalgia called and I went shopping for one in 2013 for about 3 months. Found several but they were either $4500 junkers or $20+k bubble queens. The one to get is the 91+ with the 4 speed auto and better exhaust. After being disappointed in what I was finding I ended up getting a black regular cab short bed 2014 F150 with the Coyote engine. Same theme that is twice as fast and twice the MPG.
I have owned both ,but Lightning was always faster ,but I’m chevy man .
A friend bought one,it wasn’t too impressive, BUT after replacing the TH400 with a TCI 700R, TBI with a holley & a MSD ignition. It would pull a 20 ft trailer w/t a 3800 lb IROC Camaro like it was a little red wagon. Gas mileage went from 10-12 mpg to 18mpg. We took the IROC to the strip(est.300 mile total) when it was stock, It averaged 8 mpg. Even this FORDMAN would drive it.
Like the look of these – but not the prices they command, and the TBI 454/TH400 combo seems like more of a period novelty than a selling point (to me, anyways).
Fortunately, there’s still a fair number of non-SS regular cab shortboxes out there. If you’re not a purist or investor, you can have all the fun for pennies on the dollar. I did!
Case in point: ’94 C1500, regular cab, stepside, little over 100K miles, nice body, good 350, shot automatic. Picked it up last spring – slightly overpaid at $1500. Pulled and swapped in a junkyard 5-speed over the course of a few weekends, threw on the same wheel/tire combo as the featured truck (mine has white paint, so no “SS” pretenses here), and it just keeps rackin’ up the smiles per gallon :-)
And of course, if/when I get bored with it, there’s plenty of potential for low-buck improvement. Probably only a matter of time before an LQ4 or the like follows me home from a self-serve junkyard :-P
One thing I forgot…
When I did the manual conversion, I used cutting the hole in the floor as an excuse to rip out all the interior, deep-clean it, and replace anything with flaws.
Though I do like the correct style/color/pattern Suburban buckets I put in it, I’ll forever be jealous of the bolstered jobs in the featured truck. Sometimes there’s just nothing like the real thing!
A lovely truck I like
My buddy owns a black 454 SS Blazer. He could not deal with the poor mileage and replaced the 454 with a 350.Nice looking rigs.
Like a neutered hound dog, just lies in the corner and licks himself… Sorry I couldn’t help it…lol
A guy I work with has one in far worse shape. Needs cab corners, etc. His big block has gear-driven cams and north of 500hp he says. I’ve heard it idle (sort of) and I would not challenge it with my C6. Definitely a bad ass truck.
I have one I bought it to tow Baja 24 foot boat the truck has a lot of low-end torque perfect for towing a 6000 pound boat and trailer the boat has a 454 also with bigger heads and valves the truck will tow the boat up and down Hills with the air on in cruise control as far as gas mileage goes everything I’ve had usually gets around 10 to 12 miles a gallon while Towing I’ve had the truck since 1998 it’s it’s in my garage to this day I told the boat to Lake Erie occasionally and use this truck I suppose I could spend $60,000 on a new one that would get better gas mileage but it would not tow any better
I think we got it beat. Ours has only 2021 original miles. The problem is you want to drive it but gotta keep the miles down soooo it is just a beautiful piece of real life size art. Also got a 1997 miata M edition with 122 original miles. It might be the lowest mile NA miata M edition in existence. Love looking at them!!!
wow it’s pretty exciting./
I recall hearing hotrodders were pilfering the 4v throttle bodies off these and other 454 trucks as they showed up in the JY, good way to convert a carbed SBC to efi (the 4v throttle body offers good airflow, injectors can be swapped, and the GM ECM has been thoroughly hacked and DIY tunable since the 1980s). EDIT: forgot to answer the question– Lightning all the way. :-)
Auction update: this truck was bid up to $18,500 and it was a no-sale.