Automotive history is full of examples of manufacturers having what appeared on paper to be a great idea, only to suffer a market failure. Edsel springs instantly to mind, as does the Plymouth Prowler. Chevrolet’s SSR was another example, lasting a mere four years before the company drew the curtain on its bold experiment. This 2006 SSR is one of the last produced and is an extraordinary survivor with only 800 miles on its odometer. It has generated considerable interest, and I must say a big thank you to Barn Finder PRA4SNW for spotting the SSR listed here at Hemmings in Holly Hill, Florida. Bidding sits below the reserve at $27,911 as the auction heads into its final days.
Some retro models have tasted significant sales success, while others have been less warmly received. The New Mini and Fiat 500 have established their place in the market, and the Chevrolet SSR deserved success for the bold approach the company adopted. It based the styling on the iconic post-war “Advance Design” Pickups that became a market staple during that period. However, unlike the Advance Design, the SSR featured a retractable metal top to provide a wind-in-the-hair motoring experience. It seemed to offer the best of both worlds: the convenience of a practical Pickup, and the relaxed motoring of a traditional Convertible. Sadly, the buying public didn’t agree, and sales were far below the company’s expectations. This final-year example is a stunning survivor. Chevrolet offered buyers a choice of four paint shades, with this vehicle’s first owner selecting Smokin’ Asphalt. Its presentation is all you would rightly expect from a classic with a three-digit odometer reading, with no cosmetic imperfections. The top works as it should, and it is worth noting that the first owner wasn’t afraid to spend their money on factory accessories. This SSR scores running boards, the rear windbreak, the rear hitch mount, and the optional cover. There is no rust, and the chromed factory alloy wheels look perfect.
The 2006 SSR was the most powerful available during the four-year production run. Chevrolet bolted its 6.0-liter LS2 V8 under the hood, developing 400hp and 400 ft/lbs of torque with the standard six-speed manual transmission. However, with this vehicle’s first owner selecting the optional four-speed automatic, this LS2 will deliver 395hp and 405 ft/lbs. The power feeds to the road via a Torsen limited-slip rear end, while power steering and anti-lock four-wheel disc brakes were standard fare. Chevrolet wasn’t shy about the performance potential of the SSR, quoting a ¼-mile ET of 13.9 seconds in automatic form, and a top speed of 131mph. The listing is vague about the vehicle’s mechanical condition but suggests it is a turnkey proposition. I see nothing in the images suggesting otherwise.
Chevrolet’s Advance Design range represented motoring at its most basic, with the company focused primarily on practicality. It threw that playbook out the window with the SSR, loading the interior with almost every creature comfort available in 2006. This gem features climate-control air conditioning, power windows, and power locks. Both seats are power-adjustable, with six-way on the driver’s side and two-way on the passenger’s. There is matching Ebony Nuance trim on the seats and the tilt wheel, power mirrors, cruise control, a Driver’s Information Center, and unique SSR floor mats. The first owner ticked a few additional boxes, upgrading the stereo to include the range-topping Bose speakers and a six-disc CD changer, and specifying the Chrome Package and additional gauges. As you would rightly expect, this interior appears to be perfect. There is no wear or signs of abuse, and no evidence of UV deterioration. If you couldn’t afford a new SSR in 2006, this classic is as close as you will get today.
It is said that fortune favors the bold, but that wasn’t the case for Chevrolet and its SSR. The sales tally never met the company’s expectations, forcing the cancellation of a vehicle that had cost a significant sum to develop and produce. Approximately 24,100 of these classics rolled off the line during the four-year production run, making this a rare vehicle in a “big picture” perspective. This SSR cost its first owner an eye-watering $47,080 in 1996, but recent sales results suggest that bidding probably won’t reach that figure. However, with strong Listing View and Watch List figures, anything is possible. Are you tempted to join the bidding party? I wish you luck if you do.
I always thought these were underappreciated vehicles. Interesting concept that I feel was poorly executed. I appreciate what they were trying to bring back, but it just never looked right to me. They tried too hard to make it aerodynamic, but with 400 horsepower it would not of mattered if they filled out the front fenders and flattened the headlights a bit more to make it look like the original. it’s always a shame to me when a throwback vehicle resembles an older car from a different era, but doesn’t come close enough resembling the car it was supposed to be. The SN95 Mustang comes to mind.. the new beetle hit the mark because it didn’t try to be something different, it was just a new more modern version of the car it always was. That’s why it’s sold well.
My grandpa just loves these. All his friends at the facility do, too. I just can’t understand why sales were “…far below expectations.” Who wouldn’t be excited about a color called, “Smokin’ Asphalt”? Sounds so badass.
Drop top flop, pop. Don’t shop, or even stop.
These are cool, only one bid so far.
These are one of those cars, much like the Plymouth Prowler, built for the exclusive purpose of being a collectible. They are to the automotive world what Beanie Babies are to the world of toys… never meant to be used, but just to hold onto long enough to sell to the next person at a profit.
Did anyone ever buy one of these as their daily driver or to use as a pickup truck? I highly, highly doubt it.
They may be ugly and not particularly useful, but at least they’d be fun to drive.
Steve R
That wasn’t my point, but I can think of a lot of cars that would be more fun than this that are also practical as daily drivers.
ME. I bought my 2005 “Redline Red” SSR 2 years ago to do just that with. I’m the third owner and it now had 55,101 miles on it. It was the only way I could buy a TWO DOOR compact pickup, as all the manufacturers ram 4 door trucks and SUV’s on the buyers. (Because it’s cheaper for them to build 1 chassis they can make everything into. And if you think about it, when people plan to resto-mod something older, the go to power plant is an LS. The SSR when conceived as a concept vehicle, was originally built on an S10 chassis. The public liked it well enough to put it in production, but GM quickly recognized that even with the 300 hp 5.3 liter engine used in ’03 and ’04, they needed a stronger base. So they shortened the frame on the Chevy Trailblazer and built it on that all 4 years.
There’s nothing wrong with it as a daily driver. I sold my ’98 Corvette and bought the one I’m driving, and I enjoy it. There is an almost cult following with these trucks – even a gentleman I know of who is 92 years old, still going strong and brags about the 189,000 + miles he has on his truck!
There is also a company out in AZ where the owner engineers nothing but replacement parts and improvements for the SSR. Simple Engineering.
So JDC, I’d think twice about making statements about a vehicle you obviously know very little about. The “SSR owners cult” is literally world wide. And you’d be surprised to know how many of us use them. They ARE trucks. (6 lug wheels and all!)
A friend bought a yellow one and drove it daily until he traded it. He’s not a “car guy”, so I am not sure what his motivation was. I guess he just liked it.
As a car guy, these were just 100% goofy. If you wanna make a retro truck, then make a retro truck, and not this thingie, which is neither a car or a truck or a collectible. It’s the GM version of the PT Cruiser, but it was really just rebodied cheap wheels, I guess.
I haven’t see one of these on the road for years. They are for sale and prices are all over the map, and many with surprisingly high asks.
$27,911 will get you a decent modern vehicle that has rear camera, lane change warning, Bluetooth, display, better mechanicals and is not 20 years old. So I see no upside here at all. Maybe at half this price?
I also have a friend with a Prowler. It is a 100% totally different vibe. It’s a damn nice car, well-built, and that design ages well. His is Purple, near-mint condition and I’d take it any day of the week. It also looks like Prowler prices are holding up very well.
The Prowler, with its underpowered V6 sold 11,700 units in 5 years through 2 car divisions – Plymouth then Chrysler – production. It was a failure and a cramped joke to drive. Cool to look at but that’s where it ended. SSR production was 24,150 in 4 years. You may not care for the way it looks, but it’s a very usable truck. And you can take it to Home Depot and load it up. You can put a trailer hitch on it and tow a small trailer (2500 capacity) They are very usable. The state that has the highest concentration of them is Florida, for obvious reasons. But just about every state and Canada has a chapter of the SSR Fanatics. But you’ve never owned one or driven one, so…. Except for being manufacturer attention getter’s the SSR and Prowler can’t be compared.
I had a guy on my mail route that bought one of these in yellow, (brand new)– it is a very bright color! He used it as his daily driver simply because he LOVED the power in it and just really loved the way it looked. It was pretty cool, just most who bought them did so as an investment and most of those were bright red. Have not seen many of the other colors.
I agree on both comments about the new Beetle and the Prowler. I also felt the PT Cruiser did a decent job of portraying a car from the late 30s/early 40s. It’s just too bad it wasn’t a little bit bigger, had better build quality, and maybe a better/bigger engine.
MoparDoug… didn’t the 2.4T move out those PTs pretty good ?
They were very spunky with the stick. Not so much with the automatic. Fun factor of driving was top notch. And I found the build quality was great – until I ripped the leather seat under my butt at 161,000 miles/14 years. Great car!
Gotta agree with JDC – Like the Reatta, the X bodies, the Dustbuster APVs, and the unconscionable Aztek, it’s the answer to a question nobody asked.
How can a company that came up with some of the best real pickup trucks ever made come up with this?
I think because the engineers and designers that came up with those great back-in-the-day pickups that looked and worked so well were gone for the most part by the time these “new” creations came out. Also, the management team that okayed those old designs had changed. From Roger Smith forward the old GM was gone forever. Good thing, bad thing? For me, it’s the latter.
When you say “Roger Smith” you’ve said it all.
I never knew they put a decent engine in these. That LS2 and 6-speed sounds like what was in the 2006 CTS-V, and it cost almost as much as the CTS-V when new. Even with 400 hp, I could never get over the impracticality of this vehicle.
They first used the LS2 in 2005 which was the first year base engine of the 2005 C6 Corvette. In the Corvette it was rated at 400 hp. In the SSR, 390 hp. Obviously it was never meant to be a “practical truck” but something to attract attention. They spent so much money designing and engineering the convertible top that they left simple things out that every Corvette had. (Outside temperature display, backup camera….) My 2005 SSR new was a tick over $50K – in 2005! But while being useful, practical is not what it was all about.
The one problem I see is it’s been sitting for 20 years and if not put in hibernation, then the fuel and oil lines may fail shortly after going into service. Just my thoughts….
And the coolant is way out of date, as is the brake fluid. I might have missed it – OE tires? They’d be way out of date, too.
Just the same I kinda like these things.
You might not believe this, but my dad purchased a 1951 Buick new, and never changed the brake or coolant fluid. It all was operating properly in the 1990’s. Recently I’ve been reviving it, and replaced the radiator hoses and water pump original from 1951.
Since it’s fuel injected, it has the high quality fuel lines that really never go bad. If you’re referring to rubber fuel lines prior to fuel injection, those might expire in 20 years. The oil lines would be industrial quality, they shouldn’t give any trouble.
First order of business on these trucks – especially if they’ve sat like this one – is to remove and replace the front brake calipers. They are notorious for seizing after 20 years because of the phenolic pistons used in the front calipers. The plastic pistons get brittle and expand and lock up. There is really nothing that can’t be fixed or replaced on these.
My two cents , had a used 2005 with 400hp , that is an under rated number to satisfy the innsurance companys . Most fun vehicles are not practical and yes this one proves that . But , but braking the tires loose in third gear on the onramp of the interstate was pure fun !
My dealership bought out a bankrupt exotic car rental agency. In approximately 2013. Most of the vehicles had very low miles and in order to sell them as used cars. They had to have a minimum of 2500 miles shown on the odo. (Nevada state law) So myself and managers were tasked with putting miles on the Ferraris, Porsches, Mercedes, Corvettes, Vipers, Crossfires, Boosted Minis and 2 of the SSRs. They look cool, they sound nasty and have great creature comforts. But they are HEAVY! They are cruisers not the High Performance vehicles portrayed. And just as sales didn’t live up to expectations, the driving experience didn’t live up to visual/visceral expectations. There was a reason that an almost 10 year old “hot rod” still didn’t have more than 200 miles on it. The one I drove was the last one on the lot to be sold from the bunch.
I drove one of these exactly once, because none of the teenage bellmen could drive a stick. Proceeding across the hotel driveway to park it, not even getting into second, it bounced around on the suspension like a hobby horse. Total POS. Well up on the list of cars I would never own.
An 06 with a six speed is the one to have.
My wife and I were looking for one of these about a year ago. Decent used ones were in the low 20’s.
It will be interesting to see what the premium will be to buy one with basically no miles.
yeah…Barn Find,,,uh huh…..
I thought these were cool vehicles. Not sure if people really used it as a pick up truck to haul around stuff, but you certainly could.
I drove one of these when General Motors used to have the Auto Show in Motion shows going across the country. It was on a special track to itself. You had to drive the SSR with one of the General Motors reps in the passenger seat. All I remember is he was holding on for dear life when I was drifting it around one of the corners. Even though it had those nice wide tires in the back, the engine had enough power to break them loose easily. Very exciting to drive when you step on the go-pedal!
The switch to the Trailblazer frame brought the weight of these trucks to almost 4800 lbs. Plenty of us have upgraded the rear tires from 295/40/R20 stock tires to 305/35/R20 for a little extra “meat.” Stock fronts are 245/45/R19 bumped up to 255/40/R19. The best thing they did was take the LS2 out of the Corvette parts bin and put it in the SSR. There’s a lot of guys around the country who supercharge them. There’s guy I know in Texas that has 3 of them. I’m in SW FL and I friend in Cape Coral owns 8 SSRs at the moment – including the famous 2003 “Creamsicle” show truck. But do many of us haul stuff? You bet we do! It may look different from your average truck, but it’s still very much a truck.
I can verify what Don is saying about there still being a very strong community of owners for the SSR. When I was researching these last year, I was very impressed with the information and support these owners provide for new / potential owners.
Yes, some of the modifications that people do to these is great – like owning a Corvette with a truck bed.
If it were up to only me, we would have bought one. However, this was a fun car for my wife, and although she liked the SSR, she ended up choosing a Crossfire. If I could have found a decent SSR near us to have gotten her behind the wheel of, we may very well be driving one right now!
GOOD Prowlers just seem to hold their value. I see the same for good SSR’s. The good ones may be going up slightly at this time. Fun to drive and enjoy with no real depreciation. The 05’s and 06’s were much more fun to drive than the first two years.
Current bid on this truck is $36,000 with just over an hour remaining……
That was the last bid, reserve not met. Asking price $42k.
Chevy should have put the 1999 Nomad, 2002 Belair, & 2012 Code 130R all into production instead.
& should have had a modern Chevelle(same with Ford/Torino) to compete with the modern Challenger. Huge mistakes, IMO.