Once again it is Thursday and time for the newest installment of Muscle Car of the Week. It is my goal to give all the WRTV faithful a look at some vintage cars that people don’t normally hear about instead of the usual Hemi Cuda’s and big block Chevelle’s. The last two weeks we have taken a look at some heavy hitters from General Motors, so for this week I have decided to see what the Bowtie Bunch has to offer in terms of flat out performance. That brings us to the chosen car for this week: the 1970 Chevrolet El Camino SS LS6.

Before we delve into the monster that came off the assembly line in 1970, some history on this unorthodox vehicle is needed. Ford actually was the first to implement a car/truck crossover in its line up with the introduction of the Ranchero in 1957. In 1959, Chevrolet decided to break into the market with their own version, the El Camino, which was based on the full-size Impala platform. The first generation El Camino only lasted two production years, or through the 1960 model year before Chevrolet decided to pull the plug on it. However, the El Camino was reborn in 1964 except this time it was to share the same platform as the smaller Chevelle. Under the new platform, the El Camino received the same front end and engine options as the Chevelle, however was denied the SS performance packages. This would change in 1968 when the El Camino was available with the same high performance “Super Sport” package as the Chevelle which included an all new 375 horsepower 396 cube V8.

Now all of that is good and fine, and the 375 ponies from the 396 were ample, but the feature car this week had a little more power than that. And by a little I mean a ton. The LS6 option was introduced for the 1970 model year and was made available for the Chevelle and El Camino. The highlight of the package was the 450 horse 454 cubic inch V8 backed by either a Turbo Hydromatic 400 or the M-22 Muncie “Rock Crusher” four speed (the “Rock Crusher” name was given to it because it emitted a whining sound similar to a rock crushing machine). Also included was a heavy duty suspension with larger front and rear stabilizer bars and stiffer shocks that kept the monster on the road.

The 454’s 450 horsepower was impressive but equally impressive was the 500 pound feet of torque coming in at 3600 rpm. All that made the El Camino able to rocket down the 1/4 mile in the low 13’s with the tires squealing the whole way. The El Camino was a vehicle that a man could use as a truck during the week and haul things around in, but on the weekends all that was needed was to empty the bed (or maybe leave it full to help combat massive wheel spin) and hit the drag strip to roast some Ford’s and Mopar’s. Hope you enjoyed a look at the muscle truck that is the El Camino. Big_Blocker signing off.