posted 05-18-2009 01:58 AM                  

Chevrolet SSR (2003–06)

2005 Chevy SSR It’s a convertible. It’s a pickup. It’s a car. It’s yet another example of how the American people refuse to pay for anything even remotely corporate where hot-rod culture is concerned. Yep, that’s right: It’s the Chevrolet SSR, and we can hear you yawning already.

You would think that GM executives would have taken a lesson from the much-maligned Plymouth Prowler, an awkward-looking, underpowered, and overpriced factory hot rod that failed miserably following a relatively short production life. The SSR—an awkward-looking, underpowered, and overpriced factory hot rod that arrived just one year after the Prowler’s death—also failed miserably and in short order. What on earth prompted the General to retread such potentially floppy ground, and so soon? Was it something in Detroit’s water?

To GM’s credit, the company at least attempted to right a few of the Prowler’s wrongs. The SSR may have been built on the same platform as the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, but a 300-hp, 5.3-liter V-8 lived between the truck’s deep-draw fenders, not a puny V-6. After customers and journalists complained of sluggish performance, the 4700-pound, $40,000-plus SSR was gifted with a 390-hp, 6.0-liter V-8 and an optional six-speed manual. It wasn’t enough, however, to overpower the uncustom convertible truck rod’s inherent dorkiness. Few cried when the SSR was axed.

posted 05-19-2009 12:29 AM                  

john

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