I really think this topic is worthy of discussion.

Can we have an intelligent conversation......please?

All this talk of Silverado SS, Impala SS and Monte Carlo SS, is thought provoking.

What does SS mean today?

Will Chevy's SS merchantising strategy be successful?

Will SS simply come to mean "overpriced Chevrolets"?

 

Since Z28Wilson was the only person who stayed on topic, I'll start with his post.

 

Go see the old post. I think I helped steer things back in the right direction.

 

[puts on serious face] I was really trying to be funny in the other thread. This topic has been beaten to death, but I'll try to answer it without angering anyone. (Sarcasm doesn't play very well over the internet. )

What does "SS" mean to me? I grew up in the late 60's and early 70's and fell in love with Camaros at an early age. My favorite Camaros will always be the 1st gen Super Sports. In particular the 67-68 RS/SS big blocks. To me "SS" means big block asphalt ripping horsepower. The odd thing is, I have never owned an "SS" or a big block for that matter. Both my 1st gen Camaros have been RS 327s. Ironically both have been 210HP 2bbl's with a PG. (I guess I love the hidden headlamps more than anything else. )

I bought my 4th gen Camaro Z/28 in July 1995. This was before the internet was big, and although I read all the typical musclecar magazines and my Chevy dealer knew I was a gearhead, I didn't learn about the 1996 Camaro SS until some two months later. (Actually I believe they were calling them Z28/SS at the time ) Had an SS been available at the time, I would have bought an "SS" instead of my Z/28, if not for anything other than it would have been the "top dawg" Camaro at the time.

While part of me would love for the modern day "SS" to turn back the clock and provide us once again with asphalt ripping big block horsepower, the intellectual in me realizes that just wouldn't be practical in today's world. (That isn't to say that with the "next" Camaro at least 3-1/2 years away, long after DoD arrives in all its glory and with the potential for production of 427 cid+ Gen III and Gen IV chevy "small" blocks, that things can't get a little exciting. )

So what does "SS" mean to me today? Who cares. As long as it means performance; the most horsepower & best handling Chevy in the model lineup; I'm buying. I serious just want Camaro back... and quite frankly I could care less if its called "SS", "Z28", "IROC" or "ZSR" (a little play on Z28 & SS plus the Chevy SSR )... just as long as its a "Camaro" in every facet of the name, and represents the 40 year history of the model line I will always love more than any other.

Whatever the "top dawg" Camaro is called... I'm buying.

 

Did you forget the Camaro was killed after 35 years?

As for as what does SS mean, after 2002 it means nothing.

 

SS has stood for alot over the years and was on some of the coolest cars ever. It is important to many models (Z28 is still more important to the Camaro though) but IMO it should be brought back to the standards it had when it was on cars like the Chevelle, Nova, Impala, etc. What they are/have been doing to the name isn't cool. These new Impala SS's will never be thought of like the previous 1's were. Hopefully that will change and I think it will in a few years.

 

According to Chevy, these are the "shared characteristics" that have previously made an SS, an SS:

*Performance

*Suspension

*Tires

*Wheels

*Stripes/Ground Effects

*Engine ID

*Instrumentation

*Interior trim

*Black-out trim

*Engine-turned metal

*Spoilers

 

While I'm at it....let move this post here too:


SS doesn't have to be like SVT..and I'll tell you why.

SVT designs very focused cars in relatively limited quantities for maybe 20,000 or so enthusiasts per year. It caters these cars, to them.

For example,they don't need to worry about certifying things like automatic trans's...because, other than Lightning, no SVT vehicle has ever had one.
And that's the beauty of it...there is no need for one. The several thousand or so enthusiasts, these cars are aimed at, don't want one. End of problem.

Fast forward afew years. How many SS's does Chevy plan to sell annually in total in all of it's lines? 100,000? 110,000? 125,000? More?

Those sorts of volumes can never be reached....if you aim all those vehicles too directly at only enthusiasts.

The SS vehicles right now are not SVT's....but maybe they don't need to be.

 

Well I guess the current SS's fill that order except with performance.

 

Yes... but it will have been 40 years by the time they return... not including the 3+ years of development prior to the Camaro's unveiling in September 1966.

While some might argue you can't count the dead years between 2002 and when it returns... you can still find a few new 2002s on dealer lots... and you can still find them on the race track.

Camaro isn't dead... it's just on hiatus.

 

If it comes back and is cool then it was a hiatus, if it never comes back or it sucks when it does it is dead.

 

Yea, which is kinda important, since there's plenty of other manufacturers that can do a fancy trim package and big wheels/tires,

 

Yeah, performance is important. But considering that SS will be the "volume" Chevy performance model....is the emphasis on class leading performance really necessary.....or even desirable?

I mean, I don't see GM ever comming out with a regular cab, RWD, 500+ hp Silverado. And I don't know if they really have to. I think the strategy is higher volume instead of niche models.

A fair price would also increase volume.

 

I thought the fact that it was only on hiatus was already made perfectly clear? Or don't you trust Red Planet?

 

That makes the SS nothing more than a model designator, and not a "performance model per se. Think "GT" as in Mustang GT, and you have the idea behind Chevrolet's SS.

So it is a gross error comparing SVT to "SS".

As I posted in the other thread, SVT is the best performance division. SS is a model level on a vehicle line. That's probally where the confusion is.