Ford Started the postwar notion of cars as trucks with the Ranchero in 1957, and Chevrolet followed suit in 1959 with its Impala-based El Camino. Within a few years, both morphed onto their makers' midsize platform, the El Camino based on the Chevelle Malibu beginning in 1964. The Chevelle SS (and related El Camino) offered buyers a wide variety of performance options for model-year 1970, which was the zenith of American musclecar performance. Cubic inches were big, and compression ratios had yet to begin the slide that came with unleaded gas in 1971. Chevy offered the Chevelle coupe and convertible (and El Camino SS) in two forms for 1970, the SS396 and the SS454. The former transitioned to 402 cubes without a name change mid-year and the latter was offered in "standard" 360-horsepower LS5 trim, or in 450-horse LS6 Turbo Jet 454 guise, rated at an SAE gross 500 pound-feet of torque at 3600 rpm. LS6s are big game, high-dollar collectibles these days.
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