Chevrolet SSR (2003–06)
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.
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