I saw this and thought it was interesting that Bob Lutz made his mark again. I knew he did a lot for the automotive industry but I didn't realize he brought us the arguably best GM products ever made.
Gone But Not Forgotten
The Chevrolet SS Might Be The Most Underrated Sport Sedan In America: Holy Grails - The Autopian
Chevrolet was once willing to sell you a V8 sport sedan with 415 HP and a manual transmission, then it disappeared. This is the Chevrolet SS.
www.theautopian.com
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Good read. Haven't seen the Autopian before...gonna have to dig a little.
my dad drove a Merkur XR4-Ti for 17 years, a car that has a very similar path to the SS. It was a Ford Sierra built by Ford of Europe and brought to the US by Bob Lutz (head of Ford of Europe at the time). Rebadged as the Merkur, critically acclaimed, sold poorly, abandoned after 5 years. It sold almost 4x as many as the SS but was still pretty rare to see one.I saw this and thought it was interesting that Bob Lutz made his mark again. I knew he did a lot for the automotive industry but I didn't realize he brought us the arguably best GM products ever made.
totally different car than the SS but fun as hell to drive. And definitely had that German engineering feel to it. I learned how to drive a manual in that car when I was a teenager
It was started by 2 Jalopnik writers. David Tracy being one of them. He was a cooling system engineer for Chrysler on the Jeep JL.Good read. Haven't seen the Autopian before...gonna have to dig a little.
I had also never seen The Autopian before. I recognize other writers that were at Jalopnik in the past.It was started by 2 Jalopnik writers. David Tracy being one of them.
I didn't realize how few MT cars were purchased. Only 2,645. And fewer now with accidents. My SS replaced a 2001 BMW M5, which the CA car nazis compelled me to sell out of state. The SS is a very worthy replacement for this iconic car. BMW kept up the spare parts availability, but at very high prices.
I also remember the Merkur XR4/Ford Sierra, as I was working in the UK at the time.
I also remember the Merkur XR4/Ford Sierra, as I was working in the UK at the time.
Yea, Orlando native here. I saw that too. I have one sitting in the garage here 5 minutes from the airport. Born at McCoy Air Force Base in the early 60's.
Back in the 90’s, I had a Ford Sierra in GLE trim built by Ford South Africa. It had the 3.0 liter V6 built in South Africa that was mated to a 5M transmission as compared to the 2.6 & 2.8 Koln sourced V6’s that were used in the European built cars that had V6 engines.my dad drove a Merkur XR4-Ti for 17 years, a car that has a very similar path to the SS. It was a Ford Sierra built by Ford of Europe and brought to the US by Bob Lutz (head of Ford of Europe at the time). Rebadged as the Merkur, critically acclaimed, sold poorly, abandoned after 5 years. It sold almost 4x as many as the SS but was still pretty rare to see one.
totally different car than the SS but fun as hell to drive. And definitely had that German engineering feel to it. I learned how to drive a manual in that car when I was a teenager
Ford South Africa had a very limited run (in the low hundreds if I remember correctly) of a version of the Sierra known as the XR8. This Sierra had a 302 ci V8 with a different manual transmission and rear end to handle the torque. Suspension and brakes were upgraded as well but from what I have read were probably not upgraded enough. Most of the XR8’s ended up being modified for road course track use, so street legal examples are very rare in South Africa these days. Also, some XR8’s were purchased by collectors in Europe and were shipped there.
I was in South Africa when Ford launched the Sierra to replace the Mark V Cortina and toured the Struandale plant where the Sierra was built before production was transferred to Silverton. Bob Lutz flew out for the launch and I remember hearing him talk about a “special South African performance” edition that was under development. In hindsight he must have been referring to the XR8.
Back in the 90’s, I had a Ford Sierra in GLE trim built by Ford South Africa. It had the 3.0 liter V6 built in South Africa that was mated to a 5M transmission as compared to the 2.6 & 2.8 Koln sourced V6’s that were used in the European built cars that had V6 engines.
Ford South Africa had a very limited run (in the low hundreds if I remember correctly) of a version of the Sierra known as the XR8. This Sierra had a 302 ci V8 with a different manual transmission and rear end to handle the torque. Suspension and brakes were upgraded as well but from what I have read were probably not upgraded enough. Most of the XR8’s ended up being modified for road course track use, so street legal examples are very rare in South Africa these days. Also, some XR8’s were purchased by collectors in Europe and were shipped there.
I was in South Africa when Ford launched the Sierra to replace the Mark V Cortina and toured the Struandale plant where the Sierra was built before production was transferred to Silverton. Bob Lutz flew out for the launch and I remember hearing him talk about a “special South African performance” edition that was under development. In hindsight he must have been referring to the XR8.
Ford Sierra XR8 - Very Rare Car . Only 250 Made | eBay
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Yeah, but at least you could get them. You're not getting any SS parts from GM.BMW kept up the spare parts availability, but at very high prices.
I also bought a manual SS to replace an E39 BMW, mine a 540i automatic. Timing chain guides started coming apart so I parked it. But I couldn’t bear to part with it. After 2 years of daily driving the SS, I fixed up the old bimmer engine and started driving it again. It took several months and thousands of greenbacks to get it reliable again. But zero issue with parts availability. Still running strong and coming up on 200k miles! The SS is now supercharged and only gets driven when the weather is nice. Today it was perfect.I didn't realize how few MT cars were purchased. Only 2,645. And fewer now with accidents. My SS replaced a 2001 BMW M5, which the CA car nazis compelled me to sell out of state. The SS is a very worthy replacement for this iconic car. BMW kept up the spare parts availability, but at very high prices.
mike
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