1970 Chevrolet Townsman Wagon with Factory LS-5

[dogue95]

Is this the same car?

http://www.barrett-jackson.com/aucti....asp?id=176675

[WILMASBOYL78]

Just a little diversion..my uncle always had new Chevy's back in the day. Last one was a 1970 Caprice with the LS-5 motor and th400. Man did that thing haul-ass! He always had his foot in it whenever we went out...he used to run studded snows in the winter and do burnouts with the sparks flying!!!

wilma

PS. That wagon is neat!!

[GTO_DON]

There was 2 of them around here years ago and i wound up buying the one to put the engine in a 67 ss396 car and then junked it. I believe the other one met the same fate a few years later. Didnt then and still dont look like anything special to me! Did I make a double copo mistake?

[Draginwagon]

In response to the questions, Yes,
I Bought the Car from the person who bought it at Barrett Jackson several years ago. He Needed Money to finish a Z-16 Chevelle, and I Needed the Wagon. Can you blame me.
It's Fast as Hell.
My research and my previous experiance running a Chevrolet Dealership many years ago. All Full size Chevy's with the 454 had 345hp. If they had the 4 barrel.
This is the other Info I have found,
The Standard Catalog of Chevrolet says, the LS-5 was not a regular production option on the 70 Full Size Chevy's.
I have seen several Dealer Order books and the LS-5 was not on the option list that I could find.
I may be wrong, but no where have I seen proof of an LS-5 Regular production option availability in the Townsman Wagons.
Either way, If the documentation was stronger, so would be the asking price, you know how that goes.
This is a Manual Steering, Manual Drum Brake, Radio Delete 6 passenger wagon, in Red, with the Original factory Buildsheet. It had a Full Frame Off Restoration.
I mean, who would do a FRame Off on a Wagon if it were not something special. So, I asked myself, Who in thier right minds would drive this daily? It is a BEAST to Drive. FUN, But a Beast. So the word of mouth I got from previous owners rang fairly true. A specially ordered retired Drag Car.
What I was told, and the legend I have heard, is, in 1970, to build showroom traffic, Chevy Offered to Dealers this type of "Stripped" wagon for Dragracing, and Only if the Dealer would campaign the car. My understanding is, the now defunct dealer who owned it did Race the car. It then sat for many years till it's Frame off around 2000.
Thank You To all for the Kind Comments, and I am searching for more documentation, as I watched one of these run at the New England Dragway in 1970, it was a Blue one, and it cleaned everyone's clock back then. So, when I found this car....Well, let's just say. I Had To!!!
I am now offering it as I do with much of my collection from time to time to finance buying other cars. I have had a lot of fun with it and now someone else can drop a few jaws driving it.

[Draginwagon]

P.S. That must have been Cool with the studded snows and burnouts.
Look at MY Rear Tires. I can tell you She'll Break Free Very Easily. Lot's of fun.

[scuncio]

For what it's worth, I have two LS5 engines I pulled from nearly identical 1970 Caprice 4-dr hardtops. They were both loaded with options but I'd say they weren't particularly rare. Just my own experience.

[Draginwagon]

Thanks for the info.
Maybe not everything is in the books.

[BUIZILLA]

I worked in a large Chevy store in North Miami as a teen in 1970, Sark Chevrolet. The owner, Leon Sarkisian, had a black/black/black 454 Caprice Coupe with buckets for awhile, really cool classy car, and his brothers wife had a black 454 Caprice wagon. His nephew Chuck, had a black/black SS454 Monte Carlo. We sold a few 454 Coupe's, and several of the 454 wagons. One was a typical optioned light green/tan vinyl guts Townsman or Impala wagon, dog dish caps and fat blackwalls, ordered new by U.S. Sugar for a Corp. Director, but somehow it came in without air to the dealer in Clewiston, Fla., soooo that dealer dealer-traded it to us for a white 454 wagon with air, that we had. I did the dealer-trade myself, and that light green 454 wagon went to a couple from Canada that hated air conditioning, and they pulled an Airstream trailer with it. That couple had a '69 427 no a/c wagon, but they had a wreck down here, and needed a new wagon to get back up north with their trailer. I did the trade on a Friday afternoon and didn't have to bring the car in until Monday morning, that thing was a beast, I think I put 300+ miles on it that weekend... ... The dealership owner, was a VP with Chevy at one time, and we got some awesome cars as a result. One of the 454 wagons, had factory buckets/console. It went to an owner or manager of the old Castaways Hotel in Sunny Isles. We also sold a couple of 454 wagons that were used as tow cars around Mia-Hollywood Dragway, and another loaded one to a local SK boat racer. I seem to vaguely remember that the Impala/Caprice was rated at 345hp, the MC/Chevelle at 360, Corvette at 390??, but they were all the same engines?? not as rare as one would think.

Jim