1971 LS6 Chevelle SS Production

[old5.0]

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Very true. It does not mean it made production. But if you owned that test car today - say someone hauls it out of a barn next week with some of the road-tester's handwritten notes in the glovebox - it would be considered a factory built 1971 LS6 Chevelle. That is all I am saying.

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But that's where I disagree again - there's no saying what the car started out as. For all we know, it could have been a regular Malibu 350 that was converted to an SS454 for more promotional purposes.

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The first HemiCuda started life as a small block Gran Coupe dev mule. It was later rebuilt, revinned and sold new as a Hemi car. So is it still a HemiCuda?

[442w30]

You never know - according to some, no self-respecting Chevy guy would suggest such things!

[MultiMopars]

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Very true. It does not mean it made production. But if you owned that test car today - say someone hauls it out of a barn next week with some of the road-tester's handwritten notes in the glovebox - it would be considered a factory built 1971 LS6 Chevelle. That is all I am saying.

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But that's where I disagree again - there's no saying what the car started out as. For all we know, it could have been a regular Malibu 350 that was converted to an SS454 for more promotional purposes.

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The first HemiCuda started life as a small block Gran Coupe dev mule. It was later rebuilt, revinned and sold new as a Hemi car. So is it still a HemiCuda?

Factory re-V.I.N.ing was not all that uncommon. If they made a mistake in building a vehicle that had the wrong equipment for that model, they simply did it to reflect the model they had built or the closest to it. It was the most economical thing to do. We always think in terms of the hipo cars we love, but it happened to 4 doors too, just no one pays any attention to the detail of these cars.

About the only vehicles that actually got destroyed were the ones that had new "technology" of the day that may or may not have reached the public later as regular production. The manufacturers were in business to make money. If a car was built as something that was never to make it to regular production, but met all the FMVSSs, then you can bet that they sold it to some dealer somewhere.

Even the vast majority of cars that had all of the experimential race stuff that later became available as RPOs got sneeked out the back door to some favored racer even though Chevrolet was not publicly sanctioning racing.

[tom406]

It doesn't hurt that replacing the dash pad gets you most of the way toward "re-VIN-ing" a '70 Cuda......

Regarding the '71 LS-6 Chevelles, I think '71 was a big transistion year for the manufacturers between upcoming emissions and falling performance sales due to insurance. As a result, a number of things got killed in the 11th hour, well after tooling was made up and parts were made. Ford's equivalent would be the 1971 Boss 302 Mustang. Promo pics were taken, and a number of parts and even '71 coded "Boss 302" decal kits have made their way out into the marketplace.

[MultiMopars]

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It doesn't hurt that replacing the dash pad gets you most of the way toward "re-VIN-ing" a '70 Cuda......

Regarding the '71 LS-6 Chevelles, I think '71 was a big transistion year for the manufacturers between upcoming emissions and falling performance sales due to insurance. As a result, a number of things got killed in the 11th hour, well after tooling was made up and parts were made. Ford's equivalent would be the 1971 Boss 302 Mustang. Promo pics were taken, and a number of parts and even '71 coded "Boss 302" decal kits have made their way out into the marketplace.

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Yes, but they DID build the larger displacement Boss 351, which flies in the face of the insurance killing big engines.

I had a 9000 mile Boss 302 that I sold to a guy in Rockford Ill. in the mid 70s that had a Boss 351 and a Boss 429. My car completed his collection.

[Tracker1]

Regarding the '71 LS-6 Chevelles, I think '71 was a big transistion year for the manufacturers between upcoming emissions and falling performance sales due to insurance. As a result, a number of things got killed in the 11th hour, well after tooling was made up and parts were made. Ford's equivalent would be the 1971 Boss 302 Mustang. Promo pics were taken, and a number of parts and even '71 coded "Boss 302" decal kits have made their way out into the marketplace.

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Actually more than decals and parts got out. A whole car escaped. It's been featured in Mustang Monthly and it is the real deal.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2994405

Which is why we should never say never about ALMOST anything.

[MultiMopars]

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Regarding the '71 LS-6 Chevelles, I think '71 was a big transistion year for the manufacturers between upcoming emissions and falling performance sales due to insurance. As a result, a number of things got killed in the 11th hour, well after tooling was made up and parts were made. Ford's equivalent would be the 1971 Boss 302 Mustang. Promo pics were taken, and a number of parts and even '71 coded "Boss 302" decal kits have made their way out into the marketplace.

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Actually more than decals and parts got out. A whole car escaped. It's been featured in Mustang Monthly and it is the real deal.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2994405

Which is why we should never say never about ALMOST anything .

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I TOTALLY agree!

Having sold Dodges & AMCs new from 1968-74 I can tell you that factory execs that wanted something to KEEP (meaning it was not their demo that would have to be disposed of through the dealer network) could get any combination of model and equipment they wanted regardless of what was available to the general public. When dealers got requests for things that were not advertised as available on a particular model they would contact their sales rep to see if it could be done. Unless there was some type of legal reason for not doing it they typically would build it if the customer was willing to wait the extra scheduling time. Typical time from order to the dealer receiving it was 4 weeks. If you want some oddball combination it took 8 weeks. Dealers just made sure they got a large enough non-refundable deposit so they didn't get stuck with it in inventory.

I have never seen or heard of one but my guess is that somewhere out there is a factory Hemi car with factory A/C. I can't believe that there was not a factory exec that didn't want the elephant engine with A/C. The air cleaner could be a problem but I can just see the factory slapping on some Cal Customs or something like the factory 56-57 duasl quad air cleaners to make it happen.

[442w30]

Does anyone or any site have any 1971 Chevrolet AMA specs or a factory bulletin that shows the LS6 was cancelled for the A-body?