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71 power options


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How many of you guys with the old bad boy ss montes have power bench seats? Mine has the full load of power as far as i know. Windows, door locks, trunk and seat. I know most ss models had buckets but what can i say, it's what the dealer had.

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Doug i have 2 71 ss cars one has a power bench the other a regular bench , bench seat SS cars a quite common for whatever reason many buyers chose bench seat non gauge cars , i have had so many people over the years tell me that cant be an SS it has a bench and no gauges.

 

Leo

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Leo, Another excellent example of people believing/saying something they 'think' is correct without having any information. One of my mottos, "Just because you think it, doesn't make it correct" Ed

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I agree ejw.I had a friend,several years ago,that had a '70 SS that his father bought new.It was about as basic as it got with only pwr strg,posi,Z20 pkg and that's it.No a/c,gauges,buckets/console etc.He had told me his dad bought it off the lot new that way and drove it to work and towed a boat with it.My '70 SS was on the upper end with pwr w,buckets/console/gauges/fiber optics/stereo.It's funny how some dealers ordered cars.i mean to order a stripper Nova SS396(well it's not like Novas had a lot of options),Chevelle SS396 but a Monte.Just makes me wonder.

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Non-bucket seated/non-gauge package 1st Gen SSs

make perfect sense to me. The Monte was, in some views, a luxury car, in others a sporty car. With a pure luxury theme sport options don't fit. Envision two completely different '70/'71 SSs: #1. sport optioned: bucket seats, console, manual windows/door locks, black or raised white lettering tires, rally wheels. #2. luxury optioned: electric bench seat, electric windows/door locks, thin white/red wall tires, hub caps, rear window defroster. Any other sport/luxury options? Ed

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Sports: gauges and rear gears.

 

Luxury: skirts, color keyed wheel covers, light moniter, washer moniter, power trunk release, AM/FM 8 Track, tilt column, cloth seats, finger-tip windshield wiper control, air conditioning, map, hood, and trunk light, deluxe seat belts.

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71SS black cloth power bench seat w/power seat back locks, gauges, tilt, spoke steering wheel, power steering, brakes windows & door locks, AM/FM-8track, rear window defroster, etc. the full Monte.

Regards,

SS

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Well, my '70 SS has manually-adjusted buckets so that's not the answer you're really looking for here, Doug, but I just wanted to add a little something to the thread. smile

 

What I find interesting is how when the Super Sport option was first made available on Impalas in '61 (or was it '62? - LOL) it wasn't really a performance option at all. Super Sports were available with any engine (including sixes) but they included bucket seats, consoles, gauges, special trimmings and badging, etc. They were considered the top of the line and I believe that they were promoted as providing "sporty luxury".

 

When you consider that when the Chevelles were first introduced for '64, they had the "Malibu SS" - which again was available with any engine that was available in other Chevelles. In '66 that all changed, though, because by then "musclecar fever" had taken hold of the auto industry and the SS became the natural as being the muscle model Chevelle. It was no longer a Malibu, but was its own series. All Chevelle Super Sports from '66-'69 were specifically SS396s, and by '70 (when they were either an SS396 or an SS454) the SS option no longer included bucket seats, but they were optional instead. I'm guessing that it was like that because many buyers wanted to combine the musclecar brawn that the SS packages had along with the additional seating capacity that a bench seat provided. Including less of the sporty equipment as part of the SS package made big block power more affordable to people, which meant that the higher-optioned SSs were even more "super" than others. You could pretty much have it your way with the Monte Carlos, too, which was Ford's philosophy with the original Mustangs. They were "personal" cars that you could taylor to your individual tastes/needs by checking off specific boxes on the option sheet.

 

As you can see, the Super Sports started as a sport/luxury package in the early '60s, but as the musclecar decade of the '60s went on it gradually became more of a performance-oriented option, with the buckets seats, consoles, etc. available at extra cost.

 

I think that it was cool that you used to be able to order a car with virtually any combination of options that you wanted, instead of like it is today where everything seems to be segmented into trim levels or option packages consisting of a bunch of options together. Hey, just because I want the higher output engine, why should I have to get a sunroof with it if I don't want one? LOL

 

Dave

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I remember ChevyII SS introduced with 6 cyl as standard. A car in our area pops up at shows is an odd one. '67 Impala SS Convertible w/buckets

& console (auto) powered by a factory 250 cube 6 cylinder. Beautiful, massive car with a small power plant, factory no less. Go figure.....

Also, I had one of these...64 Chevelle 300 deluxe series 230 cube 3 spd column rubber floor mat (no carpet) equipped with chrome valve cover & chrome top air cleaner. Factory wanted to dress up car for still a resonable price. 64-1/2 Chevelle SS were mainly for top salesman promos.

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First Chevy SS was a 61 SS348. 348ci engine became the 409 legend. 409ci ended in '65 when 396ci began. You know the rest of the story. Want more? Check out 348-409.com. Ed

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