#14. Chevy SSR – Is it a convertible? Is it a roadster?
Source: Shutterstock
Chevy decided they wanted more quirky vehicles in their lineup. But if you’re going to go quirky, it can’t be the only thing. Chevy produced the SSR from 2003 until they ended the run in 2006.
What Chevrolet Was Thinking
Chevy wanted people to enjoy something that was fun. There are always thoughts of companies hoping to recreate something similar to the El Camino. Chevy wanted to do something sort of like that. Something to spur the imagination and get people talking. It’s something that every car company should do at some point!
Chevy considered their previous retro designs. The SSR is inspired by trucks in the 1950’s. The low slung design and circular bulbous headlamps are all cues back to those fun trucks. Driving to malt shops with teens sitting in the back may have been great in the 1950’s, so why wouldn’t it be fun today? Plus people who enjoyed those vehicles in the past are now later in life and have expendable money for fun cars. They can buy these and relive their youth!
Admittedly, Chevrolet built a really interesting vehicle to look at. There’s not a whole lot of convertible pickups. The roadster pickup isn’t something that many companies have contemplated. The original thinking here is kind of off the chart. The concept and production version were almost identical.
Source: Wikimedia
What the Public Thought
While a few people loved the retro styling, there wasn’t a huge number of folk interested in actually buying it. It was marketed as a sporty roadster, but in reality, it lacked sportiness. Despite having a 300 horsepower V8, it only managed a 7.7 second 0-60mph time. That’s fairly dreadful for an engine with that much power. When people drove the SSR, they realized that it wasn’t actually fun to drive! Since it was based on the Trailblazer, it didn’t have a lot of handling or performance characteristics to get excited about. Fun to look at, but not fun to drive.
