Road-going Chevy SS meets some famous NASCAR SS race cars.
The Chevrolet SS sport sedan recently met the end of its production in Australia and it doesn’t appear as though General Motors has any plans to roll out a new generation. Chevy SS sales were relatively slow throughout the duration of the 4-model year run and in most cases, people blame the poor sales figures on a lack of marketing. While GM exec Mark Reuss once referred to the SS as a four door Corvette, the 415hp sport sedan never got the attention from the marketing folks as any of the other Chevrolet products.
One place where GM did promote the Chevy SS actively was in NASCAR, where the Chevrolet teams relied on Chevrolet SS bodies for a few years during the production run of the high performance sedan. This week’s Throwback Thursday video features one of the few Chevy SS commercials, which ties in the road-going sedan and the NASCAR racecar.
The commercial begins with a camouflaged NASCAR blasting around a computer generated oval track. As speeds climb, the black and white camo begins to peel away, revealing Jeff Gordon’s #24 Chevy SS racecar. The #24 SS makes its way around the track, passing the #5 Chevy when the NASCAR livery begins to peel off as well – exposing a black car underneath.
As all of the NASCAR #24 skin peels away, we are introduced to the 2014 Chevrolet SS production sedan in silver with plenty of chrome trim. The camera angle then bounces all around the car – inside and out- giving us a look at the high performance sedan from every angle.
This is a pretty cool commercial and had GM made more of these, perhaps the Chevrolet SS would have sold a little better.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
