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Why I got my SSR

3K views 39 replies 29 participants last post by  SSR FETISH 
#1 ·
I have seen threads about values, miles, to drive or not to drive, I thought I would give another take on the SSR. I was looking for another hotrod and was looking at building a truck. I had it narrowed down to a 1968 Chevy C10 short bed. I started looking for a truck to build when I saw my SSR on a dealers lot. When I compared the cost of the SSR to the build cost of the C10 the SSR was a no brainer. I wanted an LS engine, overdrive, good handling, air and power everything. The SSR has all that. The other big thing for me was it is easier to get insurance on the SSR than it is on a custom built hotrod. Plus the biggest advantage to the SSR is I am driving it now rather than working on a truck for a year.

Another plus with the SSR is you can walk into an auto parts store and ask for a common part and get it with out racking your brain trying to remember what parts came from what cars. Try asking an auto parts counter guy for a set of plugs for a 73 Nova with a 496. That gets a big blank stare quickly.

So I am looking forward to making a couple more upgrades to the truck but my main plan is to drive the thing as much as I can.
 
#7 ·


Yes having all the pick a part places across the river is nice for a lot of stuff. I had been looking at spoilers for the SSR and went and picked a couple to try out. I found one that I think will work and be different than everyone else.

Building cars is fun because you are not bound by rules or must have this or that to them. My current project is a 68 Chevelle SS factory big block car. I did this one as a frame off. The frame was blasted and painted, all new suspension including tubular control arms and coil over suspension, 4 wheel disc brakes. All of the plumbing is stainless. The chassis is done and the body is back on it. Engine and transmission are all done. The rearend is out, blasted, painted and waiting to be put back together. Once I have that back in it will be drivable again.

Sense I have gotten the SSR I have not touched the Chevelle or any parts of it. And there are a lot of parts for it still. I guess I got side tracked again.

When the Chevelle is done I know now that it will get driven less than the SSR just because the SSR has more comfort features and will ride better, handle better, stop better and get better mileage. The one thing the Chevelle will have is that it will be faster because it has a bigger engine. Driving old cars are fun but they are still old cars and modern muscle cars out perform the old cars in almost every aspect there is.
 
#5 ·
Similar story- I purchased a 1951 studebaker pickup restomod that needed a new engine and a lot of updating. After spending $5000 and untold hours to get it on the road, it still drives like an old truck and lacks most of the modern convenience and safety features.. It is fun, but not something I would want to use regularly. My C5 vette is a great driver, but with advancing age, it is harder for my wife and I to get in and out of. Then I started looking at SSR's and found a great compromise. Sports car performance, reliability, modern conveniences and much easier entrance and exit. Here's to many enjoyable miles!
 
#10 ·
nice story, my thoughts are similar, some day will get a SSR, just not soon,

not being able (although willing) to fix the ssr, decided to go with a new camaro,

still find myself enjoying this site and wanting one,someday on the bucket list,

if more of my so called friends were closer and worked on these the decision would have gone the other way
AGREED that it is nice to have modern conveniences and the

SSR fits those requirements

Jeff
 
#6 · (Edited)
"Triple B" excellent post ... the older you get, the more you appreciate the modern conveniences of the SSR !!! Would you even attempt to go from the Right Coast to the Left Coast in your 51 Studebaker ... probably not, but you sure can do it in your C H E V R O L E T SSR !!! Hey :00000732: aboard from the Nashville, Tennessee, area. Bob Alexander :ssr had the old "girl" 9 years. :smile2:
 
#9 ·
Because it was too d...m hard getting in and out of a Corvette or Jaguar.

Jack
Agreed! (Although never considered a Jaguar)

It had to be a convertible and I also wanted to get two sets of golf clubs with plenty of room left for cooler and overnight bags. EVEN WITH THE TOP DOWN. This is not possible in any other roadster. Add to it the membership of this forum and ability to also attend car shows with something most have never seen.
Seemed like a no brainer
 
#13 ·
Wanted one when they first came out but at that time no extra $$$ to buy one, had a 340 4 speed Roadrunner to drive around but without air in Florida didn't drive it that much. Time to move on and get something I could enjoy, be more reliable and actually drive around. Having moved up to Tn. from the traffic congestion in Fl. I am enjoying the hell out of driving around on these roads up here. Will it loose money as a collector car because it's not a garage queen to me the fun and the enjoyment of driving it is worth more right now. Planned trips this year Daytona, Maggie Valley, maybe a run to Watkins Glen and Warren Robbins. See you on the road someday I'll be in the Purple R with the big grin on his face.
 
#14 ·
I had an Aqua Blur as a company car while working for GM and wanted to purchase it however they wouldn't let me since it was a carryover model year that I took out of dealer stock. Ended up buying the lake house that we live in now.
After retiring from GM we saw several . on Hot Rod Power Tour down in Baton Rouge. I told wife they had a lot bigger trunk than our Camaro convertible with the top down. She told me to start looking for one when we got home. Found a yellow one in KC a week later and it was priced right so we bought it.
Now we have a lot bigger trunk for power tour and my wife makes sure to fill it up.
 
#21 ·
You gotta find a good dance partner.

I am and am approaching 21 years. She’s done many Boy Scout campouts, weekend, week long and she’s packed AND used far less than many Scouts AND come back clean.

My favorite is when the parents used to ask: Most of their close came back clean? My response: Yep, sounds about right. Did they pack?

My absolute very favorite parent comment: I found the missing toiletry kit, it was in the bottom of his sleeping bag (2 weeks after the trip). I threw it out because he didn’t tell me he threw up in the bag. My response: Yep, it last night. It was dumping rain. I remember being called over around 2-3am asked what to do after he did it. I told him not to sleep in it, tell your parents when you get home and sleep under the bag. I guess he forgot. A good laugh was had by us both. Fast forward: Their boys became Eagle Scouts. One is at West Point, the other in the service. Both doing great.

Sorry to carry on. Both are absolutely true. I had to brag on some of the young men I had the privilege to help guide to Eagle.

P.S. I don’t dance.

P.P.S. I traded my Silverado sliver, SnugTop tonneau cover (slick full size truck), on my SSR after I learned my son said it was too big for him to drive. I took a lark trip to North Freeway Hyndai and was smitten. I came back, told my wife, and she said to “just do it”. We went back up and took a test drive, both of us drove, and we’ve never looked back. Side note: I just saw the old ride again today. A friend of mine bought the Silverado the very next day from North Freeway Hyundai, and she still looks good, just not as good.:wink2:

- Robert :silver:
 
#25 ·
Several reasons actually:
After living in the rainy Northwest for 20 years, I finally had a chance to come to the sun belt. I wanted a convertible, but with room in the back for my guitar and amp. In my younger days, I drove an El Camino, ancestor of the SSR. This is also my first foray into collectible cars, and since I am not very mechanical the modern SSR offers a great way to drive a rare car without having to fix it every day. And to top it off, I was driving distance to the best little SSR/Hyundai shop in Texas.
I've been amazed at just how rare the car is. I almost never see one. My friends love it.
I can't wait for spring!
 
#28 · (Edited)
I have told this story many times but never written it down. My wife and I received an invitation to the GM Wheels In Motion car show at the LA County FairPlex. They had all the GM cars and you could drive them on a track designed to show them off. Being Off Road enthusiasts we wanted to try out the H2 Hummer (very disappointed) in comparison to the 73 Jimmy I was driving, and the 70 Jeepster Commando my wife had passed on to our son. Right next to that track was the track for the Corvette and my wife had always said when she retired she was going to get a Corvette.(Her father had a 56 and she only got to drive it once). The SSR was offered on the same track so we each drove both. Her response was “That’s my ‘vette” when she got out of it. She said “It did everything I asked the ‘vette’ to do, I did not have climb down into it, did not have to roll out of it and was up high enough to see in traffic.”
I had decided that if I got something without 4 wheel drive it would be this (If I could afford it). We decided that we would get one when she retired, but we could not afford it. She died in April 2006 and I decided I had to get one in her memory. Got it in September 2006.
 
#29 ·
My wife and I saw the first SSR's when it was a concept car at Walt Disney World in Orlando in 1999 or 2000. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. Having learned how to drive in a 50's style pick up on the farm I knew that one day I would have to have one. But with Kids and money and family could never afford it. In 2000 at the North American Auto Show they had one on display and Car and Driver magazine the following year had on on the cover. My lust for the SSR was there and the moment I retired from my 42 year Law Enforcement career i began my search. A friend of mine in Tavares Florida was a member of the Masonic Fraternity. He had a 2005 Redline Red. I always admired the car and he would drive it sparingly, It was garage kept and totally " Extremely " well maintained. He passed suddenly. I was able to acquire the car from his widow. It had 29K on it. Shortly after I purchased it it dropped a valve spring which I wrote about here on the forum. I had the engine totally rebuilt. Lil Red now resides with me and my wife and I enjoy it so much. Lil Red has placed in the top 10 in two car shows and won best original in one show. We enjoy her so much. We consider ourselves very luck to have found her. She is part of the family now.

Layne12gun
Florida
 
#31 ·
I seen the ssr at the Chicago auto show as a concept. I loved it, I was excited about it, I spent hours around that display. The chevy people actually let me inside the display to take a closer look. I was sooooo excited. Then they came out, and I couldn't afford one. The dealers were even tacking on extra money to the price. So, life happens. Money comes and goes, I collect other things too, pedal cars, coke machines, neons, signs, balloon tire bikes, gas pumps, all the cool stuff, been picking things up for years. The daughter is active in several things, and time is flying by. It is no time and she is out of school and going to six years of pharmacy school. Man that cost a lot of money! The ssr has slipped off the radar. I started selling a few things, a bike here then a pump there , then a few more. Then I had an idea, sell enough stuff to fund a used ssr! Now they are down around 25.000 or so. For a 05 low mile. So I sold many many things, and found a great redline in ohio with low miles. I go out to the shop just to look at it some nights. I pull a cold one from my 1959 7up machine, now loaded with longnecks!!! and just study it! I have done a few things to make it my own, and having fun doing it. My legs and back are really giving me fits. They say I have neuropathy and some sort of muscle disease, yet to be named. My legs feel like they are wooden most of the time, and ache 24-7. Now they say I need another back surgery, this will be my third one. I'm still somehow working everyday. I hope my legs hold up long enough that I have a couple years to enjoy my ssr. My daughter loves the truck too, I'm excited about that! she is soooo smart, much smarter than I ever was. Glad to have found you guys here on the site .Everyone I have encountered has been more than helpful. I'm off now to my buddy's house, we are painting the running boards to night!!! D
 
#32 ·
Hang in there Buddy. Every time I talked to I think about the pain your in, can't imagine what it feels like. You didn't mention your helping a friend open a Classic Auto theme Bar-Resturant on Springfield. Seen some pictures of your other toys and not to forget that top notch INDIAN. So my phone brother you take care. Talk to you soon.
 
#35 ·
These aren't hangar queens and I certainly agree they should be driven. I have never seen the sense in owning ANY car only to hardly ever drive the thing. :ssr
 
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