- bfurches wrote:
- All of the info I have found so far is very conflicting.
-Some posts also suggest that the concept was originally a column shift and converted to floor shift during the 510 swap...but again, just more conflicting info.
True.
- bfurches wrote:
- -I also read that the concept was built on a 92 chassis with closed wheel wells in the rear, however they were opened to appear more like a 93.
Again, true.
From an old ISSF post:"Yes, what is now the 510 car was originally a 92. It was a Willow Run (i.e. not Arlington) car, and came from the factory with a TBI 305 in it per the VIN." - bfurches wrote:
- I didn't realize there was an overwhelming response to those wheels....personally I think they are hideous...but if someone where to do a clone/ restoration...they would have there place I suppose.
Opinions vary.
Many people prefer the deeper lip & more cantilevered spokes of the ZR6's to the somewhat watered-down looks of the OEM Superior version.
- bfurches wrote:
- It's just unfortunate that someone didnt take the time to document this vehicle with a little more accuracy in my opinion.
Actually there is more out there, but you really have to know where to look. perhaps this will help:
Originally posted 2/14/2007 on the ISSF, in turn quoting a mailing list thread from 1998Reposted info from nearly 10 years ago, with edits. Enjoy! keywords: prototype Impala SS VIN TBI LO3 L03 LTZ
----------
Subject: 454??
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 16:07:44 -0500
From: Scott Mueller
To: Tim Lutterbie , 9c1@...
Tim,
> WELL, guys this fool has us on this one!
No he doesn't. If he thinks he does, then I have a bridge and a few other things I could sell him as he is easily conned. There never were ANY
production 454 Impala SS models that could be "special ordered". What there were however was a few in-house conversions, where the 350 (or 305) was swapped out for a 454, 502, or 510.
These conversions were engineering excercises, test mules, or show cars and as such were not EPA nor DOT safety legal and could never be sold to the public.
For example, Jon Moss had a couple of conversions done, including a 502 and a 510. The 510 is the more interesting one as it was the original Impala
SS prototype. I just found my research papers, and here is the VIN from the 510 SS:
1G1BN53EGNW128495
From the VIN you can see the car is a '92 (edit: Caprice) model, which is indicated by the
"N" in the 10th digit. Also, this car was built at the Willow Run assembly plant in Ohio (edit: Michigan) (and NOT at Arlingon TX, where all of the production Impalas were later built), as indicated by the "W" in the 11th digit. This
vehicle was originally built as a luxury model Caprice Classic, as indicated by the "BN" in digits 4-5.
It was also originally equipped with an LO3 5.0L TBI engine, as indicated by the "E" in the 8th digit.
This vehicle was modified into the original Impala SS prototype in late '92 and early '93. During that time it had an aluminum head Corvette '92 LT1 swapped into it, 17" ROH wheels, and toured the show car circuit. I saw this car originally at the Chicago Auto Show in Feb. '93, although it first debuted in late '92 at the SEMA show.
Later in '94 I believe, the LT1 was removed and a specially built 510 was swapped in. The work was done by a firm in Detroit called Wheel to Wheel,
which does a lot of one-off projects for GM. It is run by Jeff Beitzel, who originally ran PAS (Prototype Automotive Services) the company that did the engineering and some assembly work on the '89 Turbo Trans Am, '91 Syclone, and '92-'93 Typhoon.
Anyway, Moss also had a special aluminum head LT1 Impala built in '96 which had a 6-speed transmission as well. Another interesting conversion done by Wheel to Wheel was the LT5 (ZR1) engined Impala for Tim Allen.
As for big-blocks, there were also a couple of other conversions done at the GM desert proving grounds by Scott Leon and Mark McPhail. They
converted at least two 454 Impalas there, and one of them had the Camaro Z28 instrument cluster swapped in as well. That is in fact where I got
the idea for the Z28 cluster swap, which I did to my Impala in early '96.
So, the bottom line is that there were NO factory assembly line big-block Impalas built, although a few engineering excercises were done where big
blocks were swapped in. The big-block cars they did convert were not EPA legal (GM has a mfr. exemption for testing purposes) and thefore could
not be sold to the public. After testing was completed, they were either crushed or stripped for parts, or if they were lucky, they got to remain in storage for GM to trot out on the show circuit occasionally. Such is the life of the 510 Impala, the original prototype, and at least one or two more which remain in Detroit and at the Proving Grounds. Scott.
----------------------------------------------
Subject: the "real" SS clone unveiled
Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 14:57:13 -0500
From: Scott Mueller
To: Ken Rolt ,
Chris McCabe
Ken and Chris,
The below is the indicated VIN for the "original Impala SS", which is sort of a misnomer. I suppose it should be called the Impala SS mule, and it was the one that went to the SEMA show and how all the fuss got started.
Yes, and after the SEMA show in late '92 it toured the country for the '93 auto shows. I saw the car myself at the Chicago Auto Show in Feb. '93. It still had the LT1 at that time, and it was the 'vette version with magnesium valvecovers. It also had the "pillow tufted" leather type interior that was an upgrade on the Caprice, and if I remember right a center console had been installed, which looked like the one they used on the pickup trucks, with no shifter (that was still on the column).
It also used the ROH wheels which were the pattern for the production ones. The bow-tie on the front was red. This was once concept that made it to production with very few external changes, which was impressive.
I'd be interested to see a full SPID decode on it! Scott.
--------------------------------------------
Subject: the REAL clone unveiled: the Original Impala SS
From: "Ken Rolt"
Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 09:08:57 -0500
*** crossposted ***
Just as the clone-whining (whining on BOTH sides of the issue btw) thread appears to die down, I'm here to stir the pot again. Muahahahaha.
Scott Mueller once posted the VIN of the car that became the original Impala SS. He had it because he had seen the car several times, so the
sharp-eyed guy that he is wrote down the VIN. I saved that post, and for some reason I reread
it the other day, and then forwarded the VIN to Chris McCabe to ask if he could run the VIN and get a SPID (trunk sticker) printout. This would tell us a lot about the original car that became the prototype Impala SS.
Below is Scott's posts (the old one, plus his sidebar to me yesterday), and following that is the SPID label codes (courtesy of Chris McCabe) from the VIN.
In brief, the car is a 1992 model year Caprice Classic. For you purists out there (you know who you are), it still IS a 1992 Caprice Classic that
has been heavily modified and is now masquerading as a shameless bigblock Impala SS prototype.
The most significant items are that it came from the factory with the LO3 TBI v8 (305 cid, or 5.0 liter), it had B4U *and* FE3 suspension (so it already had the good swaybars, 30mm front and 26mm rear) and probably stiffer rubber
bushings on some of the suspension components. It had the GU5 (3.23) rear end equipped with
G80 (limited slip differential). The interior was light gray along with light gray trim, and exterior paint was a two-tone: dark yellow red metallic (78U) on the upper side of the arcing side-dimple in the sheet metal, and
gunmetal metallic (87L) on the lower side.
Decoding fanatics can "probe further" using
http://www.gnttype.org/numbers/rpo.html
It might dissapoint Peter Fyler to learn that the car had no discernable woodie trim from the factory (Willow Run Michigan btw, and NOT Arlington TX !!!) and note that the car was NOT a 9C1... which surprised me.
Enjoy. - Ken '94 LT1 9C1
_______________________________________________
Ken Rolt mailto:kdrolt@...
--------------------------------------------
SPID printout via Chris McCabe :
AA7 AG1 AG2 AJ3 AM6 AU0 AU3 A90
BA1 BC1 BY1 B18 B34 B37 B4U CD2
C49 C60 C71 DD1 DL8 D4L D64 D8I
D84 D85 E5Z E9Z FE3 GU5 IQZ JA2
JM4 K34 K60 LO3 MD8 MX0 NA5 NC6
NK4 N40 N81 PA5 PB4 PD4 P17 QQR
R9Z TL6 T82 T87 UQ1 UQ4 UU8 UW1
U11 U38 U41 U75 VS7 VO8 V73 WRN
Z09 1AA 1AZ 1SC 14I 142 149 6TS
7TS 78U 8HH 84Q 87A 87L 9HH
------------------ the end ------------
Subject: Re: the "real" SS clone unveiled
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 21:45:07 -0500
From: Chris McCabe
To: Ken Rolt
CC: Scott Mueller
OK guys sorry it took me sooooo long to type this all up. I kept leaving the print out at work. The production date is 27 Feb 1992. And what an odd color combination. Red and green? With a green and mustard pin stripe and gunmetal moldings. I guess there is a reason they pulled it out of production and painted it black.
AA7 WINDOW POWER OPERATED QUICK OPENING
AG1 ADJUSTER, 6-WAY POWER, DRIVER SEAT
AG2 ADJUSTER, 6-WAY POWER, PASSENGER SEAT
AJ3 RESTRAINT SYSTEM FRT SEAT INFLATABLE DRIVER
AM6 SEAT ASSM.,FRONT SPLIT W/CENTER ARMREST
AUO LOCK CONTROL REMOTE ENTRY
AU3 LOCK, SIDE DOOR ELECTRIC
A90 LOCK, RR COMPARTMENT LID REMOTE CONTROL ELECTRIC
BA1 ORNAMENTATION HOOD
BC1 ORNAMENTATION INTERIOR INSTRUMENT CLUSTER
BY1 ORNAMENTATION EXTR EMBLEM BODY VAR. 3
B18 WOOD GRAIN SIDE PANEL ORNAMENTATION INTERIOR DELUXE
B34 MATS FRONT FLOOR CARPET INSERT
B37 COVERING FLOOR MAT FRT & RR AUX.
B4U PERFORMANCE PACKAGE SPORTS
CD2 INDICATOR WASHER JAR
C49 DEFOGGER RIGHT REAR WINDOW ELECTRIC
C60 AIR CONDITIONER MANUAL CONTROL
C71 LAMP INTR FRT DOOR COURTESY
DD1 MIRROR INSIDE R/V DUAL READING LAMPS COMPASS
DL8 MIRROR OUTSIDE LH & RH REMOTE CONTROL ELEC DEFOG
D4L SPEEDOMETER DRIVEN GEAR
D64 MIRROR VISOR VANITY ILLUMINATED PASSENGER SIDE
D8I SENSOR VEH SPEED
D8N SENSOR VEH SPEED
D84 PAINT CUSTOM TWO TONE
D85 STRIPE BODY SIDE LOWER ACCENT
E5Z SPEEDOMETER ADAPTER DELETE
E9Z SPEEDOMETER KEY DELETE
FE3 SUSPENSION SYSTEM SPORT
GU5 AXLE RR 3.23
G80 AXLE RR LOCKING TYPE LIMITED SLIP
JA2 BRAKES HEAVY DUTY FRONT DISC REAR DRUM
JM4 BRAKE SYSTEM PWR FRT DISC RR DRUM ANTILOCK FRT & RR WHEEL
K34 CONTROL SPEED AND CRUISE
K60 GENERATOR 100 AMP
L03 ENGINE 5.0L 305 CI V-8 TBI
MD8 TRANSMISSION AUTOMATIC 4 SPD OVERDRIVE 4L60 700R4
MX0 OVERDRIVE TRANSMISSION
NA5 EMISSION SYSTEM FEDERAL TIER 0
NC6 EXHAUST SYSTEM SPORTY
NK4 STEERING WHEEL SPORT LEATHER
N40 STEERING POWER NON VARIABLE
N81 TIRE FULL SIZE SPARE
PA5 HUBCAPS WHEEL
PB4 LOCK CONTROL WHEEL
PD4 WHEEL 15X7 LIGHT METAL ALLOY 5 SPOKE
P17 COVER SPARE WHEEL
QQR TIRES ALL P235/70R15
R9Z CONTROL SALES ITEM NO.100
TL6 GRILL BLACK
T82 SENTINEL TWILIGHT
T87 LAMP CORNERING
UQ1 RADIO PROVISIONS STEREO
UQ4 SPEAKER SYSTEM 4 DUAL FRT DOOR MOUNTED BOSE
UU8 RADIO AM/FM STEREO CASS ETR
UW1 DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM
U11 CLUSTER INST POLICE CERTIFIED SPEEDO
U38 INDICATOR LOW COOLANT
U41 INDICATOR LOW FUEL
U75 ANTENNA POWER
VS7 VEHICLE NON SALE ABLE
V08 HEAVY DUTY COOLING
V73 VEHICLE STATEMENT USA/CANADA
WRN PLANT CODE WILLOW RUN, MI
Z09 MODEL CONVERSION CAPRICE CLASSIC
1AA RETAIL AMENITY
1AZ SOLD ORDERS
1SC OPTION PACKAGE #3
1SZ OPTION PACKAGE DISCOUNT
14I TRIM COMBINATION LIGHT GRAY
142 TRIM COMBINATION LIGHT GRAY LEATHER
149 TRIM COMBINATION SEAT BELT LIGHT GRAY
6TS RIGHT FRONT SPRING
7TS LEFT FRONT SPRING
78U PRIMARY COLOR EXTERIOR BACH RED (BRAZIL)
8HH RIGHT REAR SPRING
84Q MOLDING COLOR GUNMETAL MET
87A STRIPE COLOR ACCENT TWO TONE GREEN/MUSTARD
87L SECONDARY COLOR EXTERIOR FAIRWAY GREEN
9HH LEFT REAR SPRING
---------------------------------
Enjoy,
- J