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You’d think selling a modern muscle car to Americans wouldn’t be a hard thing at all. However, the Chevrolet SS was a killer V8 sedan that seemed to tick all of the enthusiasts’ boxes. It’s rear-wheel drive, has a V8 under the hood, and Chevrolet even sold them with a manual transmission. Unfortunately, it sold very poorly, and Chevy discontinued it with its Australian counterpart, the Holden Commodore VF.

What is a Chevrolet SS?

SS has long been a trim level available on Chevrolet vehicles that offers a high-performance variant to each given model. However, from 2014 to 2017, the model known solely as the Chevrolet SS was available. It was a phenomenal V8 sedan with the power and performance of a full-blood American muscle car.

GM decided to permanently close the Australian Holden manufacturing plant in 2013. As a result, the company decided to offer the outgoing VF Holden Commodore in the U.S. under the SS namesake. It’s a modern four-door Chevrolet sedan with an LS3. It came with a whopping 415 horsepower and 415 pound-feet of torque. Completely stock, it could sprint from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.8 seconds.

According to The Autopian, despite GM’s intent to sell about 15,000 per year, only 12,924 Chevrolet SS examples ever came to be. Worse still is the fact that only 2,645 of them (about 20%) came with a manual transmission. Just like the C7 Corvette, it seems buyers didn’t care for the manual offering.

How much is a Chevy SS V8 sedan?

Purple Chevrolet SS Chevy v8 sedan front 3/4 with high exposure wearing Holden badging and license plates
Purple Chevrolet SS | Cars and Bids

A quick look at Cars and Bids sales shows that, as recently as 2022, one could purchase a nice example of this killer V8 sedan for under $30,000. When you think about the level of performance you were getting for the price, that’s a stellar deal. Unfortunately, though, you missed the boat.

The most recent sale (at the time of writing) was on October 18, 2023. Wearing a beautiful coat of Alchemy Purple and sporting a manual transmission with only 6,900 miles, it’s pretty desirable. The final bidder landed on $48,750. Yikes.

With the rarity, it’s safe to assume that prices aren’t going to get much better with time. So, if you’ve got any interest at all in purchasing one of these awesome cars, you’d better get to it ASAP. You’ve seemingly already missed the sub-$30,000 boat. It seems like the sub-$50,000 boat is pulling up the mooring lines and getting ready to set sail.

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Braden Carlson

Braden Carlson has been an automotive journalist since 2019 and joined MotorBiscuit in 2022. As a self-professed Aerospace Engineering dropout, Braden has combined his engineering expertise and obsession with cars to step into automotive journalism.

When he’s not writing about cars, Braden can be found wrenching on his extensive collection. Whether they’re built for style, drifting, going fast, or just enjoying time spent on the road, Braden relishes working on cars and, ultimately, “making something from them.” Braden is most inspired by the individualism people can display when modifying their vehicles.

To keep himself up to date with the industry, Braden follows a variety of automotive websites and checks in with them daily.