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General Motors Co is rolling out the red pavement for the 2011 Woodward Dream Cruise this week.

The Detroit automaker’s Chevrolet brand — presenting sponsor of the Dream Cruise — is using the annual car event to help celebrate its centennial.

Chevy has a fleet of events starting Wednesday, leading up to the Dream Cruise Saturday:

- From 1 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, the GM Design team will host a car show at the Northwood Plaza on the southwest corner of Woodward Avenue and 13 Mile Road. The show, which will continue through Saturday, will feature personal vehicles owned by members of the design team.

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Chevelle SS

Chevrolet set the horsepower bar high with its first production SS car-the 1961 Impala. While most manufactures were happy with a 300-horsepower engine, Chevrolet rated its first 409 at 360 horsepower. And in 1962, they raised that to 409 horsepower. Nothing looked or sounded more impressive in the summer of 1962 than a glistening black Impala SS rolling through a drive-in- restaurant with 409 flags visible on the front fender.

Thanks to the GTO, Chevy decide to make the
SS option mean something

But “Super Sport” wasn’t always synonymous with “fast,” at least not in some cases. In 1962 Chevrolet allowed any of its engines to be included with the SS option, including its inline six-cylinders. (Why Chevy Why!) Product planners continued with this strategy until they saw the success of Pontiac’s 1964 GTO. In 1965 Chevrolet released a small production run of Chevelle Malibus equipped with its 396 engine: the legendary Z-16s. In 1966 Chevrolet made horsepower available to the masses and equipped the new SS396 Chevelle, which featured the potent 396-cubic-inch Mark IV big-block as standard equipment. They made another strong horsepower statement in 1967 with the release of the Camaro SS with its 350 and 396 engine options.

In 1968, much of what was being written about the muscle car focused on Plymouth’s new Road Runner, a stripped-down, midsized car with high-horsepower engine. Chevrolet also released its new Nova SS, also a stripped-down, midsize car with a high-horsepower engine.

Chevy unleased it’s SS 454

Throughout the late 1960s, Chevrolet offered several versions of its 396 in the Chevelle, Camaro, and Nova. Customers who wanted more horsepower could purchase it through Chevrolet’s Central Office Production Order (COPO) system. Then in 1970, Chevrolet unleashed its SS454 Chevelle with the famous LS6-a 450-horsepower, 454-cubic-inch engine. With the LS6, Chevrolet offered for retail sale the highest horsepower engine of the muscle car era.

Information provided by Chevy SS 50 Years of Super Sport

Papa John's 1971 Camaro Z28

The founder of the Papa John’s pizza chain – who spent years searching for the beloved Camaro he sold to start his business – has finally been reunited with the muscle car.

In celebration, the chain is handing out free pizzas Wednesday to all Camaro drivers.

“The Camaro represents what I gave up to start Papa John’s,” said company founder John Schnatter. “Words cannot capture the emotions I am feeling….I never gave up hope that someday I would get that car back.”

In 1983, John Schnatter’s father, an Indiana bar owner, was on the verge of bankruptcy. So Schnatter sold his only asset, a black-and-gold striped 1971 Chevy Camaro Z28, for $2,800.

As he frequently told the story, he had to turn his back as the buyer drove away, unable to watch his cherished car go.

With the proceeds, Schnatter bought some equipment and started selling pizzas out of a broom closet of his dad’s bar, digging their way out of bankruptcy a pie at a time.

The pizza chain is now the world’s third largest and is worth $750 million.

Even as his buisness took off and he became rich, Schnatter never stopped missing his Camaro.

He had no record of who he sold it to and spent years looking for the sports car, even hiring a private eye to search. Read the rest of this entry »

Chevy Social Networking

We would like to invite you to join our new social networking site located at www.chevysupersport.ning.com. There you can join the forums and groups, share and post photos and videos, or just browse around and enjoy a piece of automotive history.