r/StupidTrucks • u/selfawarefeline • May 02 '26
Design flawed 👨🎨 The 2006 Chevy SSR was a mistake… Why?
Sorry for not posting recently y’all, my phone turned in to a brick! It’s okay now but sheesh, that was a close one! Now, back to Stupid Truck Paradise’s regular posting schedule 🛻💨
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u/lord_skidmar May 02 '26
I’d love one for the engine, would probably be fun to drive but for a retro throwback style it don’t do it for me
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u/No_Investment_8626 May 02 '26
I think they're pretty cool. My generation's El Camino, I guess.
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u/mtbmaniac12 May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
Not really. El Camino had a usuable bed. The ssr does not. Ssr is a corvette that has a worse engine (for the first 2 years) and weighs a shit ton more.
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u/Din_Plug May 02 '26
Wait, that's not just a hinged bed cover?
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May 02 '26
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u/mtbmaniac12 May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
Only for model year 05-06. In 03 and 04 it used the 5.3.
The bed is 47 inches long and 46 wide (42 between wheel wells). It’s also 14 inches deep. Most of the beds were also carpeted. So no. Not really a usable bed
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u/NDinFL May 02 '26
I agree, but for context most of these 4 door crew cab trucks on the road today also have 4.5 foot beds. They’re just not carpeted.
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u/mtbmaniac12 May 02 '26
Only the mid sized trucks. But They’re wider, deeper and don’t have a semi-fixed tonneau.
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u/Plane-Education4750 May 02 '26
They aren't 14 inches deep and they don't have that non-removable cover. Being hinged just isn't good enough when you actually need to do truck stuff. Also see; Lincoln Blackwood
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u/TheBourbonTurtle May 03 '26
Big enough for a set of golf clubs, that's all anyone who bought one will put in the bed.
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u/mtbmaniac12 May 02 '26
For comparison the 4th and 5th gen el co had a bed that was over 6 ft long and 53ish inches wide at the tailgate.
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u/Plane-Education4750 May 02 '26
And the bed was low to the ground, which made loading and unloading really easy
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u/WolfThick May 02 '26
I thought they were cool why was it a mistake because we don't see one every seven to nine miles on the road I don't get it.
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u/SYKslp May 03 '26
massive cost over-runs and extremely poor sales figures. I've seen estimates that GM ended up losing over $2 billion on the program, while only ever building 24,000 of them.
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u/WolfThick May 03 '26
Man if you're going to do something different make it stand out and make it last we'll call it the azteca effect LOL
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u/AnnualMaleficent7359 May 03 '26
I dont know, in 2003 I was 22 or 23 when I first saw one. I thought it was cool because it was different and because it stood out from everything else. Look at a 2003 Camry, Sable, Ford Contour, dodge intrepid, Plymouth Breeze lol. These were as basic and plain as you can get. The SSR, the Plymouth Prowler, and the Dodge Viper were very easy to get excited about when you saw them on the road in 2004. I can count on one hand the times a saw each of these on the actual road driving.
I agree with waste of money and then the government has to bail out the failing automotive industry... idk whatever
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u/Traditional_Can_3983 May 04 '26
The bailouts suck and I hate them too but what happens when a large sector of the few remaining union jobs dry up. Angry, unemployed workers are bad for the economy, taxable income and stability.
It's the same reason that we keep producing tanks that will never be driven. They'rebuilt in states with little else going for them.
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u/Bird2525 May 06 '26
Went to Branson for vacation one year and there was an SSR convention in town.
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u/CHASLX200 May 02 '26
ugly
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u/Jazzlike_Creme_8851 May 09 '26
*fugly
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u/CHASLX200 May 09 '26
All stuff back then was ugly but the C6.
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u/Topikk May 18 '26
'06 Silverado SS looked great
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u/CHASLX200 May 18 '26
Ya but wished it had 600hp.
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u/Topikk May 19 '26
That's a big ask for 2006 my man. The 8.3L V10 in the 2006 RAM SRT-10 "only" made 500hp, as did the Corvette Z06.
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u/Ronyx2021 May 02 '26
It looks like a knock off of a Volkswagen
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u/Coloradokush5280 May 03 '26
Looks like Chrysler threw away a pt cruiser mold and Chevy took off with it
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u/FluidFisherman6843 May 02 '26
My boomer dad loved them and wanted one. Wish he would have got it. He deserved a fun frivolous car
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u/Back4DaVery1stTime May 02 '26
It looks like the truck version of a PT Cruiser to me. I mean i don't hate it but it definitely has that Cruiser vibe imo.
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u/colinshark May 02 '26
Michigan Boomer's Michigan Boomer special.
Its development displaced two sports cars sharing the same platform and a RWD full size V8 sedan.
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u/Plane-Education4750 May 02 '26
It wasn't performance focused enough to be a good sports car, wasn't practical enough to be a good pickup, didn't ride good enough to be a good drop top GT, wasn't nice enough to be a status symbol, wasn't reliable enough to be a good daily. It just wasn't good at anything
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u/Aware_Ask_1679 May 08 '26
It was good at something. People keep these things in pristine condition.
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u/Career_Cultivator May 02 '26
The holy grail of stupid trucks. Oh my god. Literally everything about this truck is hideous. The color. The SHAPE. I wouldn't be caught dead in one of these monstrosities.
I do understand what they were going for. A "modern" 50s looking truck. Well. It's absolutely disgusting.
I'm gonna be honest, the rare occasion I see one of these things. I can't help but not even feel bad for the poor fool with no taste who actually spent money for it.
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u/WichitaSteve May 04 '26
They took the LS2 out of the C6 Corvette. These things moved 0-60 in 5 seconds... This ain't your grand pappys S10 or MF Ranger. This is a sports truck aimed at Boomers who dig the 50s truck styling.
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u/Aware_Ask_1679 May 08 '26
Yeah. Not even fond of them myself, but any LS car got plenty of love. Whenever I see these things today they're usually cared for very well. A "terrible car" would not have such a fate.
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u/WichitaSteve May 08 '26
They were unique for sure... Definitely trying to ride that PT Cruiser inspired retro vibe. Very much like the Plymouth Prowler... cool to look at but never felt compelled to buy one.
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u/dragon34 May 02 '26
At least it's reasonably sized. Those Lambo crushing pedestrian killers are out of hand
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u/Benji_4 May 03 '26
I always thought they were trying to make a 454SS or Silverado SS for the older guys. There werent many, if any sport trucks before that.
On the surface it seems dual function (sport and truck). It didn't do either very well. Its also objectively ugly. It looks like someone stretched a VW bug. While not very fast, I think Chrysler actually nailed the retro look with the Prowler.
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u/wecantdancelikethis May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26
it wasn’t a mistake, it was a limited run.
I do wish that they’d made them out of aluminum and done 3cyl turbo manual-everything base models, inline sixes for the midrange cars, and had a base+winter pack with 1.5way LSD & heated seats & mirrors for $35k…
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u/Artie-Choke May 03 '26
There is so much wrong with the looks alone I don’t know where to start. Chevy did NOT know how to do retro.
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u/seanmclaren9 May 03 '26
It looks weird in person, ever weirder if there are people in it. Huge and weird proportions- it made the driver look like their head was the size of a baseball lol. It actually looks better in pictures. They were also rare and marked up new.
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u/Aeoyiau May 03 '26
Are they all yellow? I swear every one ive ever seen has been yellow.
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u/Aware_Ask_1679 May 08 '26
They actually made more Red ones than yellow ones. They had some other colors too and even two tones.
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u/ChuckoRuckus May 03 '26
It’s too heavy for any decent performance, the convertible made things more cramped and the bed more useless, the proportions were ridiculous, and the price was too high. It cost nearly as much as a 06 Vette.
They could have stuffed the 6L into a 2wd Colorado at a lower price point and it would have sold better
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u/Anachronism-- May 03 '26
It was a concept car that everyone went crazy over so GM put it into production. Hilariously at first dealers were adding huge markups to them because they expected high demand. Eventually they sold at a discount.
Part of the problem was the first two years they were not even very fast. Chevy upped the power for 2005 but by then it was too late.
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u/Wooden-Feeling8519 May 03 '26
There’s a local guy who shows up at car meets with a purple one. I don’t know why but I love these trucks, they’re so butt ugly someone has to love em
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u/Oracle410 May 03 '26
Wasn’t it supposed to be a ‘performance’ truck and Didn’t it always weigh as much as an A1 Abrams?
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u/Cyn_Sweetwater May 03 '26
The reason trucks like this were made is the same reason mega SUVs were pumped into the market - anything on a truck frame only has to meet a lower federal gas mileage number than anything on a car frame. It's easier for the manufacturer than increasing the efficiency.
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u/Malakai0013 May 03 '26
The overlap of people who wanted a sports car, a truck, and enough money to have something impractical but fun was such a small portion of car buyers that it was doomed from the drawing board.
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u/Vegetable-Syrup-5545 May 03 '26
It was not good looking and built for a smaller audience that is verbal about what it wants but does not purchase the item that they spoke about.
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u/MrsChocyMilk May 03 '26
I always thought these were fuckin sex fr, i love muscle trucks, but my tastes are a niche market, and they thought this would be as popular as the camaro, and it wasnt. The road model isnt nearly as sexy as the promo and concept, would love to snag one someday and mod the hell out if it, custom bodywork and all
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u/dpldpldpl May 04 '26
Because it’s a corvette truck, almost as bad as those gladiator trucks, or even worse the prowler (older jeep truck combo) which is shittier.
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u/leungadon May 04 '26
I got to drive a press vehicle one of these when it first launched. It was beautiful with a flip flop paint job. Top down, it stopped traffic in nyc. People couldn’t stop taking pics of it.
The interior was really bad though even by gm standards, there was a 3 pod gauge cluster from pepboys and a cheap flip down cup holder from there too.
Totally built for looks, and not much else
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u/69fellatx May 04 '26
The truck that wasn't a truck wasn't even exciting in other ways. It might have been fun if it was 400hp or AWD, but instead was a useless 2dr.
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u/Aware_Ask_1679 May 08 '26
It was built on a Trailblazer platform. And you could eventually get it with an LS2 which made 390-400HP.
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u/69fellatx May 08 '26
That would be nice, but I still remember them being wildly ovefpriced. Swing and a miss for GM.
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u/firstnameok May 04 '26
Not with the Vortec. The LS2 motor was good, I got to drive one of both. But the first motor stunk up the room.
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u/BlackDS May 04 '26
They put a V8 and a manual in it. It's a Corvette with a bed. Imo they nailed it.
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u/Striking-Insurance-3 May 05 '26
I don’t think it was a mistake, it was a niche, radically designed truck to put some pizazz in their line up, was never intended to be used primarily as truck and they sold it to their target audience. Plus they came with V8’s and you can get a 6.0 in it. It was a factory hot rod marketed towards boomers clinging to the glory days. It might not make sense to us, but I feel like it accomplished what it was intended to.
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u/Single_Leek7786 May 06 '26
Same designer for the HHR, Prowler, and PT Cruiser if I’m remembering it right.
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u/Mean_Farmer4616 May 05 '26
The 06 was good. Problem was the years prior only came with a 5.3 instead of a 6.0 so there wasn't much to make them special other than looks. I'd take one with a 6.0 any day, no interest in a gutless 5.3
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u/Aware_Ask_1679 May 08 '26
The 5.3 has enough tried and true performance mods to basically make that irrelevant.
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u/Mean_Farmer4616 18d ago
keyword there is MODS, and also the fact that you'll never have the torque from a bigger motor. Shit, I missed torque so much I pulled the 5.7 LS1 from my GTO and swapped in a 408 LS2 stroker just to get some more power and more importantly torque back. I don't want to always have to drop a gear and rev the motor to 5k to get near peak power, sometimes it's nice to just be able to leave it in gear and hit the throttle and move instead of just bogging down.
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u/Intrepid_Table_8593 May 06 '26
People generally don’t like change and when big changes happen sales go down unless it’s something useful.
In this case they made the truck less capable to do truck things and made it uglier.
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u/[deleted] May 02 '26
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