With the apparent death of the muscle car, where else could you go for rear-wheel-drive V8 power in a lightweight package? Trucks! Always a best-seller, the Chevy C/K series pickups were awesome workhorses but it was only by coincidence that folks discovered that the combination of light weight and a torquey engine made for some entertaining performance as well. So in 1990, Chevrolet created the 454 SS, the smallest, lightest C-series pickup with the biggest, most powerful engine in their arsenal. The result was a sinister black truck that could surprise Mustangs and Camaros on the street and still haul your gear on weekends. Without trucks like this incredible 1-owner 454 SS, we probably wouldn’t have the Ford SVT Lightning and Raptor or the Dodge Ram SRT10. If you’re a fan of big muscle in a truck, this gorgeous black pickup should definitely light your fires. Even better, it’s packing a built big block that delivers on all the promises made by the 454 SS back in the day.

Yes, you read that correctly, this is a ONE OWNER truck, purchased new in 1990 by the same guy whose name is on the title today. As a result, it’s beautifully maintained and since it was purchased as a toy, not a daily driver, the paint and bodywork are immaculate. The sole deviation from original specs is a steel cowl induction hood, which works at least as well on this truck as it does on an early Camaro, giving it the last bit of aggression to round out its look. Basic Onyx Black was the only choice in 1990 and it’s really the right one for a machine with this much performance potential, giving the short bed pickup the look of an apex predator on the street. In fact, EVERYTHING was black, including the bumpers, grille, and even the mirrors, offering a brutal statement about performance in the 1990s. And yes, aside from the hood, it’s 100% factory paint that’s in outstanding condition having never been hit or rusty and if this truck has seen rain, it was only in an emergency. The black trim is likewise excellent with no signs of fading or UV damage and all the lenses are bright and clear. More recently, it was treated to a spray-in bedliner which keeps the truck’s utility intact and looks great doing it. Proper 454 SS decals are still affixed to the sides of the bed and show no fading, checking, or peeling and the big CHEVROLET across the tailgate is pretty much the only view most other drivers will see.

The only interior was a special Garnet Red bucket seat setup that makes the 454 SS strictly a 2-seater. A center console provides lots of storage and a pair of cup holders and just about every available feature was standard equipment on the top-of-the-line SS. That means A/C, power windows and locks, a tilt steering column, cruise control, and a sliding rear window are included and everything works properly except the cruise (we’ll tell you why in a moment and you won’t care a bit). The A/C is cold enough to store slabs of meat in the cab and while the standard gauges monitor the engine’s vitals, there’s a large Auto Meter tach up on top of the dash, since the factory didn’t offer one in the 1990 models. There’s also the original AM/FM/cassette stereo system in the dash, with the radio adjacent to the driver and the cassette player with integrated graphic equalizer (remember those?) over closer to the passenger. It’s how Chevy did it and it’s actually kind of cool. The bucket seats are comfortable and supportive and show almost zero wear. The same goes for the carpet, which has been protected by heavy-duty floor mats almost since new (there’s a wear spot adjacent to the accelerator pedal despite the factory’s addition of a pad in that spot), and the door panels show little more than a small depression where the driver might have been resting his elbow. They simply don’t come much nicer than this after 25 years.

OK, OK, we’re getting to the good stuff. The real appeal of the 454 SS was the big block engine in a half-ton pickup, something that you couldn’t otherwise order from the factory. In the lightweight short bed/regular cab truck, the 454 cubic inch V8’s 230 horsepower and towering 385 pounds of torque made it insanely quick around town and almost unbeatable on the roll—talk about power-to-weight ratios! With that much torque on tap, keeping the tires hooked up was obviously an issue, but that’s also a big part of the fun of an old-fashioned muscle car, er, truck.

This truck was never raced or abused, but about 1000 miles ago, a casting defect in the crank caused a catastrophic failure and the original engine had to be scrapped. Rather than try to salvage a questionable block, the guys at Jim Bowen Racing Engines in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania went with an all-new Gen III 454 and built a race-quality stormer that literally DOUBLES the output of the original engine. The block was fully prepped and relieved and it was stuffed with a Scat 4.250 stroke steel crank, Scat I-beam connecting rods, and Keith Black forged aluminum pistons with Total Seal rings and HP bearings throughout. A full roller timing set spins a mechanical roller lifter cam pushing hardened pushrods into roller rockers up top. The heads are aluminum oval port units that have been professionally prepped before being bolted down with a fresh set of ARP head bolts. The cool thing is that they kept the stock intake system, including the fuel injection setup, as well as the cast iron exhaust manifolds, so it looks almost completely stock and starts and idles just like a stocker! The net result, even with the original intake and exhaust, was 430.2 horsepower and 533.3 pounds of torque. Yes, nearly TWICE the original horsepower figures.

Of course, all the ancillaries were upgraded at the same time, so there’s a high-flow oil pump with a welded pickup, a new alternator, fresh high-torque starter, and a giant radiator up front that doesn’t get sweaty even on the hottest days with the A/C blasting. A custom exhaust system was fabricated using oversized pipes and a single Flowmaster muffler that splits into twin polished exhaust tips that exit just behind the rear wheels. The TH400 3-speed automatic transmission was also rebuilt and beefed up, while the original 3.73-geared rear end needed no help. There’s so much power on tap that each shift of the transmission doesn’t result in the engine slowing down but rather the rest of the truck being yanked up to speed to match the engine. On the other hand, it’s docile enough for your mother to drive to church. It has an awesome mechanical lifter soundtrack up front and a deep baritone rumble out back that is always pleasant and never overpowering, so you can take a road trip with the A/C blasting and arrive refreshed. It’s very quick off the line, even with traction limitations, but it’s even better on the roll where the gears keep the engine in the sweet spot of its powerband. I don’t know that I’ve driven many vehicles that are faster from, say, 50 to 80 MPH. Even better is how well it rides, thanks to a stock suspension setup with lots of new parts, and it wears unique 454 SS chrome wheels wrapped in fresh 275/60/15 Goodyear radials.

This truck is beyond impressive. The preservation and care it has received would make it worth every penny of the asking price, but with a fresh, pro-built, high-performance engine under the hood, it’s the biggest performance bargain we’ve ever offered. It includes the original owner’s manual and paperwork as well as two spare SS wheels that were removed and replaced with NOS pieces simply because they weren’t as nice as the rest of the truck. Prices are all over the map with these trucks, and they range from abused beaters to, well, exceptional machines like this that have not only been carefully driven and maintained, but treated to expensive, high-quality upgrades that don’t compromise usability one bit. This is the one to own.