The Opala SS - Chevrolet's approach for a Brazilian muscle car #Blogpost

In Brazil, there was a period between the 1960’s and the 90’s when no import cars were allowed in. Thus, the automakers inside the country had to come up with some solution to the Sports car market. The Opala SS (from Separated Seats, not Super Sport (didn’t see that coming, huh?)) was Chevrolet’s representative for this market, a well-tuned and sport-oriented version of a family sedan.
This delightfully beautiful machine was built between 1971 and 1980 and featured a 4.1 litre inline six engine, which made 140 bhp and could haul the Opala SS up to 1970 Km/h, making it the fastest Brazilian car at the time. It had some very respectable performance considering the average car for Brazil that time was the VW Beetle with about 46hp and could reach about 110 Km/h. It initially featured a four-door shape, which was quickly changed for a lovely coupe silhouette in 1972. With the oil crisis in 1973, a 2.5 litre four-pot was offered, but the six-pot proved to be much more popular still. In 1978, the Caravan, a station Wagon version of the Opala received the SS treatment and made for a wonderful family cruiser (RS4 predecessor?).
Production ended in 1980, as it was way too expensive for what it delivered when compared to a newer generation of lighter, more refined sports cars. Nonetheless, it created an icon for the Brazilian car scene, being extremely desirable up until this day.

The Opala SS is also a very common model for racing and tuning. It is extremely popular at the drag racing scene, with a distinct exhaust note which will make you fall in love. The Caravan is also very popular among drag racers, due to a better aerodynamic behavior of the station wagon shape. Some TT prepped examples reach about 1500hp. This one here, known as the Opala Metal has done the quarter mile in 8.1 seconds @ 341 Km/h. MOSNTRUOUS. Many tuners opt for a V8 swap, a variant called as the “Opaloito”, giving some more beef to the already beefy shape of the Opala.
The Opala also enjoyed great success at the Brazilian Stock car cathegory, which does not race at ovals, winning 15 titles during its lifetime.

Hope you enjoyed! What do you think? Would you like to drive one (hint: it’s aweseome!)? Do you think it deserves to be labeled as a muscle car? Would you like to own one? Leave your answers in the comments!