The pilot RPO LS6 Chevelle (Russo & Steele)
For a short time, a certain spec of the 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle offered more horsepower than a Corvette of the same year, marking the first time any General Motors car out HP'd America's Sports Car. The absurdity began on this day in 1969, when the first regular production order (RPO) LS6 Chevelle SS rolled off the line at a Baltimore plant. A GM executive ordered it as a zone demonstrator, and when he received it, he found someone had scribbled two notes on the build sheet, "Pilot job" and "If it had wings it would fly." The latter is perhaps true.
Under the hood of that first Chevelle LS6 and others like it sat a 454-ci Turbo-Jet LS6 V8 that cranked out 450 horsepower at 5,600 RPMs. Comparatively, that year's top Corvette initially ...