[KingElvis]

This is my most recent story in the Chicago area "Gearhead News" - all about the 454 Big 10 1/2 ton whipped everything in sight - including the fabled Dodge Lil Red Express...



It’s a fact: Chevy and GMC 454 pickups were not just the quickest pickups of the 70’s, but, due to loopholes for ‘heavy duty’ vehicles, they were also quicker than any cars you could buy except 4 speed Trans Ams or Z-28s. In 1975, the worst year for super cars, GM installed an “Efficiency System,” which included a catalytic converter, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and electronic ignition, on all cars and any pickups rated below 6000lbs Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). The “heavy duty emissions” 454 used in C-20 and C-30 trucks got high energy ignition, but no smog equipment, so it actually gained 15hp over the 230hp 1974 454.

In 1976 Chevy introduced the “Big 10” rated above 6000lbs GVW. This heavy half ton’s optional 454 resembled a supercar engine from 1965. It lacked the belt driven smog pump (said by GMC engineers to steal 15hp), EGR and catalytic converter.
The same year an L-82 Corvette ran a 16.5 e.t. for Road and Track, a 454 Big 10 with the standard Turbo 400 automatic and 3.07:1 axle ran a 16.9 e.t. for Pickup Van and 4WD. The PV4 crew was particularly impressed with the un-smogged gas mileage of the 454 – 14mpg. They fell in love with the Big 10 and named it “Pickup of the Year.”

Soon the Big 10 454 sparked a mini trend. A June 1977 Car Craft headline blared: “Supercars of the Seventies are Where You Find Them: Car Craft’s First Truck Off.”
They drag tested the 454 step side with an optional positraction 3.73:1 axle against a Dodge “Warlock” (precursor to the Lil’ Red Express Truck with similar gold pin striping and bedside stakes) sporting a 440 V8 and 3.55:1 axle and an F-250 Ford with a 460 engine and 3.25:1 gears. The crew spent all day whittling the Rat’s e.t. down to just 15.51 seconds at 87mph. The Dodge, without the benefit of posi, scored a 15.93/86mph e.t. and the Ford ran 16.32/83mph.

Given the Chevy’s 4300lb girth and blackjack weight distribution, a 15.51 second run is impressive. In addition to the heavy iron big block, Turbo 400, and heavier springs the test vehicle came with nearly every option in the book, including air conditioning and new for ’77 power windows and door locks. It also sported the “Chevy Sport” trim with tape stripes, white spoke wheels and fat tires. The truck was a boulevard cruising “Cowboy Cadillac” that could still embarrass any 1977 car on the strip. The truck didn’t come cheap. Though based priced at $3989, the window sticker was a shocking $8467. PV4 tested the same black step side in their August ’77 issue. With plenty of hard break in miles inflicted by the Car Craft hooligans, PV-4 measured a thrifty 14.4mpg on its fuel economy test loop, despite the high winding 3.73:1 axle

Car Craft writers emphasized that the Big 10 was a 60’s supercar holdout. “It brings back memories of days spent behind the wheel of a Rat motored Chevelle with 3.70:1 gears. Merely stomping on the go-pedal is enough to produce billowing clouds of tire smoke.”
This was a rare period when California engines had an edge since California “heavy duty emissions” 454s rated 250hp at 3800rpm and 385lbs/ft of torque at 2800rpm in ’76 and ’77, while Federal 454s rated 245hp and 365lbs/ft. The Big 10 454 retained the ’76 compression ratio of 8.25:1, while compression dropped to 8.15:1 for the ‘77 ¾ and 1 ton.


For 1978 the Chevy Sport added a hood ornament, color keyed bumpers and chrome hubs for the white spoke wheels. Unfortunately, Chevy lowered the compression to 8.0:1 for the Big 10 and 7.9:1 for the ¾ and 1 tons. For Californians, the Super Truck party was already waning. They got a smogged Rat that made just 205hp at 3600rpm and 335lbs/ft at 2800rpm. 49 state Rats made 240hp at 3800rpm and 370lbs/ft at 2800rpm.

According to a December ’78 Hot Rod test of a 454 GMC with the flashy “Amarillo” paint and stripes package “The difference (between Federal and California engines) is nearly a full second in the quarter mile, two miles per gallon of gasoline and rubber in second gear.” Hot Rod drove the 240hp Amarillo to a 15.60 e.t at 87mph at Orange County Raceway. “That run is the quickest laid down by any HOT ROD test truck in recent history, dethroning the ’78 Dodge Lil’ Red Truck that ran a 15.71/88mph e.t. (June ’78 HR).” Testing the same truck in the February ’79 issue of PV4, editor Don E. Browne wrote “The Amarillo was considerably faster than the 205hp GMC and even was a tad quicker the Dodge Lil’ Red Truck (both of which PV4 tested in September ’78).”

By 1979 even federal Big 10s used the 205hp 454. Motor Trend drove a GMC “Street Coupe” (GMC’s version of the Chevy Sport) to a 0-60mph time of 8.0 seconds and a 16.4 second, 83mph e.t. This was still quick for anything built in the late ’70s, but ironically, the smogged Rat suffered an even bigger penalty in gas mileage. While the 8.25:1 compression ’77 delivered 14mpg, and the lower compression, but unsmogged ’78 made 12mpg, the smogged ’79 got about 10mpg.

It’s possible a ’79 Dodge LRET might have beaten the ‘79 GMC. Chrysler used twin catalytic converters on the “police” 360 to maintain a true dual exhaust, while GM’s “X” dual exhaust forced both pipes into a single catalytic converter then split them back into twin mufflers and tailpipes.

By 1980 the “heavy duty emissions” loophole was raised to 8500lbs, limiting the 454 to ¾ and 1 ton trucks. Though the “Super Truck” genre has waxed and waned since the demise of the 454 Big 10, later models like Ford’s “Lightning” couldn’t claim to be faster than most performance cars. The smog loopholes of ‘76-‘78 created a unique era when Rat powered pickups could outrun 99% of contemporary cars. It’s an era we will likely never see again.