This Chevy Muscle Car Lost Its Owner A Million Dollars

While investing in classic cars can reap big rewards, those assets are almost always at risk of losing value. This was a lesson one auction winner learned the hard way after a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 LS6 Convertible was sold for the eye-watering price of $1,242,000 at the 2006 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction. The Chevelle in question was a rarity due to its convertible body style and had a particularly impressive racing pedigree; it was run extensively in 1970 by Ray Allen of the Briggs-sponsored Truppi-Kling team to highly competitive results.

However, just a few years after that astronomical auction sale, the very same Chevelle resold at the 2009 RM's Icons of Speed and Style auction for just $264,000. It was a bad day for the owner, for sure, but this monumental loss wasn't down to anything that happened during their ownership. Instead, the nearly million-dollar loss boils down to a lack of effort during an earlier restoration, an absence of originality, and a very bad case of "auction fever" when it was acquired in 2006. Let's take a look at how the original auction got so out of hand and why the price plummeted so quickly.

So what makes a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454 LS6 Convertible go for over a million dollars at an auction? First, there aren't many of them. While the exact number of models produced isn't knownChevy never published official production numbers for them — it's thought that fewer than 20 were ever made. That level of scarcity alone was always sure to bring attention from muscle car fans, and Hagerty currently pegs a concours example at a rather appropriate $454,000 today. While that's certainly impressive, it's still a ways off from the figure achieved back in 2006, so clearly other factors are at play here.

Like many of the most expensive cars ever sold at auction, it's this Chevelle's racing history that really earned it the seven-figure sale. In 1970 alone, the Truppi-Kling Chevelle dominated a number of very prestigious events, racking up wins at the NHRA North East Division championship, the 1970 World Finals, and the 1970 Supernationals. At a time when Chryslers were dominating the strip with times in the mid-11-second range, this drop-top Chevy managed to do the quarter-mile in 11.01 seconds, leaving everyone in disbelief.

This impressive performance was thanks to some key upgrades. These upgrades included performance headers, a solid-lifter camshaft pinched from an L88 big-block, an aftermarket torque converter, and 5.14:1 rear-end gears. Couple the model's scarcity with this gaggle of performance parts and the impressive victories it racked up, then throw in two seriously determined bidders, and it's actually quite easy to see how the Chevelle managed to clinch that record-breaking figure.

Now for the other half of our question — how does a car this unique go from netting a record-breaking result in one auction to selling for not even a quarter of that figure just a few years later? Auction fever takes a lot of the blame for the Chevelle's awesome initial result. When several collectors all feel like they have to have something, reason occasionally gets thrown out the window. Watching footage of the sale on YouTube shows that once the auction reached about $600,000, it was really just two determined bidders pushing it past the $1 million mark.

However, it also appears that some crucial signs were missed or just simply overlooked. Had the hot-headed bidders looked a little closer in 2006, they may have clocked some red flags and adjusted their bids accordingly. For starters, the original bodywork had seen decades of heavy-handed adjustments as racers modified the car for competitiveness, and the pre-sale restoration was nothing special. By the time it went up for sale, the original sheet metal was gone and the factory engine had long since been lost and replaced with a unit that was dressed up as an LS6.

In the years that followed, the Chevelle was offered for sale again numerous times. In January 2015, it reached $450,000 at Mecum's Kissimmee sale but remained unsold, and was later listed for $575,000 just two months later. Huge sums, sure, but still miles short of what was achieved back in 2006. Perhaps a detailed restoration with the right performance parts and period-correct graphics could once again propel this Chevy to seven-figure stardom.