I'm going to check out a 1974 El Camino SS for possible purchase. What can I look for to confirm originality? What what I have found the SS option is purely cosmetic. I do know it has a floor shifter, swivel buckets, and has a sb400 mated to a th400. I'm guessing there should be an SS emblem on the grill and the dash and probably the round gauges.

Any info is appreciated. Thanks.

Well what i found in my book says if it is a 400 motor the fifth digit of the VIN number should be an R or a U. The difference being a 2 barrel or 4 barrel carb.

The book does not show an SS with the 400 engine it shows an RPO code of Z15 for an SS454.

As far as where the SS emblems should be i can't help you there.

I'll have to see it in person but according to the current owner the 5th digit is a U which should mean the 400 with a 4 barrel.

I'm shocked at the hp rating from the factory for the 400s. I thought I saw somewhere it was only around 150-160hp.

The 400 engine was a unfortunate victim of the seventies, it had 76cc heads, 1.94, 1.50 valves and 8.5:1 compression ratio. That's the reason for the low horsepower number. This engine was designed as a truck engine from the beginning and wasn't meant to do anything spectacular, however, this little underdog made a comeback when guys started fitting 400 crankshafts in 350 blocks, thereby creating the 383 torque monster. Also, the other way around, 400 block with a 350 crank created the 377, a motor you can spin to high rpms, because of the shorter stroke of the 350 crank. The well known 406 is also a descendant of the old 400, a popular engine in the '80s and '90s. These 400 engines have a lot of potential but don't amount to much in stock form.

Yeah, low on horses but pretty big on torque. I could fry my rear tires with the 400 that came with mine much easier than I can with the 72 350 4 bolt I have in there now. I still have the block, heads and cam. I plan on a rebuild but those 882 heads may not be worth the effort to rebuild.
You just can't beat a long arm motor for pure easy torque.

Had the same experience with a 307 I had in a 79 Z28. Little sucker was bored .060 over and was bult for strip duty. I used to eat Ta's for lunch with it and lay down 14FT pairs of stripes without trying. BUt get up around 4500 grand and you started feeling the spread between torque and HP.

Downside is they suck gas like no tomorrow.

I got ahold of the vin and it appears to be an original TX car but a 400 with the 2 barrel carb. Its had an RV cam installed, the tranny redone, heads redone, and new exhaust. In the pics it does have swivel buckets and a floor shifter.

I do plan on swapping out the heads, probably some headers, of course swap to a 4 barrel, and probably go to a nice big cam.

I should have some pics to post later tonight after I get to see it in person.

Ok here is a pic I took of the cowl tag and trying to decode.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.

http://home.comcast.net/~darren.windham/74cowl.JPG

so far it looks like it might have originally been silver(64) and the buckets look original(AN7)

1AD ---------- Classic Pickup Delivery
R ------------- Arlington Plant
09300 ------- Body Production Number
707 ---------- Black Cloth
AN7 ---------- Swivel Bucket Seats
64 ------------ Upper Body Color Black
64 ------------ Lower Body Color Black
11C ---------- Built November The First Week.

another decode I got via pm showed the 707 was vinyl and that 64 code was silver.

I have seen some hints of silver, black, and white so it seems to at least had 2-3 paint jobs. The seats in it are currently vinyl. Very worn but still vinyl.

Thanks for the info. Looks like I definately have a TX elky that is somewhat unique. Looks like I need to find the arlington plant specific codes to get any more info. I'd love to find some confirmation of an SS stripe color to back it up being an SS.

64 is Silver Metallic not Black.
707 is Black cloth and 706 is Black Vinyl for a 74 El Camino.


Sorry bout that.

Thanks for the info. Any idea how I can find out the plant codes for Arlington? Any chance if I contact the plant they would have those records?

I'm guessing if it was a solid silver then if it is an SS it would have had black SS stripes?

Can't help you with the plant codes.