1980 Chevrolet El Camino Super Sport: The 350 Disappears

This record's own overview states that Tradecraft Specialties lists RPO Z15 as the El Camino's Super Sport package throughout the 1978-1987 run, named simply "Super Sport" for 1980, and describes it as up-level trim with SS badging and rally wheels rather than a distinct model line. This record's own dek identifies the car as the fifth-generation El Camino, with no production count from a verifiable source found for the SS package itself.¹

This record's own key facts state that Chevrolet priced the 1980 El Camino Super Sport, model 1AW80 with Z15, at $5,933.60 MSRP against $5,715.60 for the base 1AW80, for cars built from January 2, 1980. They add that for 1980 the largest El Camino engine was the 155-net-horsepower 305 four-barrel LG4, that the 350 was no longer listed at all, and that the standard engine became the 229 V6, a smaller displacement than the 231 V6 this same record's own engines section shows as the California-only alternative.

This record's own production rows carry a single figure from a separate source, 40,952 El Caminos built for 1980 across all trims, and the record's own note says plainly this total is not an SS count and that the article reporting it does not name its own source for the year. The production notes state that no Chevrolet production report was seen for this year, so an El Camino SS-specific count exists only as an unverified lead rather than a row in this record's own production table.²

This record's own conflicts section documents a genuine price dispute: the GM information kit's $5,933.60 MSRP for the SS with V6, effective with the January 2, 1980 schedule, against a magazine-reported $6,128 with no schedule date stated, and the record's own treatment explains that Chevrolet raised prices several times within the model year, so the magazine figure likely reflects a different schedule and neither number replaces the other. Its own unpublished leads section separately flags a Wikipedia claim of 40,932 total production with 5,444 SS units, sourced to a page that redirected to a paid-access gateway and so could not be verified.²

This record's own engines section documents a 115-horsepower LC3 229 V6 standard outside California, a 110-horsepower LD5 231 V6 for California only at no additional charge, a 120-horsepower L39 267 V8 optional outside California, and the 155-horsepower LG4 305 V8 optional, carrying two ratings that differ only in torque between federal and California tune. Its transmissions section documents a standard three-speed limited to the 229 V6, a four-speed manual for the 305 V8 outside California with the record noting a limited-slip axle was not available alongside it, and an automatic offered with every engine.

This record's own options section prices the L39 267 at $80.00, the LG4 305 at $195.00, and the MX1 automatic at $358.00, all effective with vehicles produced on and after January 2, 1980. Its specifications section documents a 3,188-pound curb weight for the six-cylinder El Camino against 3,200 pounds with Z15 fitted, a 117.1-inch wheelbase, and a 201.6-inch overall length, and this record's own performance and identification sections are both empty for 1980.