# Chevrolet Super Sport?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chevrolet-super-sport/836015>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 25, 2019, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chevrolet-super-sport/836015 "2019-06-25T04:10:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mcmechanic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Mcmechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mcmechanic)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chevrolet-super-sport/836015/1 "2019-06-25T04:10:01Z")

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Ok so I’m a car nut, and with that a history enthusiast especially as it pertains to the automotive industry. I have a hard time not interweaving the 2 in regards to the 20th century.  
The Super Sport (SS) was introduced in 1961 as a upgraded trim level on the Chevrolet Impala. Is there any evidence that this designation was a result of returning military vets who served in Europe and would have come across SS insignias in Nazi Germany? I would imagine by 1961 there would be former vets within GM who had worked their way into key management decision positions. I’m not saying it was a sign of hatred, just that the service members would have thought the designation was imprinted on there memory. Any evidence that GI’s saw/killed SS members and called the fuckers Super Sports?

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**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chevrolet-super-sport/836015/2 "2019-06-25T04:24:50Z")

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That sound like tin foilery to me. I always assumed (so correct me if wrong) that super sport was marketed as " even better than rally sport/RS"

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**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chevrolet-super-sport/836015/3 "2019-06-25T04:30:06Z")

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Short version – no. None at all. And I have always hated Chevy and would be more than happy to attribute any evil I could to their doorstep. For whatever reason Chevy has made “super sport” or “SS” versions of lots of cars and not just the sometimes popular Super-Sh\*t. It started some sort of flap in Israel understandably so but before the last 10 years I can’t remember it being much of an issue.

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**Author:** ![Mcmechanic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Mcmechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mcmechanic)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chevrolet-super-sport/836015/4 "2019-06-25T04:30:26Z")

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The Rally sport was introduced years later on the Camaro. But yes, maybe total tinfoil hattery territory.

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**Author:** ![Mcmechanic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Mcmechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mcmechanic)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chevrolet-super-sport/836015/5 "2019-06-25T04:34:26Z")

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The Rally sport was introduced years later on the Camaro. But yes, maybe total tinfoil hattery territory.  
And not attributing the designation as some form of evil plot, just that is there any evidence of a connection, not conspiracy.

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**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chevrolet-super-sport/836015/6 "2019-06-25T16:09:57Z")

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That’s reminds me of a similar story. Jaguar started out as [S.S. Cars Limited](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_Cars#History), and they officially changed their name to Jaguar in 1945. I’d always hear that the reason for the name change was due to the negative connotation of the German SS.

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**Author:** ![Seren359](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@Seren359](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seren359)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chevrolet-super-sport/836015/7 "2019-06-25T16:38:45Z")

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> [@WildaBeast](#):
>
> That’s reminds me of a similar story. Jaguar started out as [S.S. Cars Limited](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_Cars#History), and they officially changed their name to Jaguar in 1945. I’d always hear that the reason for the name change was due to the negative connotation of the German SS.

**Swallow Sidecar Company**

Towards the end of the war on 23 March 1945 the SS Cars Limited shareholders in general meeting agreed to change the company’s name to Jaguar Cars Limited. Said Chairman William Lyons "Unlike S.S. the name Jaguar is distinctive and cannot be connected or confused with any similar foreign name

> **[Swallow Sidecar Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swallow_Sidecar_Company)**
>
> Swallow Sidecar Company,\[note 1\] Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company, and Swallow Coachbuilding Company were trading names used by Walmsley & Lyons, partners and joint owners of a British manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars and automobile bodies in Blackpool, Lancashire (later Coventry, Warwickshire), before incorporating a company in 1930 to own their business, which they named Swallow Coachbuilding Company Limited.
> Under co-founder William Lyons, its business continued to prosper as S...
