On the topic of gutless. Our Chevy dealership sold three '70 Chevy IIs to the local school district for the janitors to use.
They wanted cheap, and cheap they got. Cheaper than any truck available at the time, I'm sure. They had only the base 4 (!) cylinder engines; two were 3OTT, the last had Torque-Drive. Y'all remember that, right? The Powerglide that was so cheap (didn't even have a valve body!) you had to shift it yourself. That thing was a
real stone.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/auto...er-powerglide/