Minneapolis Street Sighting: Chevrolet El Camino

Continuing my Chevrolet theme, I bring readers this El Camino. If that front end looks familiar, there's a reason for it. Like the popular Australian term ute, the same term applies to the El Camino and Ford Ranchero sold in the 'states. Take a midsize passenger car, and build a cargo hold in place of the rear seats, and market it as a car/truck hybrid. There technically were trucks by the EPA, but since they were built on car frames, they are designed to meet crash standards for passenger cars--which in the 1970s and 1980s were fairly low, but still.

The El Camino was in production from 1959 to 1960, then reappeared in 1964 to finish its production run; in 1959-1960, it was based on the same platform as the Chevrolet fullsizers (Brookwood, Impala, Del Ray etc), but then in 1964, it switched to being based on the midsize offerings, where it stood until its 1987 demise; howeve, unlike the Monte Carlo I brought readers yesterday, the El Camino was not revived at a later date--unless said reader lives in Australia, where it is sold as the Holden Ute. I have seen custom jobs based on the W-body Lumina, and its successor the Impala--and even the front-wheel-drive Monte Carlo, but those are one-offs and were not licensed by Chevrolet.

 I like these--and I am not afraid to admit it; I often see these midly riced out, or donked out, so its refreshing to see a stock one--although I have blogged quite a number of them already, they never get old.  I like the stock wheels on this one, and I like the pain silver color; I don't really like two-tone on these, so I'm glad this one isn't two-toned like most of them here.

I dig the stock wheels on these, and I think stock is best here. Sure, people slap horrendous 24s on them, but that looks stupid; leave these alone, thank you.  I can't really say for sure, but I think this might be the one that is now neon yellow that lives on this block. I desperate hope it isn't.

I had fun shooting this truck, and I am glad  shoot it the first time I saw it. Unlike California, and Idaho, these trucklets are fast disappearing here, and I want to document them as best I can.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: Chevrolet El Camino "SS"

Throughout my ongoing tenure of shooting and blogging about cars and trucks, there are those vehicles which I probably shouldn't admit to liking, but I like anyway; of those on my (extensively long), one of them seems like an almost common fixture in the midwest--the Chevrolet El Camino. First introduced in 1959, the El Camino would go on to skip a few model years, then return for the 1964 model year. Oddly enough, the Ford competition didn't skip a year at all between 1957 and 1979. However, the El Camino was in production from 1964 to 1988, so it was in production longer than its competition. While I don't like all generations of the Ranchero, I do like every iteration of Chevrolet's trucklet.

Perhaps my favorite was the last-of-the-breed. Based on the 1978 Malibu sedan, this last-generation trucklet ran basically unchanged for the last ten years of its life.  Available with a choice of V6 and V8 power, there was one for everyone--and if you got tired of the factory powerplant, any number of GM powertrains bolted in without too much hassle.  I wonder why these aren't as common in the pro-touring hobby as their car counterparts? I like them, and I think these look great when done the right way. However,this example could use a few nips and tucks here and there. I'll explain below.

First things first, this isn't an SS model to begin with; aside from that gripe, this thing is generally pretty clean. I'm not a fan of the relocation of the license plate, nor am I fan of that damn grille, but as a whole, this truck is clean. The paint is relatively nice, although it does have orange peel on the doors and fenders. I'd get it resprayed in black, and get a nicer (and probably stock-fit) grille, and possibly a small cowl hood.

The wheels could be better, too, but they're not too bad. I would've chosen some Budniks or something; these look.. blah. I am thankful that the rear tires are decently sized, and not dragster width like many other Elcos are here. I'd also add traction bars below the rear suspension, and add anti-sway bars as well.

The owner said this was powered by a 350. Nice, but a tad lame; I'd go bigger--and forced induction. I think this thing would be awesome with a turbo big block smaller than 400 cubes. Turbo 383 maybe? I'd want it to haul ass (who wouldn't?) but I'd want it sound a little better than a generic V8 though.

There; now that I've stated all the things I'd change, I just gave readers an idea of my perfect El Camino. Anyone wanna help me build it?