While motoring around one of BC’s beautiful Gulf Islands a couple of weeks back, I stopped for a look at some particulary lovely scenery. To my surprise and pleasure, part of that scenery turned out to be a pair of restored pickups. The vehicle in the foreground, a circa-1968 Chevy El Camino, is really more car than pickup and represents an era when both Ford (which was first with its Ranchero in 1957) and Chevrolet competed for a market that wanted some of the pickup’s hauling ability but preferred the comfort and performance of a car. I suspect that, like today, many were purchased as much for style as practicality, so it was no surprise that Chevrolet offered fancy trim and, from 1968, the SS396 performance engine with 325 hp. The El Camino was launched in 1959, ceased production after 1960, reappeared four years later, and disappeared forever in the late 1980′s. Incidentally, not long after spotting this car I saw an even rarer car/pickup built on the VW Rabbit platform. It was on the move, so no chance for photos.
June 20th, 2006
Spotted: A Different Kind of Crossover
by admin | Posted in General Motors | 1 Comment » |
1 Comment »
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I don’t mean to be contradictory, but I believe the El Camino remained in production until the late 1970′s or early ’80′s. I’m no ElCo expert, but a friend in high school drove a “Caballero” trim package EL Camino back in ’83 that was only a year or three old.
Given the spate of “crossover” SUV’s congesting our national arterials, I’m surprised that GM hasn’t reintroduced the El Camino for North America (Holden still produces “utes” in Aus). Contrary personalities might point to the relative failure of the recent (largely unlamented) SSR, but the SSR lacked the performance and – more importantly – the practicality of the El Camino.
June 25, 2006 @ 9:57 pm