Photo: Mecum
We live in an age when carmakers loves to bring back long-gone nameplates. This year alone we’ve seen two major such badged making a comeback: the Ford Bronco (and what a frenzy that was) and the Hummer (this time as an electric machine).
Yet the list of defunct nameplates is longer still. Some of the names on it don’t even deserve a second look, while others would definitely make an impact if resurrected. We like to think the El Camino is part of the category of cars people would like to have back.
Chevy’s adventure into the coupe utility segment was born in 1959, disappeared a bit the following year, and was brought back (good, so there’s a precedent) in 1964. It wasn’t until 1987 that Chevy discontinued it, but not before it trampled the model it was created to beat, the Ford Ranchero.
There were five generations of the El Camino made, and that means there are a lot of them on the roads still. A good portion of these pickups (that was the official category the model was included in the U.S.) went down the aftermarket path, and were transformed into new types of beasts that now come together at auction events across America, and exchange hands at times for incredible sums.
But for that to happen the right stars need to align. And that's not what happened here: an El Camino that got sold at the end of October in Indiana for just $18K (below the pre-auction estimate), but not for its lack of trying.
This particular El Camino is one of the nicest we’ve seen in quite some time. Sporting a green body over a black and green interior, it looks fresh and mostly original, with no unwanted adornments and embelishments. The car comes with power steering, 4-wheel disc brakes, air conditioning, and Classic Instruments gauges.
The American Racing wheels fitted on the El Camino move thanks to the power sent to them through an automatic transmission by the 350ci (5.7-liter) engine that’s fitted under the hood. We are not being told anything about performance specs.
Chevy’s adventure into the coupe utility segment was born in 1959, disappeared a bit the following year, and was brought back (good, so there’s a precedent) in 1964. It wasn’t until 1987 that Chevy discontinued it, but not before it trampled the model it was created to beat, the Ford Ranchero.
There were five generations of the El Camino made, and that means there are a lot of them on the roads still. A good portion of these pickups (that was the official category the model was included in the U.S.) went down the aftermarket path, and were transformed into new types of beasts that now come together at auction events across America, and exchange hands at times for incredible sums.
But for that to happen the right stars need to align. And that's not what happened here: an El Camino that got sold at the end of October in Indiana for just $18K (below the pre-auction estimate), but not for its lack of trying.
This particular El Camino is one of the nicest we’ve seen in quite some time. Sporting a green body over a black and green interior, it looks fresh and mostly original, with no unwanted adornments and embelishments. The car comes with power steering, 4-wheel disc brakes, air conditioning, and Classic Instruments gauges.
The American Racing wheels fitted on the El Camino move thanks to the power sent to them through an automatic transmission by the 350ci (5.7-liter) engine that’s fitted under the hood. We are not being told anything about performance specs.
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