The Chevy Impala captured the hearts of many car owners in the 60s, much to the disadvantage of the El Camino. Worse, the El Camino came late to the coupe utility car party (1959), two years after Ford had debuted the Ranchero in 1957. Still, the Chevrolet El Camino remains an iconic name in American classic car history. But what if? What if the El Camino had a head start before the Ranchero?
We all know the answer to that. It could have caught on and sold more units. Unfortunately, they’d be everywhere, abused and neglected, and junkyard finds like these wouldn’t be interesting.
That doesn’t mean the Chevy El Camino wasn’t appreciated. If anything, it slowly continued to grow to capture its fan base. What’s best, General Motors offered variable powerplant options on this coupe utility car.
Chris of Nononsenseknowhow YouTube channel recently stumbled upon a junkyard 1974 El Camino. It had a 350 small block engine and 87,983 miles (141,451 kilometers) and had been sitting for about 20 years. Like the classic car fanatic he is, the plan was to get it running by the end of his visit.
“What else I do know about this is the engine rotates freely, and he did have it fired up on some starter fluid spitting and sputtering. So, feeling pretty confident,” Chris said.
Chris was hoping to get this classic running perfectly in time for the Duct Tape Drag event that took place over the weekend at the Tucson Dragway in Arizona.
As you’d expect, this El Camino had a few issues. Even though the previous owner said the engine turned over, it didn’t have a trustworthy fuel tank, it had a couple of rust holes, a faulty master cylinder, and the tires were worn to the belts.
The ’74 El Camino was a straight shot runner and didn’t take a lot of work to fire. After hooking up an auxiliary fuel tank, it roared back to life. Still, the carburetor needed a replacement kit before it could run perfectly. And even after firing, this ol' girl still needed some valve work and transmission service.
We recommend catching the rest of that action in the video below. There’s a lot to learn about getting an abandoned classic running.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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