Id rather have a Subaru Brat than a taco....better product. Brat...its how you say El Camino in Japanese.
In 1974 my dad gave me his old El Camino when I needed to replace my '58 VW van race van, and when I had to eventually move across the country from LA to DC. It was metallic maroon (Earl Scheib $39 respray) '64 283 2 barrel 3 speed, leaky air shocks, it had many many miles on it, and rust holes in the floorboards under the mats, but wow did I dig that thing. Me and my labrador Griz went to beaucoups District 37 and District 7 motocross races and out to the desert and to east coast hare scrambles and South Jersey Pine Barrens enduros in it, slept in it race weekends, drove it everywhere, drove across the country 3 times, without burning much oil, and it got (for the day) really good mileage like maybe 20 or so, geared really tall so it turned like 2300 rpm at 70, and it would go fast enough long enough that I think I had to buy 3 recaps to get across the country, and "kerblam flap flap flap" became a familiar sound that trip. Never got the thing about buying expensive good tires once, I kept buying cheap bad ones over and over. Still remember it though, a great car/pickup/whatever it was daily driver/race hauler. Only problem was you couldn't lock your stuff up in the back like in a van and so when I lived in DC things kept being stolen. Yes, it was a twin to Super Hunky's GYDBT, and in fact they met each other more than once, those two El Caminos, out at Indian Dunes. When I moved from DC to Alaska in 1976 I traded it to one of the guys that owned the Dirt Shop, the CZ dealer on Highway 1 in Beltsville Maryland, in return for a pair of mx boots and a snail pipe for my CZ. Hope he liked it! Great car/truck thingy. My dad replaced this one with a cooler one, a red '65, with a 327 4 barrel 4 speed. He won, that was definitely an even cooler ride, and I definitely lost -- when I got to Alaska, for some reason, I bought a hopped up and mildly customized mid engine 64 Dodge van, what a pile of unpleasant undrivability that was in comparison. Anyway, El Caminos are totally cool cars, I always wanted another one. Although I went through a bunch of very practical long wheelbase race vans after that, none of those were nearly as cool.
I dig em. My dad had a couple when I was a kid. An El Camino is right at the top of my list of classics I would like to own. There is a 71-72 around the corner that I keep thinking someday I will see a for sale sign on it and I will buy it.
I'd love too. Unfortunately these were the days of Polaroid film and the ones I had got gone out of an apartment my mother moved into before she was supposed to be in it. The cleaning crew heaved it all. This wouldn't be far from it. Mine was black with dual 4 barrels sticking out of the hood on a high rise with a little more tire tucked into some mini tubs out back.
My dad recently bought a 71 I think. He’s in love with it and therefore I should be too but I’d rather have his 72 z28 back that he screwed himself out of somehow (won’t tell me the whole story). The el camino doesn’t really do it for me.
First car accident I was in, was in a '69 El Camino SS396. Mom was driving, and got t-boned. I was a week overdue, still hadn't come out yet. Dad told the guy that hit her that if anything was wrong with "that kid" he'd kick his ass. He's still looking for him Side note, mom was a bit hard on the 396, she blew it up previous to the wreck. So it actually had a 350 in it when we had our accident.
el camino, el el camino, the front looks like a car, the back looks like a truck. The front is where you drive, the back is where you.... el camino el el camino. That song was the pinnacle of el camino. Otherwise they are stupid. Just lower a real truck if you want handling and a bed.
It is a thread on El Caminos, so anything more truck like than that will qualify frame or not. A first gen Ridgeline will out haul and out tow stock El Caminos as far as I know, 5000lb vs. 4000lb towing anyway.
Having had one of these Auto Gender confused vehicles, "Am I a truck, am I a SUV, i'm so confused!" I must say I'd own one again. Smooth ride (coil overs in the rear) and power to tow a decent amount. That said, the plastic cladding on the side is in Ranchero territory...