The El Camino outlasted the Ford Ranchero in the “coupe utility” market. From 1964 to 1987, the El Camino was a pickup variant of the mid-size Chevelle automobile. So, its ride and handling were superior to that of a Chevy C10. The seller has a beautiful 1971 El Camino that was given a sizeable investment in its cosmetic and mechanical profile. Located in Cedarville, New Jersey, this “Ute” is available here on craigslist for $29,500 OBO. Mitchell G. gets an attaboy for this cool tip!
Treated to the same styling updates as the 1971 Chevelle, the El Camino looked just like a Malibu from the front clip. But it could haul most of the same cargo as a Chevy ½-ton pickup. The GM division assembled more than 41,000 El Caminos in ’71, a figure consistent with other model years in the decade. And it almost always outsold the major competition, the Ranchero.
The seller’s Ute sports new red paint and a new black interior. The odometer reads just 58,000 miles, so maybe it had a hard prior life, or the odometer is on its second time around. The Chevy should attract more than its fair share of attention at Cars & Coffee, as it’s too nice now to be used as a mule.
We’re told the pickup runs and drives well with a likely 350 cubic-inch V8 under the hood. It’s paired with an automatic transmission (TH-350?). You should have no trouble getting from Points A & B thanks to new tires, a new radiator, alternator, water pump, and battery. With cold air conditioning (aftermarket compressor?), you should be cruising in comfort, as well.
Nice one. AC is aftermarket according to the interior shot. Really nice rig here.
Good eye. The underhood shot shows a standard heater core cover, not a factory installed evaporator. Nice truck, no matter what kind of cold air it has!
I like 71 El Camino’s and have had a few. The pictures don’t clearly show rust prone areas, nor the bed, the area under the trim is typically painted argent. The engine looks like a target master crate 350. The asking price is agressive, it needs to be beyond nice and more than a coat of shiny red paint. Considering the high asking price, why weren’t the brakes upgraded from manual drums?
Steve R
AGoodwrench 350 would be fine. A TargetMaster 350 would be bad. Those were remans from Mexico, bad reputation for a reason.
Everything old is new again.
I own a 1971 Chevelle since 1989 and I am from NJ. This El Camino is nice would like to see undercarriage pictures for that kind of money. The A/C is aftermarket and the engine is a GM replacement but that would not bother me to much as long as everything else is clean!
nice car. could use a tire/wheel change and better job with the exhaust. seller should have taken advantage of the craigslist listing as they let you post 25 pics. as the other commentors have said the rust prone areas should have been shown especially the frame up front being in nj 1 of the rust capitols of the east coast
The el Camino was also produced for the ‘59 & ‘60 model years.
Same old story with lack of pictures, especially the underside, and more pics of the interior. Jeez, is it so hard? I like the a/c compressor look better than those shiny aluminum ones. Looks like one from a Ford. Can’t tell if they used the outer dash vents.