What to make of Chevrolet’s 1959 El Camino? What to make of the 1959 Chevrolet, in general, I suppose I could ask, considering its late fifties, over-the-top styling. And from my perch, that exaggerated styling is even more obvious on the new for 1959 El Camino, such as this Conneaut, Ohio example. This subject is a project with possibility, so let’s take a closer look. You can find it here on eBay, where it’s available for a current bid of $10,946 with the reserve not yet met.

We’ve covered the origins, volumes, trim levels, powerplants, etc of Chevy’s Ranchero competitor many times before, so I’ll dispense with that for now, other than to say that Chevy moved 22K El Caminos in its inaugural year of 1959, out-selling Ford’s third-year Ranchero. “Stainless Steel” is the watchword here, and Chevrolet’s of all stripes had a beaucoup amount of the shiny stuff in ’59 (as did most domestic auto manufacturers.) While this primered example seems void of most of it, no fear, the unattached pieces are included in the sale.

The curvaceous body of the ute presents well with no sign of rust or body damage – the hood being the most obvious outlier.  The listing is lax in the description department, but it does state, “body is in real good shape.” The bumpers have a nice luster, but the complex grille appears to have been spray-painted. The argent painted steel wheels are a decent choice, but I can’t recall from where they originated – an S-10 maybe? Anyone want to offer up a suggestion? There is one non-comprehensive image of the cargo bed included, and from what can be seen, it looks OK.

Inside, we find what looks like a sixties-era redo with bucket seats that feature diamond stitching, accentuated with buttons. They appear to be in fair shape and match the rest of the interior’s hue. Once again, “stuff”, in this case, the air cleaner assembly, is parked on the passenger floor, obscuring the total view. Nice to find is the original steering wheel – so often tossed on back yard modified projects, and while it’s not cracked, it is delaminating.

The 185 gross HP, 283 CI V8 engine, said to be original, is still holding court in the engine room. It’s connected to a three-speed manual, floor-shifted transmission and is said to “start right up.” Included in the sale is a 1959 vintage four-holer intake manifold and Rochester 4-Bbl carburetor, as well as a Muncie four-speed manual transmission of unknown provenance. The seller adds, “new tires on front…brakes work good…new gas tank…new air shocks…”

The seller concludes with, “Fun car…no time to finish,” – that no time to finish, a concluding comment found in the listings of so many project cars that I review. I am an El Camino fan, but I’ll admit that I’ve never warmed up to these first-gen (’59-’60) examples. But that’s just me; how about you? Any interest in taking on this uncommon project?