El Caminos are great when you need the utility of a pickup without the added height or harshness of one. But what to do when you want El Camino looks but you enjoy the ride that a 30-year-old truck provides? You drop an El Camino body onto a one-ton truck chassis, much like someone has done with this 1977 model, for sale here on Craigslist somewhere in New Hampshire. Thanks to AMXBrian for the submission!
I’ve always been fond of El Caminos, but I’m not entirely sure why. They strike me as an interesting but odd combination of truck and car (pickup-car?), although I’m not sure they fully substitute for either. Maybe it’s just their uniqueness, or that you could get them with the same high-performance options as their Chevelle stablemates in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s, making them into unlikely high-performance cars. Whatever it is that makes them alluring to me, though, apparently didn’t draw in enough buyers, as the El Camino was discontinued after the 1987 model year.
This El Camino has been swapped onto an ’85 one-ton four-wheel-drive truck chassis. While I’m sure this did nothing for the truck’s ride or handling, it likely makes it much better-suited to off-roading, towing or plowing. The seller doesn’t go into too many specifics, but he does say that the truck needs new floors welded in and describes the truck as a project, so it’s probably safe to assume that this truck will need a fair bit of work to make it daily-driveable.
The seller suggests that the truck would be great for off-roading or mudding, and based on his description of the truck, that seems like the best use for it in its current configuration. These were pretty big trucks, though, so I don’t think you’d be taking it down any tight trails. What would you do with this truck? Finish it, restore it, or drive it as is, confident in your ability to see over the roof of any Dodge half-ton truck you pulled up behind?
that TRAR “half truck/half car” is something else….Being from NH I am not sure if I am proud or scared?
Why ?
That thing would never pass safety inspection to get plates here in Missouri, bumper height would fail.
Ah, the quintessential redneck cruiser. But shouldn’t it be from ‘Bama and not New Hampshire?
New Hampshire. Only Subaru.
The Outback is perfect for a day outing going antique shopping.
The only thing is missing the mud swappers here in Florida I think this would be legal and I would have to put bigger tires and a new paint job. Other then that it’s amazing car.
Why do people drop acid and do things like this to otherwise decent vehicles?
Its easier to justify a dually Commanche than this monstrosity. But alas, to each their own.
The snowplow frame isn’t conducive to off-roading, they tend to get hung up on all kinds of stuff. The wide tires aren’t good for plowing snow either, they kinda float around and get real squirrelly. Control becomes a problem. What I see here is something that isn’t good for anything.
This could be tough to get in to.I’d like to see someone beside it, as a reference. Definately taller than the Ram.
“The” way? I’d say no.
A way? sure. Though, probably wouldn’t be the way I would go with it.
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Depending upon the gears it’s the start of a nice rock-crawler! The price is low enough so you could have enough money to finish the project! Maybe? Alot of mabies?
El Caminos are the Mullet of the car world
Waste of a perfectly good El Camino.
They didn’t fail to attract buyers. They were undercut on price by the S10. Internal competition killed it.
Bama Cruiser
No state inspection here in East T.N. I would lay a killer paint job on it and use it for food shopping.Bruce.
I suspect that actually using this rig to plow snow would be challenging, since that driving position would not let you actually see your plow…..
This is the way.