I feel like I’ve been sitting somewhere covered up for years most of the time, but that’s really the case with this 1986 Chevrolet El Camino, according to the seller. This car appears to be in really nice cosmetic condition and they shout from the hilltops that it has NO RUST and I believe it. They have it posted here on craigslist in Lynnwood, Washington, just north of Seattle, and they’re asking $9,200 or reasonable offers. Here is the original listing.
The seller says this El Camino was sitting under a cover for a few years. We don’t know how long it’s been in storage, but it sure seems to have preserved it, however long it was. The body looks incredible, and this is the two-door version. Just kidding, all El Caminos had two doors, a body style that most likely wouldn’t make it today if it was a new vehicle. There are still a few two-door-only cars out there, but not as many as decades ago.
The fifth-generation El Camino was made for the 1978 through 1987 model years and being a post-1982 car, this one was on GM’s B-body rather than the original A-body as the ’78 to ’81 cars were. A 1986 El Camino brochure says, “El Camino is proof you can have it all … utility and beauty in the same vehicle.” I think they may be right. Speaking of utility, here’s what the bed looks like.
As a base model, there are no power windows here, which we often see on higher-trim El Caminos. Most of you probably don’t care about that anyway on your vintage vehicles. The interior looks incredible, which isn’t surprising given how nice the body looks and presumably being in Washington state for decades. Half of the photos in the listing are skinny vertical photos so I had to stretch them out, my apologies for the pixelated look. The seller nails it by even showing the area behind the seat, a very nice touch. The only thing I noticed inside is the carpet seems disconnected at the driver’s sill (the only door we see open, and the sill also seems to be missing) and the headliner appears to be missing or partially missing.
The engine could benefit from a weekend of detailing, but that’s for the next owner to do. This should be the standard engine between 1985 and 1987, a fuel-injected 4.3-liter OHV V6 with 140 horsepower and 225 lb-ft of torque when new. Sending power to the rear wheels through an automatic transmission, it’s said to run very well with crisp shifts. It has a new windshield and rear quarter glass, a new electric fuel pump in the gas tank, a new battery, and a new distributor. Hagerty is at $9,100 for a #4 good-condition car and the seller may be right on the money here, given storage unknowns. How much would you pay for this great-looking El Camino?
Practical transportation. 😎 Nice El Camino
I wonder, with the lack of options, that this originally had hupcaps?
On the back cover of Dwight Yoakam’s “Just Lookin For a Hit” CD (1989) he is pictured with an El Camino with a style of hubcap that I remember being mounted on many an S-10. No wheel moldings, either, just like this one.
I like the Rallys, and the automatic overdrive with the V6 is a bonus.
No tilt wheel is a penalty…
the 4.3 is not exciting but I do know more than one person who put over 300,000 miles on theirs
I’ve owned two 4.3 V6’s, and all I can say is, “it has the economy of a V8 and the power or a 6”..in other words, thirsty and under powered. They are definitely not the smoothest engine out there either.
One of the nicest looking vehicles of the era.
4.3 is great engine
It is. The new owner should be able to get $200 to $300 for it when he slots in a 383.
CT Dave
Looks like the motor mount broke and the fan blade did some damage!
The 4.3 V6 is quite possibly one of the toughest and most durable engines of our time. My 1995 Silverado had a 4.3 with a 5 speed. I drove it 24 years with heavy towing and hauling and it had 510,000 miles on it when I sold it running on the original engine, timing chain, TBI, and still pulling down 20 mpg. The valve covers were never off. It’s still running somewhere in Melbourne, fl.
I’ve owned two of those boat anchors, (in a Caprice and an Astro van) and if I got 15 mpg I was happy.
That timing belt has to be stretched – causing some loss of power. Should have been replaced twice by now with that many miles.
Have u not heard of the later ’60s chevy straight 6 with 7 main bearings & no timing chain or belt? My friend’s 6 cyl nova gets at least 25 mpg on hiway with a powerglide & 1 bbl carb & 3:07 rear & turbo muffler.
The 4.3 V6 in this car kills it for me. Otherwise it looks like a nice car. If it had the small-block I’d look at it, since the location is only 40 miles from here.
I believe that the same body was used on el Camino’s from 78-87 while the Monte Carlo went to the wider g body the El Camino stayed on the previous generation no body parts from 81-87 elcos will interchange with 81-87 montes I have an 85 El Camino ss rest mod
The El Camino is a G body car and some of the parts from a Monte Carlo will fit on a El Camino. You can transfer the front clip from a Monte along with the radiator support and put it on a El Camino
Steve that is true the 78-81 monte anan ELC front clip were interchangeable but 82-87 the g body was wider and nothing interchanged without extensive modification that why the nose on a choo choo elco looks like a monte ss but the monte nose will not fit a elco
I think a properly executed example of this body style would sell very well these days.
Give it two doors, a bit more room behind the seats for stowage (but no stupid folding child seats that just suck up space), a minimum 6 foot bed length and at least 4 feet between the wheel wells, a half ton weight capacity, and AWD and you’d have a very practical driver with enough room to do all your Home Deport runs or haul motorcycles.
What the Honda Ridgeline or Subaru Baja should have been.
I had a 1983 with a V6, same color as this one, light briar brown, all gauges, it had hubcaps. I bought every hubcap I could find in the Calumet Region of NW Indiana. It kept throwing them!
Rode like a Cadillac!