Re: Pic Thread: Not Just El Caminos
 

It's VW that named that model the Caddy. I guess it didn't catch on. There were never a whole lot of them compared to Rabbits, so everyone knew what you meant if you called it a Rabbit pickup.
The idea back then was simply mpg with most everything. Vettes were gutless, but they had more power to start with. That VW diesel was conceived in that era, so good power was never a concern from the git-go. Those things were gutless. Tractor Trailers running 4-way flashers (-40 mph) would be passing them at the top of the mountain.

The Karmann Ghias were around since 1955, so there were plenty of cheap older ones around. I wanted one as old as my Bug and if you could afford an old bug you could afford a Ghia. They were seen as much an odd little car as a a sports car. They weren't exactly accepted as a racy sports car. They weren't a car you saw raced. It was a known fact they had the same power as a Bug and the Bugs were seen as the slow poke on the hiway. You could find a Porsche 1600 Super for just a little more. Mostly you were looking at higher operating costs compared to VWs. That's the only reason I felt I couldn't afford one. I had opportunities I almost went for.

Re: Pic Thread: Not Just El Caminos
 

On the topic of gutless. Our Chevy dealership sold three '70 Chevy IIs to the local school district for the janitors to use. :crazy: They wanted cheap, and cheap they got. Cheaper than any truck available at the time, I'm sure. They had only the base 4 (!) cylinder engines; two were 3OTT, the last had Torque-Drive. Y'all remember that, right? The Powerglide that was so cheap (didn't even have a valve body!) you had to shift it yourself. That thing was a real stone.

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/auto...er-powerglide/

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In the mid 60's GM also had a powerglide trans with no provision for an oil cooler. The bell housing had holes in it to air cool the torq converter. My buddy had a 67 Nova with 6 cylinder and air cooled power glide trans.

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The coal mine I worked at 23 years ago used rabbit diesel pickups with the roof cut off to haul work crews under ground. Then EPA changes around 2000 caused them to upgrade to other trucks .

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Early Vegas were the same way.

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I think those Iron Dukes have way more guts than those early VW diesels. At least you could warm those up with some work

Put a little diesel in one of these

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Faces only a mother could love, though the 1st, 3rd and 4th are kind of OK. A 3-71 Jimmy would make a great powerplant. Wouldn't even need a blower! :lol:

Of course, I've only ever seen them in small tracked vehicles...

I'd be afraid to put an SBC in one, but some of the V-6s would be an interesting addition. I'd never drive any of those on the street, though.

Re: Pic Thread: Not Just El Caminos
 

To each their own. I like these and wish I had one. Do they look that bad or are they just something you're not used to seeing? Car looks can grow on you. Maybe I like them because I grew up playing with Matchbox Toys, mostly European vehicles.

Now look. I think you've gone and offended this one :lol:

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:lol: Yeah. It reminds me of my ex wife.

I like the English trucks. They look cool. But I don't think I'd want to drive one around here. It's only two lanes and I get tailgated as is. Even in my Porsche. What can I say I'm an old man. I don't drive that fast. Those days are gone. People up here drive like maniacs. No matter how fast you're going it isn't fast enough. I've had people pass me when I was going 75 mph. Well excuuuse me!

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Not on topic in the least, I was reading your sig and it sent me down a youtube rat hole ... Thanks!

Harvey Danger: Flagpole Sitta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYsMjEeEg4g

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Cadi-mino? I found the one K posted on google images by typing in Cadillac flower cars. Here's another.

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Yup. I didn't know if anyone would catch that. :lol:

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I know what you mean , I'll reach over to check the shift lever to make sure I'm in gear on the interstate when they come flying past... I've even had them pass on the right on a two lane Hiway.

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You mean you drive like someone who has matured with age? I don't feel responsible for the impatience of others, or their mindless way of driving. If you don't like being behind me at the speed I'm driving you should've left earlier. You didn't, so pass me. Until then, back off or I'm slowing down. If you won't maintain a safe distance than we need to decrease our speed to make it safe.

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I don't think I've matured with age at all and my wife will back me up on that one. :lol:

I like to relax and enjoy my drives. I don't need some idiot that's about to drop a deuce in his shorts riding my rear bumper. The closer you get, the slower I go.

It just messes up the driving experience.

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http://67-72chevytrucks.com/gallery/.../VW_pickup.jpg

I briefly had a 66 fastback.(no flatbed) Same color. I got it from my friend for a hundred bucks. It was a clean car but the motor was shot. My dad's buddy was a VW guy. So my dad fronted me the money and had him rebuild the motor in it and the guy liked the car so much that he bought it. My old man sold it to him. I never did get to drive it. :lol:

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Now that is a notchback! I was a VW guy and I always wondered why people only messed with bugs. After getting my Euro-style '56 Bug all done I was looking at doing the same treatment to a Ghia and/or a Notchback. A Squareback would have been a cool surf wagon but a bus was better. The Notchback to me had the appeal of a BMW 1600/2002tii, similar lines. Just a well balanced 2dr sedan body.

I probably showed these. But we're talking VWs in a Cuck, I mean Trar picture thread

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Notchback's were always a rare bird. I don't think that the were marketed really heavily in the US, just Squarebacks and Fastbacks. Mostly Squarebacks. I always liked them but rarely saw one.

I wouldn't mind parking this next to my Packard fastback.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/gallery/...kard_Truck.jpg

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I'd own it

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That's a nice rendering if that's what it is. I think they cheaped out on the rear of it though. Nice smooth body panels like that deserve a nice smooth tail gate as well instead of that flat boxy utility looking tail gate. JMO

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I don't know if the pic is real or not. You can never tell these days. But the tailgate does need something.

I always liked these. I realize that they're just a gussied up Ford but I liked them. Just too expensive. Probably why they didn't sell well and Lincoln didn't make too many.

The Blackwood was kind of a test. Lincoln found that most people that had expensive cars also had pickups. So why not combine the two and make a Lincoln pickup? It didn't really work. I think that they only made them for a year or two.

Funny it worked with the Cadillac Escalade. That's just a Suburban all prettied up. But my son in law had to have an Escalade because it was a Cadillac. :rolleyes:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/gallery/.../Blackwood.jpg

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My neighbors have a Blackwood. The wife drives it.

I think that Packard is real. I like how the bed and tailgate were done. I like the contrast of the utilitarian design. I like that it looks 'created'. And the thought of a Packard pickup is getting funky and here ya go! The way they handled the top could bother me more. The Packard looks early-50s and that roof looks late-50s/early-60s. It should be rounded

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My '72...Unfortunately...Sold

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That Nash is cool. And it's a crew cab. :)

I know it may be a topic of debate but I always liked the stripes on the bed of the Blackwood.

I stumbled upon this on the internet. A 1981 Ford Fairmont Durango. I'd never heard of one. I think Ford should have made them instead of killing the Ranchero. But then again Chevy nixed the El Camino. I don't understand why. They both sold well. I guess not enough for the bean counters.

Fairmont's were crappy cars but wasn't pretty much everything in the dark days of 1981

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/gallery/...um/Durango.jpg

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Then there was the Pontiac "El Camino". A prototype that never made it to production. Though, I wish it would have. A right smart looking automobile.

Hemmings story here...

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/201...lina-prototype

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That is unfortunate. Especially since it wasn't sold to me.

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That Nash is super cool. Funky is cool, right?

I don't mind the stripes on a Blackwood. I never looked into what those were all about. I always figured the intention was to look like inlay in wood.

When I met my X she was driving a '79 Fairmont Futura. This was around 82/83. I paid no attention to and had no interest in any cars made in the '70s, more so as the decade went on. This was '82 and that Fairmont was just another dumb big bumper '70s can with an engine attached to the smog pump. But I did end up liking driving that car. Not for the power, but it drove nice. It looked as good as a car could back then, dark blue with blue cloth buckets. It had a 3spd +O/D on the floor and a 6cyl.

They didn't stop making El Caminos and Rancheros. They turned them into trucks

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I rented a Fairmont to go on my first honeymoon. It was badged as an LTD but it was a Fairmont. I don't know who Ford thought they were kidding but you're right it was a comfortable car. We drove it up the coast highway to San Francisco. It was a nice ride. Ugly as sin, the color of baby poop, but i didn't care. It was just a rental car.

Sadly El Camino's and Ranchero's have morphed into SUV's with tiny open beds. I wish GM had imported the Holden Ute's like the last GTO's.

It reminds me of when I bought a cab for my 70 shortbed. My buddy said that we could go get it in his F150. I thought that would be cool. It didn't cross my mind that he had 4 kids. I didn't realize how small the bed was on his truck. I had never paid attention to it. I told him that the cab wouldn't fit. He said it would. The seller was waiting. So we went. I just kept thinking "It's not going to fit' .

Well we did get it home after a long white knuckle ride up the 57 Freeway. It was nice of my buddy to help me but he did have a wife and 4 kids. I think it was just an excuse to get out of the house. :lol:


http://67-72chevytrucks.com/gallery/.../tightfit1.jpg

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My Springer . Fat boy rear fender with frenched in ford tailight. Welded in a patch then used lead . Body filler would have just cracked .

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Well that certainly isn't an El Camino. :lol:

I think you got the wrong thread Mark. :haha:

Hey we've all done it.

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Thought I was in the random photo thread.

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I knew it the moment I saw it. :lol:

I've done exactly the same thing. Whoops... Wrong thread. :dohh: :haha:

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Basically, you can show your rear end in either thread. :lol:

I wish I had thought to learn modern lead work when dad and I had the body shop. It's a lost art as they say.

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I used the real lead not the substitute stuff . Not much call for it anymore as you cant use it on new cars metal is way to thin . Most bodymen are now just R&R techs my sons new Toyota parts came painted ! The door that they took off wasnt badly damaged , I could had it fixed it a few hours. They gave him some BS that once a door even just the skin with no damage to the rest isnt safe anymore.

When my Chevelle got damaged I had to search for a shop that would even give me an estimate. One guy even said "We dont do that kind of work" . I kinda went off on him,the owner that he should take the collision repair off his sign .

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While we're lost here I'll post about my Harley fender/tail lamp. My Heritage came with a turn signal bar under the '73-newer tail lamp. My bike came without saddlebags and those turn signals looked dumb hanging out there. Also, the bike's whole meaning is to resemble an older Harley. The fender also has the plastic fender tip light that came on the dressers. I bought a Fat Boy fender (no turn signal holes/dentations and no fender tip light), cut out the tail lamp area, and welded in a smooth patch to mount a tombstone light.

Shoot. I thought I had pictures on this computer. I. It's all I have just put this one on here last week
Attachment 2218712

There's the "It's not a truck" argument just like there's the "Short bed can't haul enough" argument. I'm a truck guy, so my reply about the short bed is "I'm a truck guy. I have trucks that can haul plenty with and the short bed is my car I can haul a little less with". My short beds are my El Caminos. An El Camino would be my muscle car... that could haul a little less.

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I like them all. But like in the hauling my cab instance a long bed or a flatbed would have been a lot more convenient.

Short bed's and El Camino's are the best looking trucks in my who gives a rats rear end opinion. And an El Camino is a truck. They might be Chevelle's but they're still trucks. They aren't a coupe, they aren't a sedan. They are a truck. A very cool truck. And I know the later models were Malibu's. But that was just GM dropping the Chevelle name. They used to be Chevelle Malibu's.
At least that's what I remember.

This is not an El Camino. It's a Chevelle. No bed. Although I kind of wish it had one. Perhaps with a camper with some liquor in it. ;)

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/gallery/...ium/Malibu.jpg

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I don't like that car but I want to buy it because there is a very happy friendly looking attractive young woman posing with it. Where do I sign?

The whole debate is simple but people want to be hard headed. A vehicle can be a car or a truck. Which one is based on it's core design. A car is designed to carry passengers and a truck is designed to haul cargo. With cars, and now even light trucks, you have different body types, sedan, coupe, roadster, convertible, station wagon, etc. With trucks you have pickups or cab & chassis. Designers created a car with a pickup body and called it an El Camino. The El Camino is not a truck. It is a car that is a pickup. It's a pickup because it has a bed and tailgate. Ever since these type of vehicles were created we have vehicles that are "pickup trucks" and we have vehicles that are just "pickups" that are not trucks. I don't know why everybody can't agree with that.

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You could just split the difference and call the El Camino / Ranchero era designs...Crucks.

LOL!

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That's right, cruck or tar. Who can argue with that??

I always wanted one of these Morris pickups. I first saw them in The Bahamas. Just a simple little bop about. I'd want one stock like these. I think the fourth picture shows a converted car, the original idea that created the El Camino

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I always wanted one of those Morris's. I worked with a guy that had a Sunbeam Imp with surfboard racks on it. He was a big surfer. He found a Morris woody wagon and tried like crazy to get it. But the guy just wanted too much money for it. I saw it and it had been restored but it had also been parked outside for a long time. I think the guy wanted what he had in it and that wasn't going to happen.