I was at my Dad’s over the weekend replacing an ancient water heater as well as the main supply line from the street meter to the house. He lives in an older neighborhood in Milledgeville, Georgia that’s filled with 1960s brick ranch houses – carports are more common than garages in the mild climate here. It’s also a CC-rich environment, with numerous cars from the ’70s on up still in regular use, including this 1982-87 (going by the front grille) El Camino. This one’s a virtual time capsule and looks like it just came home from the dealer.
Throw in some chrome bumpers and I’ll take it. Got a real soft spot for the 1982+.
Yep, the bumpers aren’t typically painted; in fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen them body color. Guessing that was done by the owner either due to personal taste or to cover up damaged/pitting chrome.
What is it, about those quiet, elderly type neighborhoods? They always have an El Camino taking up residency somewhere?
There’s a copper-tan 82-87 El Camino, in nice shape that isn’t too far from my girlfriend’s mom’s area.
The elderly gentlemen uses it daily, as a truck more than a car, too.
Along, with the Elky, there’s an 85 Olds Cutlass 442, an 83 Mustang GT convertible, and an 87 Mustang LX 5.0 hatchback.
There was an 84 Camaro, with a “for sale” sign… But it probably sold, because it’s no longer a resident.
In Israel these are firmly collectors cars, mostly requiring work (most El Caminos were used as intended by GM, i.e., as workhorses owned by contractors and the like, hence most will have led a hard life). We had quite a few as there was a tax advantage back then to owning a truck, and there was even an Israel-only “landau-ised” 5 seater.
Any pictures of the “landau-used” 5 seater?? Sounds interesting!!
Here, see two of my photos:
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Cool!
El Caminos must have one of the highest survival rates among older cars — sometimes I think I see more of them now than I did 30 years ago. And like Sarcasmo noted above, I can think of a number of houses around here that have more than one El Camino in the driveway.
Something has always attracted me to El Caminos, particularly the later (’82-87) models like this one, even though (or perhaps, because) they’re completely impractical as either a car or a truck. This photo is a great one because it really captures this car in its natural habitat!
If you don’t need more than 2 seats, they’re not impractical at all as a car. Not too big, a huge “trunk” if you add a bed cover, sturdy, easy to maintain, and good-looking. Plus if you get an ’85-’87 with the 4.3 V6, it’s fuel injected and the mileage is tolerable.
What a great picture! The house and car both perfectly match; in that they show how maintenance and care can keep things pristine for a long time.
99% of houses and El Camino’s that age are in states of serious disrepair. I’d buy anything secondhand off this homeowner, you know it’s been well taken care of.
Judging by the side mirrors it has to be either a 1986 or a 1987, I really like that blue color featured on this El Camino
Also, there some folks who customize the front end with a nose similar to the 1983-87 Monte Carlo SS. http://www.elcaminocentral.com/showthread.php?t=139465
And on a off-topic sidenote, here some photos of a 1975 Elky with the Laguna nose. http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/158696/
You mean like the Choo Choo Customs El Caminos, made from 1984-87.
The Choo Choo Customs El Camino SSs were actually available from 1983-87.
I forgot. 😉
Chevrolet’s earlier ’55-57 Cameos were an earlier attempt only they were an attempt to make a truck look like a car. They are very rare and I have only seen 2 of them in the wild in the last 55 years. They tried again in ’59-60 to have a car-truck or truck-car in response to the Ford Ranchero. They came back in ’64-77 based on a Chevelle and ’78-87 based on a RWD body. A lot of manufacturers have offered a car-truck over the years but it seems the El Camino has been the one that lasted the longest. There was even a GMC version offered in the ’70’s but its name escapes me, I want to say Conquistador or something like that.
The GMC version was the Sprint at first, then the name changed to Caballero in 1978 with the downsized versions. The Caballero continued to be available alongside the El Camino until 1987.
I had a patient who drove a burgundy 1984. WWII Navy vet who took care of his wife who suffered from dementia. The guy was up promptly at 4 am every morning to start his chores and would be at my door at 9:55am should he need something.
He would tell me how would be buyers would always approach him for his car. When he said he growled and told them to go away I believe it. Sadly he passed away last year at the age of 89 due to cancer. No idea what happened to his wife or his car but I’m sure relatives were involved.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that a garage on the front of that house? I’d be wondering what’s in there if the owner keeps this cool El Camino out under a carport.
I’ve wondered that myself. The Elky is not always under the carport (out being driven, I presume), and I’ve never seen the garage door open. I am always pressed for time when I visit, but one of these days I need to do a “walk and talk” around Dad’s neighborhood. There are a lot of houses like this, but also a growing number where the elderly owners passed and they either sold out or are renting – either way, the houses (and cars parked there) tend to go down pretty fast.
To me, this is almost as evocative as Thunderbird Island!
Thank you!
Nice car .
FWIW , this is actually the *perfect* truck as 99 % of those huge pickups you see tooling around town , never even carry groceries in the bed….
Don’t leave one of these street parked anywhere in Los Angeles if you value it ! .
-Nate
I like the looks of these as well as the concurrent Malibu 2-doors, but the ugly instrument panel with the stupid-looking box in the center would prevent me from ever owning one. (Photo found online….)
Pfsm,
The car pictured has the “down-market” instrument panel, I would usually avoid those cars. These were also offered with the “full” set of instruments or what is sometimes known as the Monte Carlo instrument cluster, they do away with that trio under the radio.
My beef with El Caminos of this vintage? While I like the rear window treatment, it makes it harder to find a cover for the bed.
BTW, an older account exec at the company I once worked for had a sweet black and gold El Camino…a 78 and his other car was a Cougar XR7 with a full brougham package.