The Corvair is one of those cars that inspires all sorts of custom variants. But I don’t think I’ve seen a proper El Camino-ized one. Paulvaranasi has, though, and posted a couple of shots of this at the Cohort. It obviously began life as a Lakewood wagon, which undoubtedly simplified what it took. But the front door ends up looking mighty short.
The builder also used the back of the wagon for the rear portion of the cab. Understandable, but not very aesthetically ideal. A shortened coupe roof, along with the longer coupe doors would have been much better. Easy for me to say…
My first reaction was “Cool – a Corvair funeral flower car.” Customize another one into a hearse, and a guy could be all set. After all, aren’t most Corvair fans getting to be about the age where they are in need of such things? 🙂
Compared to the one below, it’s the same color and the roofline is even the same. Some proper whitewall tires and this one would be ready for a load of mums.
Here’s your whitewalls, as requested:
Hey I’ve seen this car, or should I say truck, before.
It is certainly a neat idea. I’ll not sure if the two tone paint is helping or hurting the door area. Maybe the rear window is a little too upright. I dunno – it is a 90% there but just something a little off.
Ah yes, its the super rare Lakebriar, a vehicle shrouded in conspiracy. Not satisfied with the side hinged door on the Rampside pickups, Chevrolet decided to do one better. Recognizing that patents existed for rear tailgates, and now side tailgates, they realized there was only one option for innovation left- the floorgate.
Inspired by LeCorbusier’s seminal 1924 work ‘The City of To-Morrow’, GM’s engineers rightly recognized that loading ramps in businesses were inefficient. In the future, cargo would be loaded automatically while driving between tower blocks at 75mph via conveyor pits on underground multi-level controlled access roads, while bi-planes deliver messages directly to the tower blocks above.
Unfortunately, the infrastructure needed to make this innovative delivery vehicle practical never materialized, and all except the one above were recalled from lessees to be crushed. Legend has it, that Wackenhut ‘citizen and labour liquidation officers’ were able to obtain non-disclousre statements from every member of the public who witnessed a Lakebriar in real life, thus ensuring GM’s and the Corvair’s reputation for another 22 months. Rumours persisted of the Lakebriar’s existence, but these were spread by people suffering from Sluggishly Progressing Schizophrenia, the last of whom was sighted in Chile’s national stadium in the latter half of September ’73.
The fact that even middle of the road motoring publications can now state without fear that every vehicle manufactured by GM was not divinely inspired shows just how far we have come.
Wow! I think my brain just exploded! For years I’ve been looking for the LeCorbusier-Corvair nexus and now I’ve found it. My life is now complete.
Brilliant Brian, just brilliant! Made my evening reading that, thank you 😀
It a sort of CC effect as soon as I posted the above comment I went out and about and ran across the Diplamino that I’ve seen many times over the last couple decades. It is based on a late 80’s Diplomat. To make the bed they used a last gen El Camino including tail gate and rear bumper. Surprizingly it all works together quite well. Wish I could have got a pic but of course it was going the other direction.
I like the Elky. I like the corvair probably even more. I do not like this corvairamino. But then what do I know?
There was a very homemade variant of one of these in my neighborhood when I was a kid, doubt it ever got shown in any magazines, if you know what I mean
I know they made it work in the Lakewood, but how’d they get the engine low enough? Is it one of those deals where the rear seat load floor, when folded, is lower than the floor above the engine? If so, I can see why the guy’s got a tarp over the pickup bed.
And a better name would be ‘El Cormino’ (or even ‘El Corminair’.
Click on the “Lakewood” link in the text; there’s several interior shots that show the rear load floor. The Corvair engine sat quite low.
When you make a pickup out of a car you have to use the longer two-door doors, otherwise you get something with the proportions all wrong and not enough room in the cab, like this or the VW Rabbit pickup. However, I kind of like that Cadillac flower car. Probably a good thing it’s in Maine.
Happy Thanksgiving to Paul and everyone!
My travel buddy says: “Why’d you leave me out of the posting?” So here’s Mr. 2 Unique himself. We found this vehicle in West Seattle.