Is this vehicle covered by the site???

[7 Devils]

I have a 67 El Camino.... Does it qualify for this site? Technically it's a truck. Half ton to be exact. I realize ahead of time it's a station wagon sans top. Some would argue muscle car due to it's 2 door configuration and strong lineage in the Chevelle.
What say you?

Dan

[dmjlambert]

Yes! Let's see pictures.

[bbrriiaann1973]

No. I think truck means truck.

[B Myers]

I love them, owned a 73. Personally I don’t consider them trucks tho. Not up to me but they are cool.

[RustyBucket]

http://www.chevelles.com/

This used to be a GREAT site, very similar to THIS one. Pretty sure I recall an ElCamino section. LOTS of great info and helpful people.

BTW... I think the '67 Chevelle & ElCamino were best lookin' of the bunch. Had a couple of hardtops and still want a '67 convert. pretty bad.

[7 Devils]

Originally Posted by RustyBucket

http://www.chevelles.com/

This used to be a GREAT site, very similar to THIS one. Pretty sure I recall an ElCamino section. LOTS of great info and helpful people.

Already a member at Chevelle's... Good info for other though.

Dan

[7 Devils]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

Yes! Let's see pictures.

I'll see if I can hunt some down from when I raced it at the local drag strip. Is a bare shell/roller right now.

Dan

[special-K]

Absolutely yes. It has a pickup bed and cars have trunks. Just because it's based on a station wagon doesn't mean it's not a truck. It s every bit a truck as any Nippon pickup is...or S10...and the Suburban that has been built off the same platform as a pickup is not called a station wagon. My Suburban is more truck than half you all's pickups are. And most trucks here these days are Sport Utility Vehicles...without the utility. I hauled gravel from quarries and concrete carts to jobs in an El Camino. A wheel barrow is a truck, so an El Camino most certainly is. Can't help those with narrow minds stuck in their ways. GMC built the Sprint and they have yet to build a car. They are a truck company!

Read this:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=...24538044987228

Look at this:

[100%Chevy]

Originally Posted by special-K

Absolutely yes. It has a pickup bed and cars have trunks. Just because it's based on a station wagon doesn't mean it's not a truck. It s every bit a truck as any Nippon pickup is...or S10...and the Suburban that has been built off the same platform as a pickup is not called a station wagon. My Suburban is more truck than half you all's pickups are. And most trucks here these days are Sport Utility Vehicles...without the utility. I hauled gravel from quarries and concrete carts to jobs in an El Camino. A wheel barrow is a truck, so an El Camino most certainly is. Can't help those with narrow minds stuck in their ways. GMC built the Sprint and they have yet to build a car. They are a truck company!

Read this:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=...24538044987228

Look at this:

I also have a 67 Camino and it does have a trunk! It's right under the cover at the front of the bed.Called a smugglers chest.Or,you can get to it from behind the seat.
I believe it's the only GM truck with factory air shocks in the rear too!
Mike.

[7 Devils]

Originally Posted by special-K

Absolutely yes. It has a pickup bed and cars have trunks. Just because it's based on a station wagon doesn't mean it's not a truck. It s every bit a truck as any Nippon pickup is...or S10...and the Suburban that has been built off the same platform as a pickup is not called a station wagon. My Suburban is more truck than half you all's pickups are. And most trucks here these days are Sport Utility Vehicles...without the utility. I hauled gravel from quarries and concrete carts to jobs in an El Camino. A wheel barrow is a truck, so an El Camino most certainly is. Can't help those with narrow minds stuck in their ways. GMC built the Sprint and they have yet to build a car. They are a truck company!

Read this:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=...24538044987228

Look at this:

Thanks for the back up on that. I don't mind that others dont think of it as a truck. To each their own.

Mike: as you well know, my 67 like yours also has a smugglers chest. That where I put the batteries.

Dan

[Steeveedee]

As was mentioned, it has a bed, it's a truck, so I'd say yes. I remember in '70 a guy bought an SS396 El Camino to "deliver milk" (can't make this stuff up), so he had to register it as a commercial vehicle. I did the DMV run on that El Camino, and the guy at the DMV made a wise remark about how there hasn't been a 1/4T truck made in a long time. The 1/4T registration was so that the guy would save money on registration, as it cost more as the GVW went up. If you put something in the bed you are "hauling", which requires commercial plates. That changes if you have a camper shell. My FiL had the title redone as "house car" when he put the camper shell on it, and got away with "civilian" plates instead of commercial.

[Mollzyie]

To answer your question you should prob ask a mod . Or maybe this thread can be the "official" el Camino discussion thread .

But ... just sayin (per Wikipedia)

[jjzepplin]

I had a 66 With a 327 and a 2spd powerglide with centerlines and Hankooks. It would do about 65 in first and throw down some good scratch when it shifted into second. I traded it for my 72 Blazer That was unfinished With a rebuilt 350 and rebuilt t350 np205 And no steering wheel or windshield. I had to build the Blazer But that was fun. It was missing the oil pump drive shaft from the rebuild. Couldn't figure out why there was no oil pressure...

[Killer Bee]

while El Caminos sre not my bag.. I'd have to say, they are trucks.. moreover, they are certainly more 'truck' than a lot of what I've see out on the road..

maybe it's time for a new sub-forum just for them!

1958 Chevrolet introduces the El Camino

On October 16, 1958, Chevrolet begins to sell a car-truck hybrid that it calls the El Camino. Inspired by the Ford Ranchero, which had already been on the market for two years, the El Camino was a combination sedan-pickup truck built on the Impala body, with the same “cat’s eye” taillights and dramatic rear fins. It was, ads trilled, “the most beautiful thing that ever shouldered a load!” “It rides and handles like a convertible,” Chevy said, “yet hauls and hustles like the workingest thing on wheels.”

if Chevrolet says, truck, then truck it is!

You Tube

You Tube

[bbrriiaann1973]

Are they built on a truck frame? If the answer is no then there's your answer to your question!

[yuccales]

Yep. Open bed, hauls stuff, in my eyes, truck!

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Mollzyie

To answer your question you should prob ask a mod . Or maybe this thread can be the "official" el Camino discussion thread .

But ... just sayin (per Wikipedia)

Check my link in post #8 where Wikipedia contradicts themselves. Or maybe it has to be a GMC for them to consider it a pickup. Still a contradiction

Originally Posted by bbrriiaann1973

Are they built on a truck frame? If the answer is no then there's your answer to your question!

This is a truck that is all truck frame. It can be used to haul several loads to make one load in an El Camino

If it's not built on a truck frame then it's a light truck not built on a truck frame...such as the Corvair 95. 59/60 and 64-87 El Camino/Sprint/Cabelleros are built on a station wagon/truck frame. The El Camino was designed from the ground up, not an adaptation. And the first station wagons were trucks built before there were pickups...which were an adaptation. In the would of horse drawn, where it all began, there were buggies, coaches, and carriages for transporting passengers and there were wagons for hauling cargo. The first station wagons were a wagon built with a permanent top covering. Buggies, Coaches, and carriages were the first cars and wagons were the first trucks.

If GM promoted it in their truck brochures is it a truck? It's about the use it was "designed" for more than what it was built off of. If it's a car then what kind of car only has one seat with a bed? That old argument is so far lame. The very trucks we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of were built off a CAR CHASSIS. So by your logic, when will the actual 100th anniversary be?
.................................................................................................... ..............

To answer the original question, no, and it should be. I have been saying for years, just as I said the bigger trucks, pre-47s, and minis should, we need a forum of it's own for all the commercial vehicles GM made. This includes El Camino/Sprints/Cabelleros, Vans, Sedan Deliveries, Utes, Step Vans, motor homes, and maybe others I'm overlooking. If it was made to haul cargo more than passengers than it is a truck

[Mollzyie]

Car based (special k link )








But I understand what the argument ( or logic ) is . That is , if it has a bed , then it's a truck . A company that sells or wants to sell a product can market and promote their product any way they choose .

[special-K]

If it's a pickup, then it's a truck. Some will argue any pickup is not a truck, such as many who drive these no doubt trucks


The fact is, we are all entitled to our own opinions, even if we disagree with the people who designed and built them or those who have bought and used them as trucks


This is built on a truck frame, but an El Camino is more a truck than this C/30 that can't haul anything but a few people. In fact, that hand truck can haul more, too


What would solve all this would be a forum for all such GM "commercial designed & sold" vehicles not covered in the existing forums. Same as S10/S15/LUVs before they got their own forum. Post in year appropriate forum as things exist now. A 67-72 El Camino or Sprint belongs here. Same as anything else, if you don't want to read about them here, then move on along to what suits you.

[hooverfish]

Definitely welcome here and you can argue it is a truck.

But I think it's a better fit for a forum of Chevelle owners.
Due to the parts match of seats, dash, door panels, hoods, fenders, grille, etc.

[flashed]

My 72 is titled as a Truck in Georgia .

[Ol Blue K20]

My 71 has to be registered commercial in California so the state considers it a truck. My "smugglers box" is an ice chest......lol

[davepl]

You can argue that they are trucks (and I'd say you're wrong, but who am I) but the reality is that for -parts interchange- you're talking 90% with a Chevelle and 5% with a truck, so for the purposes of finding a community that can help you work on and find parts for it, you definitely want to be in the Chevelle forums.

If it comes to how to tie stuff down in the bed, I suppose we're the experts for that!

[HO455]

This question was decided by GM years ago. They are trucks. Just look at the Chevy light truck dealer order manuals (GM Heritage Center has downloads ) they are the base level light truck. Besides since when did GMC make a A-body? Regardless of our opinions GM called them trucks. Personally I think they are far more capable as a truck than any Chevy Avalanche is.

[B Myers]

I see where GM comes from, you market them as a light truck, the government views it as a truck by purpose. For me as a 38 year mechanic and old chevy guy it's a car, everything trim, body, interior, and mechanical is car parts. But if it's a truck then so be it, just hard for me to call it one, just my 2 cents.