One of my top 2 favorite vehicles of all time is the Chevrolet El Camino. My grandfather introduced it to me when I was 8 years old, but on this day in 1958, the vehicle was introduced and sold to the world by Chevrolet. The El Camino ads displayed the slogan "the most beautiful thing that ever shouldered a load!" and rightfully so since the vehicle was a combination of a sedan pick-up truck built on an Impala body and featured cat-eye taillights and "dramatic" rear fins. However, it wasn't the first of its kind. It was inspired by the Ford Ranchero, not the first "car-truck" ever but the first on American soil. Ever since the 30s, Australian farmers drove around "utes" in its outback. Legend has it that a farmer's wife from Victoria wrote Ford Austrialia and asked the company to build a vehicle that combined a car and a truck that "carried her to church on Sunday and her husband's pigs to the market on Saturday". Thus, a low slung sedan based vehicle with a rough and tumble pickup back was designed and created by Ford engineer Lewis Brandt. The "utes" were a huge success overseas, but not so much in America. In fact, the Ford Ranchero, which had been on the market two years prior to the El Camino, was a steady, decent seller while the first manifestation of the El Camino was discontinued two years later. It wasn't until Chevrolet introduced a newer version in 1964 when the model and "utes" made a slight impact on the American automobile industry. However, with a built in, more powerful SS engine, the 1968 El Camino would make the vehicles one of the most iconic in the late 60s and early 70s. The El Camino was discontinued in 1987, but almost reincarnated by several companies such as Pontiac and GM. But in current times, the El Camino remains an American muscle classic.
No comments:
Post a Comment