![]() ![]() ![]() The styling of the 1959 El Camino included a pair of jet-engine-inspired air intakes mounted into the leading edge of the hood, a pair of quad headlights separated by a wide grille of horizontal slats with polished bullets, and the so-called 'batwing' tailfins. It could be fitted with essentially any option on the list, including any drivetrain available from Chevrolet, which ranged from inline 6-cylinders to 348 CID V8s. The exterior trim was from the Bel Air and the interior trim was from the Biscayne. While the Ranchero used existing passenger-car components, the original El Camino necessitated the creation of many specially tooled pieces, including the upper door frames, load bed, rear quarter panels, and inner paneling. The El Camino was promoted by Chevrolet as its first pickup built with a steel bed floor instead of wood. The cargo box sides and tailgate were double-walled and the bed floor was made of 18-gauge corrugated steel. Its B-platform, 'Safety-Girder' X-frame chassis featured additional reinforcements such as bracing in the roof and rear cab panel. The 1959 Chevrolet El Camino was based largely on the full-size Chevrolet Brookwood two-door station wagon. Known as the Ute in Australia, it would inspire several other manufacturers to follow suit with versions of their own. Designer Lew Bandt was tasked with sketching out the design. The history of the car-truck concept is said to have originated around the early 1930s when the wife of a rancher wrote to Ford of Australia expressing her interest in an all-in-one vehicle that could be used around the farm, taken to market and used to attend church services on Sunday. The early examples were GM's answer to Ford's Ranchero, the other prime contender in this unique market. The El Camino was based on the growing popularity of the full-size Chevrolet model line, with similar body cues and styling. Created for a brief two-year window starting in 1959, it disappeared until 1964. As the 1950s were coming to a close, the market witnessed some truly transitional cars, including the Chevy El Camino. ![]()
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