How bad could it be? '75 El Camino

[Blazerteam]

I know where these ones rust..easy..everywhere.The doors rust at the bottoms,and under the mirrors.In the bed..in the frame..in the quarters..down at the back of the front fenders..floors,and in front of the windshield.

That said..they are nearly indestructible when rust free..and handles real good as original,and even better with better shocks and sway bars and wheels..

[SuperBuickGuy]

I must add a disclaimer. My dad LLLLOOOOOVVVVVEEEEESSSSSS el caminos. He's owned several (still owns several), and that generation he was especially fond of... and he also likes 5.7 Diesels - ya know, the ones that were gas motors? So he put one in his El Camino. I swear, they were slow as a stocker (height of smog crap), but this was slower by several minutes in a quarter mile.

But I will give them this: they passed me in my driving test at 16. The DMV tester was so enamoured with the diesel in the El Camino we talked about the car. When we got back to the office, he'd written nothing down and he said "oh well, didn't write anything down but you're a good driver so you pass." (yep, blind, mentally slow, AND loves El Caminos- oxymoron?)

[Loren]

I think Eric Rickman, the Petersen Publishing photographer, built a diesel El Camino in the eighties...it was featured in an engine-swap book they published. Seemed like a good idea...

My girls (wife and daughters) love my El Camino. The guy I'm working for once about choked when he saw it, and said something kinda derogatory (he's from Chicago, we're of-course Southwest). Anyhow, I've had a '70 SS for close to 30 years and also a handful of project ones...'64, 78 SS 350/4-spd, '79 tpi 305/5-spd. The '78 is supposed to be the next driver.

I'd pass on the '75. You know it needs everything underneath incl. a wire harness re-do, that won't be a reliable driver and it's not the most desirable year. Bed rust sucks unless you just want to throw a sheet of plywood over it and leave it.

I re-furbished my mother-in-law's '73 SS-350 once...it was great at the time as it was rust-free and a bitchin' interior I found in a junkyard Buick fit right in, as did a nice set of Vette alum. wheels. The '73 at least has a nicer grill and that SS stripe... But that was a few years ago. It'd be a less practical idea now. Anyhow I might look for a '78-up and save about a half-thousand pounds.