As we all know, General Motors has a history for building a ton of cars for all of its various car lines on shared platforms. In fact, no one “badge engineers” cars and trucks as much as the General. It’s gotten them into trouble in the past, with divisions competing against each other for sales and oversaturating the market with nearly identical vehicles. That said, having a bunch of cars rolling down the assembly line with slight variations in body styling and drivetrain choices has given aspiring car designers and bench racers alike fodder for building a variety of “What If-mobiles”. Among the very best of them are the variations of the Chevrolet El Camino and its assembly line partner, the GMC Sprint/Caballero. While nearly all of GM’s divisions had A/G Body sedans, coupes, and wagons, only Chevrolet and GMC received the honor of being available with a bed, which is truly a travesty.
While GM themselves dabbled with building a variety of one-off vehicles based on their A/G-Body trucklet, that has not stopped consumers from building their own. And guess what? That’s just what we have here. This time, it’s a 1985 GMC Caballero with the heart of a 1987 Buick Grand National up for sale on good ol’ Craigslist! Let’s take a closer look!
The seller has this El RegalMino listed at $7900, which seems reasonable in today’s market. I recently saw a clapped-out, completely rotted in half Grand National at a swap meet, sand drivetrain, for almost $3000, and people were legitimately interested in buying it, so take that into consideration! And as cool as the Turbo Buicks are, this mullet-on-wheels has the potential to be even cooler. My only gripe with it is that the builder didn’t take it that extra mile to full Regal-with-a-bed fruition. There have been Grand National/El Camino mash-ups built by others in the past, and they are among the coolest of these types of builds. I’d swap on a Regal front end with GNX fenders, spray it white, swap on a set of color matched 16″ factory GTA/GNX wheels, and go haul some mulch really fast!
You can view the original ad HERE.
See below for the full ad details:
985 GMC Caballero… NICELY installed is everything under the hood from a 1987 Buick Grand National, including the GN Power Master braking system, all the air conditioning components, etc.. The engine and transmission have matching casting numbers (452300) ….The rear differential is an 8.5 and most likely from the GN as well……..The engine and transmission and rear differential are completely stock….. The digital dash is from a T-Type Buick.
The undercarriage is rust free and in amazing condition for its age.
The asking price is $7900.00
Nice Ute, there’s one like the black GN one here in Hayward, Ca. that’s all done up like a GNX with a modified turbo engine, looks better in person than the pictures.
1990s me is still a sucker for monochromatic anything. You could take an actual turd, throw some wheels and tires underneath, paint the entire thing white (including the wheels) and I’ll be drawn to it.
Wonder if that all white pos comes with a mullet wig