A floor-shifted, four-speed manual was available with higher output engines. Transmissions were a column shifted three-speed manual, available with overdrive, a two-speed “Powerglide” or “Turboglide” automatic. Options were a 4.6 litre (283 cu in.) V-8 in two horsepowers. The standard engine was the 3.8 litre (235 cu in.) overhead valve, 135 horsepower inline six. Suspension was by coil springs all around and payload ranged up to 522 kg (1,150 lb) depending on suspension and powertrain. The El Camino had the Chevrolet’s X-braced frame, and a steel-floored cargo box with 33 cubic feet volume. The bench seat accommodated three passengers. This gave it those “bat wing” rear fins, slim pillars, large wraparound windshield and full rear window for 360 degree visibility. Not to be outdone, Chevrolet’s response was the 1959 El Camino (Spanish for “the road’) sedan-pickup based on the Chevrolet station wagon. The target market was people like gentleman farmers and field supervisors who wanted a little more glamour and luxury in their everyday driving. A bonus was access to virtually all car luxury options and conveniences. It combined cargo carrying versatility with car-like driving characteristics. To create this novel approach to a light commercial vehicle Ford removed the rear part of a two-door Ford station wagon and replaced it with a smoothly integrated utility box. introduced its 1957 Ranchero sedan-pickup it added a new car-like dimension to American light duty trucks. Here is the link to images from Super Rides.When the Ford Motor Co. Yet frame forward and that long bed required additional fabrication.Īside from "tears" if a fair to good '59 was cut up. the center section, engine, and I think the front suspension are SSR. I am not sure if they modified '59 front and rear bumpers or fabricated new narrower ones.įor the frame. The fin lines in the tailgate were adjusted to come close to the drop of the '59. Look at the tailgate, and imagine taking about 8 inches out and then working the lights split between the fenders and tailgate to try to get it to resemble the '59 without looking huge. The multiple bed sections allow the SSR top to go up and down,Īdditionally, the rear most bed cover lifts to reveal about a 5 ft bed ( that is beyond where the top folds ). The quarter panel on the SSR is very deep, so those areas needed to be custom fabricated. The doors are 4 inches longer, with a lot of work to blend the door jams.ĭoor weather stripping is SSR, with metal work galore to step up to the EC lines. The hood has about 8 inches removed ( sectioned out ), so try to balance that out and you see overall they did a very good job. Since the SSR is narrower, they faced many challenges to section the El Camino influenced parts and then try to maintain some balance of the details. It has the interior, dash, folding top, seats, windshield, LS engine and a section of the frame from the SSR. It started with an SSR and I am not sure how much of a '59. I thank them for taking the time at the show to explain some of the processes of the build. The El Camino SSR was shipped in as one of the 5 featured builds of Honored Guests Super Rides By Jordan at the 2016 American Heritage Car Show in Escondido.Īll 5 vehicles showed a tremendous amount of work. Note: This is a cut and paste of my reply to DarbySan's 2015 post.
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