The body was fairly straight and rust-free, the trim was all there, the interior was complete but trashed, and it didn’t run. I was given a 1959 Chevrolet El Camino in about 1997 for free, as a non-running project. The 1959 Chevrolet El Camino remains popular 50+ years on not only because it is the first of its breed, but literally because of its polarizing Batman-styling. The El Camino disappeared from Chevrolet’s lineup for 3 model years, only to reappear in 1964, now based on the midsize Chevelle platform. The styling was toned down slightly for the 1960 model year, which would be the final year of this initial 2-year run. But the 1959 Chevrolet El Camino outsold the ’59 Ranchero 22,000 to 14,000. Of course, the 1959 bodywork is swoopy and doopy and you either love it or you hate it. It was actually based on the Brookwood 2-door station wagon. From the A-pillars forward the new 1959 Chevrolet El Camino shared everything with every other car in the 1959 Chevy lineup. Chevy too this opportunity to launch a pickup version to compete with the Ranchero, and they called it “El Camino” which means “the path” in Spanish. Chevy’s seminal Tri-Fives (1955-57) were followed up by the one-year-only ’58 Impala, but for the 1959 model year, a whole new platform was being built. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The same thing happened again with the Mustang and the Camaro 8 years later. Ford created this new niche in the market, catching the rest of the industry flat-footed, and it took Chevy 2 years to respond. Following Ford’s success with the 1957 Ranchero, Chevy wanted a piece of the action.
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