The Chevrolet El Camino is one of the most unique, the most famous American vehicles. Part muscle car, part pickup truck, the El Camino represents a high point in terms of not only innovation but also design.
The most famous and arguably best-looking El Camino model is the 3rd generation, built between 1968 and 1972. This model is based on the same 116-inch wheelbase as the Chevrolet Chevelle Station wagon and sedan. In fact, I believe there’s even a place in the floor pan where the non-existent rear passengers were supposed to tuck their feet (under the front seat).
A 1970 El Camino SS is rock and roll on wheels, a mixture between some of the naughtiest V8 technology and an epic coke bottle design. But the celebrity lifestyle was short-lived and I actually want to draw your attention to the 1st-gen El Camino, which was based on the Impala instead.
That’s right, for 1959 and 1960, the El Camino and wings at the back and taillights that looked like a depressed vampire. Perhaps it’s not the best combo on a utility vehicle, but it looks so good while fully loaded with Halloween pumpkins.
This brings me to the rendering flavor of the day. You see, after a short incursion into the world of 3D, Oscar Vargas aka wb.artist20 is back doing regular photoshop work. And he decided to roll with the idea of an Impala-based El Camino but push it further in time.
El Camino and Impala SS history
This is an El Camino as it would have been in 1994 to 1996. Of course, such a car never existed. But there are lots of 7th-gen Impala fans, especially in the South of the Country. In fact, the modern Impala-loving communities overlap with the high-rider crews, the donks and such.
The rendering is pretty self-explanatory: a 4-door sedan with the rear removed and a small bed added in its place. The only thing standing out here is the shiny set of alloy wheels.
And those wheels belong to one of the only coolest cars to be made by 1990s GM, the1994-1996 Impala SS. The car was basically just a high-performance version of the Caprice, with tech borrowed from the 9C1 police car package. Power came from an LT1 350ci small-block V8. Unfortunately, they fitted it with cast-iron heads unlike the Corvette and Camaro, and power was down to just 260 hp, which is a bit disappointing for a 5.7-liter.
It’s believed that this is exactly the type of car GM wanted to make. In 1992, the company unveiled an El Camino concept, basically a pickup variant of the Lumina. During the 1995 model year, the were plans to make one out of the Caprice wagon chassis, but it was dropped together with the whole B-platform family.
In 2008, it almost happened again, as they showed a Pontiac G8 GT pickup concept at the New York Auto Show. Of course, the name immediately tells you this is a Holden, just like the normal G8. But we all know what happened to both Holden and Pontiac in the following years.
