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We pit two of the 1980s most distinctive vehicles, the Dodge Rampage and Chevy El Camino to see which was the superior ute.
El Camino, Australian for Mullet
Utility coupes, otherwise known as utes, are those funky-looking car-based pickup trucks that have their origins in Australia and New Zealand, places where people give normal things funny little names like ute, rip snorter, and furphy … Anyway, utes over here in the States were introduced in the late 1950s starting with the Ford Ranchero (1957) and the Chevrolet El Camino (1959).
Both had long runs that included multiple generations spanning more than twenty years. Ford nixed the Ranchero after 1979, but Chevy wasn’t quite done with the El Camino, embarking on a new generation, the El Camino’s fifth, for 1978.
In the intervening years, Chrysler had ignored the ute segment. That is, until 1982; the year the Dodge Rampage debuted. Based on the Dodge Omni, the new Rampage ute was set to go head-to-head with the El Camino … and the Subaru Brat … and that VW Rabbit trucklet otherwise known as the Caddy.
Dodge Rampage
The Rampage was, if nothing else, unique. Thanks to its L-body platform on loan from the Omni, the Rampage had a front-wheel drive layout and a wheelbase stretched to 104 inches. Its 62-inch bed was rated to a payload capacity of 1,145 lbs., making it a legitimate half-ton truck.
The Rampage’s aggressive name turned out to be more than a little ironic once you popped the hood. There you’d find Chrysler’s K-car 2.2L inline-four engine good for 84 horsepower and 99 lb.-ft of torque and paired with a four-speed manual or three-speed automatic transmission. The main virtue of the 2.2L was its fuel economy which, according to fueleconomy.gov, was at its best 20 city and 29 highway mpg, or 26 mpg combined. Many other sources quote even higher numbers: 21/29 mpg, 25/40 mpg, or most grandiosely 28/47 mpg. Regardless of who’s figure you go with the Rampage was efficient by the standards of its day.
Sadly, the Rampage did not survive long enough to get the turbocharged inline-four the Omni would get in 1985. For those with an affinity for the Rampage today, a swap for that Omni turbo is a common modification.
In 1983, Plymouth released a badge-swapped version of the Rampage, the Scamp. The Scamp name was borrowed from another Plymouth badge swap, originally their version of the Dodge Dart in 1971. The new ute version of the Plymouth Scamp only lasted for one model year before cancellation.
The Dodge Rampage didn’t last much longer. A visual refresh in 1984 borrowed the Dodge Charger’s looks, but failed to juice sales as the Rampage was canceled after the ’84 model year. In all, Dodge built 3,564 Rampages.
Chevrolet El Camino
By the time the Dodge Rampage showed up in 1982, the Chevy El Camino was well into its fifth and final generation, which began in 1978. Visually, the El Camino was a mercurial car, often changing year-to-year for much of its three-decade run. At the outset of its last generation, the El Camino had borrowed styling from the Chevy Malibu. A 1982 refresh gave it yet one more guise with a squared front end with square quad headlights. This final generation was also the El Camino’s first and only to have its own dedicated chassis.
The Malaise Era was in full effect when you look at the El Camino’s horsepower numbers. Sure, the 5.7L diesel V8 was intended to maximize fuel economy, but 105 horses to motivate over 3,200 lbs.? In 1982 a different base engine was introduced for California only, a Chevy 3.8L V6 in place of the Buick V6 used elsewhere (another first for the fifth-gen El Comino, it was the only generation to have a V6 offered). A 4.4L V8 (115 horsepower) and a 5.0L V8 (150 horsepower) rounded out the powerplant selection.
The El Camino would last a few more years beyond the Rampage’s run, seeing a few new engines along the way (none of them particularly exciting). The El Camino’s run ended with the final 1987 model year.
Riding Into the Sunset
The El Camino, and utes more broadly, always had a unique yet narrow charm. Were they cars with truck beds? Were they trucks with decent ride quality and improved gas mileage? Were they, occasionally, under-the-radar muscle cars with sometimes legit, sometimes spurious Chevy SS badges? All the above.
The problem was, by the mid-1980s, the car-buying public had moved on from their dalliances with the ute body style and were actively committing to light pickups. The Ford Ranger, Toyota pickup, Datsun Truck, RAM 50, and Chevy S-10 all had the virtues of half-ton (or better) hauling, additional ground clearance, and resembling a pickup truck rather than an Aussie mechanic’s fever dream.
Those light trucks ended up falling out of favor as well and disappearing as utes had. But given the return of the light truck with the rise of the wildly popular Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz, could the ute finally be poised for a comeback as well? (Don’t laugh, I’m serious … sort of.)
So, which, the Rampage or the El Camino, is the “better” 80s ute? Because neither was especially quick, I must lean on styling as the deciding factor. In which case, the Dodge Rampage wins for looking more of its era and being the more obscure vehicle today. If the El Camino is the mullet of cars, then the Rampage is the Andre Agassi’s mullet of cars.
