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2025 Buick Enclave vs Honda PilotAn Elegy for the Elegant ‘80s El Camino
The 1980s Chevy El Camino was not the quickest or best-selling version, but a few choice trim packages and many grille changes make it one of the coolest.El Camino’s Last Stand
The Chevrolet El Camino gets called the mullet of cars thanks to its attempt, like the haircut, to have it both ways. “Business up front, party in the back,” might equally apply to either ute or mullet, but a more accurate metaphor for the El Camino might be that of your “fun uncle.”
You know the one, roguish and swarthy as a pirate, perennially clad in an American flag tank top and jorts. A master of “hold my beer” stunts, he fills the back of his El Camino with kayaks and muddy four-wheelers, 4H blue ribbon-winning pumpkins, cases of light beer, fireworks, and friends’ couches (always eager to help with moving) loading down the rear axle until the tires scrape the wheel wells with all manner and sundry of his varied and vivacious life. (Admittedly, there is a 50/50 chance this uncle also sports a mullet, shorn and worn not quite ironically.)
It’s that ironic, kidding/not kidding space where the El Camino has long resided (right alongside the mullet). It was high fashion meets function for its first two gorgeous years, 1959 and 1960. It became a legit muscle car for a while, with the 1970 model’s 454 V8 making 450 thunderous horses to power the most potent El Camino of all. And then there was the fifth and final generation, arriving at the peak of the Malaise Era in 1978….
El Camino Needs More Horses
The fifth-generation Chevrolet El Camino might have been its last, but it was also a generation of first for the ute. Among them was the debut of a V6s for the El Camino. Starting with the 1978 model year, the standard engine on the El Camino was the 200 cu.-in. V6 making … wait for it … 95 horsepower. Because of California-specific regulations, the El Camino was given a 231 cu.-in. V6 in that state only. This was the first time the El Camino had run anything less than eight cylinders.
The El Camino did not go completely sans V8. In fact, a pair of V8s could be ordered. The first, a 305 cu.-in. V8 making 145 horsepower, and the second a 350 cu.-in. V8 with 170 horsepower. Another 267 small-block V8 was added for the 1979 model year and the base engine was swapped for a larger 229 cu.-in. V6 (110 horsepower) for 1980. Another first for the El Camino was the addition of a diesel engine, a 350 cu.-in. V8 in 1982. Due to reliability issues, the diesel was dropped by 1985 despite its fuel economy advantages.
The Many Faces of El Camino
The fifth-generation El Camino was not its quickest by any stretch. It was, however, one of the cooler looking generations thanks to sheet metal borrowed from the Chevy Malibu and several trim and appearance packages typified by the Black Knight package of 1978.
The Black Knight was a special add-on package for the El Camino SS. It came in, you guessed it, black with “Black Knight” in Old English lettering and huge brown and gold decals on the hood depicting a knight battling a pair of dragons (eat your heart out Firebird Trans Am!). The Black Knight was changed to the Royal Knight for 1979 after Chevy was sued for copyright infringement. The Conquista package was another looker with its three-tone paint scheme.
It’s important to note that the Chevy El Camino is one of the most mercurial cars in automotive history as designers tweaked the exterior designs virtually every year for decades going all the way back to 1959. As for the fifth-generation El Camino, grille and headlights change year-over-year with the most significant revisions coming in 1982 that saw the adoption of quad headlights.
The El Camino saw its sales numbers dwindle and then fall off a cliff through its fifth generation. From 1978’s 54,000 units, sales fell all the way to just 13,700 units by its final 1987 model year. The business case for a car/truck middle ground had always been questionable and Chevy’s S-10 pickup, which debuted in 1981, had begun to cannibalize “light truck” sales that had once been the province of the El Camino.
El Camino Rides Again?
The last five years have seen a boom in carmakers reviving storied, discontinued nameplates which has naturally led to El Camino fans banging their drums for a redux of their favorite ute. Chevy has teased the idea of bringing back the El Camino before with a Malibu-esque concept in 2018. More recently, the return of the light truck strengthens the argument that the nameplate deserves another day in the sun. Rumors combine this fact with GM’s electrification push to speculate on the possibility of an all-electric El Camino positioned as the Bowtie’s performance EV.
Will Chevy be wise enough to give the El Camino one more rodeo? We (the fun uncles of the world) sure hope so.
