The "66 El Camino that I finally own" Thread

The "66 El Camino that I finally own" Thread

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Discussion

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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I have always enjoyed stories leading to ownership nearly as much as ownership experience threads. Epic journeys to collect old bangers or someone who has known of a car for twenty years and several owners finally gets to own it. That sort of thing.

So here is my version which will hopefully lead to me owning the vehicle in question. Or else it will quickly become a dead, dull, dud if I decide not to purchase it!! Anyway...



My name is not Earl and I don't own an El Camino, yet.

However, a couple of weeks ago I was sent some pictures from California:-











Now I appreciate that a 49 year old light commercial vehicle in a shade of "shame about the crappy brown colour"© gold might not be the most PH of vehicles, but I think it looks great!

(© worlds least positive mate)

Emails ensued and eventually I secured first refusal, subject to inspection, upon arrival in the UK.

At this stage my sum knowledge consisted of:

a) '66 El Camino, was a 327 now a 350
b) A solid "dry state" car with some new interior trim
c) Needs minor body work and some paint (probably a full repaint)
d) Drives very nicely, "sweet and punchy" was the quote

It loaded last week and began its slow journey towards the UK, stops to include Panama, New York and Nova Scotia before crossing the Atlantic.

As of earlier this morning, the ship had nearly reached Panama:



Means I have about four weeks or so to make some space....

yellowstreak

613 posts

151 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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Wow that's very cool! I don'f find the colour offensive either. So this is being imported by a dealer and you're deciding whether to buy or have you already committed?

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
quotequote all
Unless it is hugely different to my expectations I will be buying it once I have viewed. My expectations are basically a solid, rolling project.

I would describe the current position as a "gentleman's agreement" with the importer, based on a third party description and photos, which is all either of us currently have to go on.

Edited by 99t on Friday 3rd July 11:22

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
quotequote all
My first sight of the ship!! Somewhere in one of those containers....

Just hope its not the one that appears to be hanging over the edge!! yikes





And in glorious Panamanian high resolution, lock 2 and heading off into the canal





Phew! That's enough excitement for one lunch hour. Time to do some work!!!

hondafanatic

4,969 posts

200 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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99t said:
Phew! That's enough excitement for one lunch hour. Time to do some work!!!
Hang on...you've got this to watch...and I'm sure there's another episode with this in it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIHhI7aROL4

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Friday 3rd July 2015
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beer that's my Friday afternoon sorted! smile

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Wednesday 8th July 2015
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With the Panama Canal safely behind it, NYK Romulus has been heading north past Cuba and along the Eastern coast of Florida this week, hopefully with my '66 El Camino still safely aboard.

Due to dock soon at Savannah, the current tracking image suggests the captain may have been hitting the Tequila a little early?



All this waiting has given me time to consider options once the Elk arrives.

As she currently stands



Window channels are a common rot spot on Amercian vehicles of this vintage and repair sections are cheaply available.



I'm sure that enough bodywork will be needed to justify a full re-paint, but what colour?

Whilst the trim tag should reveal the original colour, I'm pretty sure the current colour isn't it.

The closest match to the colours available in '66 would be Sandalwood Tan, and as below this appears to be a much lighter hue. Not sure it would be my choice to be honest.



There was also Aztec Bronze which is much redder, and which I quite like (Ok it's on a Chevelle but I couldn't find a good Elk pic in this colour)



Not that it needs to be painted an original colour of course. It's not a numbers matching SS396, just an old pickup truck. I do quite like the current colour personally, so option one would be to find the closest match and stick with that.

Alternatively one could go for a red, blue or black if sticking to "traditional" colours, all of which work in my opinion, and black in particular is rarely the wrong choice. Would need to consider the interior colours into the equation too of course.







More left-field options could include saving a shed-load of cash and painting it myself with blackboard paint!!



Or if the V8 rumble isn't sufficiently "look at me" there are always louder options!!



Hmmmmm........ scratchchin

CB2152

1,555 posts

132 months

Wednesday 8th July 2015
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I'm looking forward to this, hope it all goes smoothly smile

Maty

1,232 posts

212 months

Wednesday 8th July 2015
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Looking forward to the next instalment, tracking its progress adds to the anticipation but I bet its killing you isn't it?

Colour wise from the options above it has to be metallic black!




uncle tez

529 posts

150 months

Wednesday 8th July 2015
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Aztec Bronze or the metallic black for me. Is it missing some chrome trim or was it an option/upgrade ? The extra trim around the wheel arch seems to improve the look to me, especially on the black one.

AllyBee

313 posts

153 months

Wednesday 8th July 2015
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Love the wheels/stance (am I allowed to say that on here?) of the Matt Black one, looking at those other pictures Americans sure do love a set of chrome wheels.

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Wednesday 8th July 2015
quotequote all
CB2152 said:
I'm looking forward to this, hope it all goes smoothly smile
Thanks, yes me too... smile



Maty said:
Looking forward to the next instalment, tracking its progress adds to the anticipation but I bet its killing you isn't it?
Yes, just a bit.

uncle tez said:
Aztec Bronze or the metallic black for me. Is it missing some chrome trim or was it an option/upgrade ? The extra trim around the wheel arch seems to improve the look to me, especially on the black one.
The buyer in '66 had to decide between the "Base" El Camino and the "Custom" El Camino.

Custom added a black interior trim option and a lot of the exterior brightwork - drip rails, wheel arch and sills etc. It does have some of the "Custom" brightwork fitted. There is some additional brightwork loose in the pickup bed (or at least it was there when the pics were taken) but it wasn't clear which bits. Didn't look like wheel arches though.

Agree that on darker colours the extra brightwork does look good, and yes Aztec Bronze or black are definitely possibilities smile

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Friday 10th July 2015
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Now on approach to Norfolk, sadly the one in Virginia so a way to go yet. 28 degrees and a bit choppy by the looks of it!



AllyBee said:
Love the wheels/stance (am I allowed to say that on here?) of the Matt Black one, looking at those other pictures Americans sure do love a set of chrome wheels.
They do lend themselves to satin and matt paint treatments quite well, another pic I found that I really rather like, also the Nascar-esque wheel treatment works better than it probably should...



Going back to the previous comment on exterior brightwork, I found another picture showing some of the trim quite well



Which looks similar to what is / was loose in the back of mine



Current thinking of "The Plan" is (very loosely)

View, assuming all largely as expected, buy.

Transport home, do legalities to lights, windscreen washers and any other obvious MOT fails or safety issues.

MOT and then attend to failure points, MOT and register.

Do a basic service, fluids, filters, plugs, brakes and a grease up as necessary.

Run for a few months as-is and assess reliability, mechanical health, driveability and other issues.

Take off road over winter and sort screen rust / make cabin water tight, seals etc. Plus any mechanical issues discovered.

Maybe diy satin blow over at this stage and run for 12 months as semi-rat???

Winter '16 proper professional paint job, black is definitely a strong contender at the moment...



5ohmustang

2,755 posts

114 months

Friday 10th July 2015
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This is the only car that the U.S. Army has a running cadence for.

99t

Original Poster:

996 posts

208 months

Saturday 11th July 2015
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5ohmustang said:
This is the only car that the U.S. Army has a running cadence for.
hehe something along the lines of

El Camino
El El Camino
The front looks like a car, the back looks like a truck,
the front is where you drive, the back is where you fk....


The ship is now on its way to New York which will be the Elk's final port of call in its homeland before Canada, the Atlantic and Europe / UK!

0a

23,879 posts

193 months

Saturday 11th July 2015
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How exciting!

I would definitely go for black myself - it looks good dirty, but will also polish up really well when you want it to.

GuinnessMK

1,608 posts

221 months

Saturday 11th July 2015
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99t said:
El Camino
El El Camino
The front looks like a car, the back looks like a truck,
the front is where you drive, the back is where you fk....
Brilliant.


CAPP0

19,533 posts

202 months

Saturday 11th July 2015
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I love El Caminos, definitely on the list when my numbers come up and I have a big dry heated warehouse to contain the whole collection.

Music may not be to everyone's taste but the El Cam in this video is just epic (I think it's a 67?): https://youtu.be/nhPaWIeULKk Appears at about 2:20.

May we be impolite and ask for an indication of the answer to the question which must not be asked?

wst

3,494 posts

160 months

Saturday 11th July 2015
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GuinnessMK said:
99t said:
El Camino
El El Camino
The front looks like a car, the back looks like a truck,
the front is where you drive, the back is where you fk....
Brilliant.
I found a recording of it

iva cosworth

44,044 posts

162 months

Saturday 11th July 2015
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Great thread,tracking a car in a container from USA.

Paint it orange if you do buy it.

Everything looks good in orange.

I love pickups ,El Caminos,Rancheros etc....