Beautiful Cars & Trucks

[Schmidt Meister]

Chevrolet El Caminos were introduced in 1959 in response to Ford’s Ranchero. The first model run only lasted for two years. El Camino production resumed in 1964, and was then based on the Chevelle platform. Then in 1978, it made the switch to GM’s G-body platform. But, how many of you reading this know that a Camaro was tested to be another version of a sportsman’s dream pick up?
As soon as the Camaro was released to the public, it was an instant success. Chevrolet wanted to capitalize on that popularity, so different “study cars” were designed and built. The first design-study car was the Waikiki Camaro. This was an uncharacteristically low-budget concept car, built to show the versatility of the new Camaro. Chevrolet simply infused a pair of rectangular headlights into a custom grille, added simulated wood side-trim, and wire wheels. Waikiki badging was also included on each front fender.
(The fuzzy picture is the best one I could find.)
The Waikiki was never placed into production and the next design study vehicle was the Camaro Caribe.

[Schmidt Meister]

The first-generation Chevrolet Camaro sprouted a number of unusual show cars that toured the circuit drumming up excitement for the brand, but none with as much production potential as the Caribe. The Camaro Caribe was quite simply ute version of the coupe, or in popular terms a smaller El Camino. Also sporting a unique targa-like convertible design (with passengers protected by a roll bar), the Caribe wasn't just a modified Camaro but a completely custom vehicle built on the muscle machine's platform and made to resemble the popular coupe as much as possible.
The Camino Caribe was never put into production due to the fact that it was not popular enough to start spreading its influence outside of the mid-size segment where it had originally taken root. Ford had tried a smaller version of its Ranchero ute based on the Falcon, but it was nowhere near as successful as the next Falcon-platform variant, the Mustang, would be. Given that the Camaro was duking it out with the pony car set and not the pickup crowd, a utility-focused body style didn't make much sense.
The Caribe lasted until 1969, after which it was retired as Chevrolet geared up for the next-generation version of the Camaro.

[Schmidt Meister]

With the 1968 Camaro Caribe out of the picture, cargo-toting Camaro fans within GM decided that maybe a wagon version was where it was at. The Kammback or K-series was tapped for prototyping after a more aggressively-styled Bob Ackerman sketch piqued the interest of design honcho Hank Haga, and a fiberglass model first appeared in 1970.
Named after a pioneer in aerodynamics, the slight taper of the Kammback helps improve fuel efficiency as compared to a traditional flat-and-square wagon design.
The Kammback was never put into production because of … budget. In order for the Camaro Kammback to be as useful as possible the rear hatch had to fully open, which meant moving the prototype's tail lamps to the rear quarter panels. This required Chevrolet to create an entirely new quarter to accommodate them as well as fully integrate the style line running down the entire side of the vehicle.
In the end, there wasn't enough money to produce such an elaborate riff on the Camaro silhouette.
The Kammback concept stayed alive and well at Chevrolet, revived shortly afterwards in production form for the Vega Kammback.

 

[Schmidt Meister]

1977-1979  Firebird Type K
The original Camaro/Firebird F-Body platform was barely off the drawing board when General Motors stylists began toying with sporty station wagon versions of the pony car package. The idea just seems natural, intuitive somehow. While this example, the 1977 Firebird Type K / Kammback, (re-bodied as a Trans Am for a role in The Rockford Files two years later), and then again in 1985 in Trans Am form (serving as IMSA pace cars), wasn’t GM’s first F-Body experiment in station wagons, it is by far the best known. Based on the clean second-generation Firebird body shell sculpted by famed GM designer Bill Porter, the wagon variant was styled by another accomplished GM studio man, Gerry Brochstein. The K stands for Kamm tail, a reference to the abrupt chop at the rear of the body, which reduces aerodynamic drag. While the rear glass was fixed in place, a pair of glass side hatches hinged in gullwing fashion allowed full access to the rear cargo compartment, which was nicely trimmed in carpeting with bright metal rub strips. (Seen in the overhead shot of the silver K-body) In 1977, GM commissioned Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina to build two working prototype vehicles with steel bodywork, one silver and one gold, though the silver Type K seems to have gotten all the glory. Both cars, born as 1978 production Firebirds, were reportedly equipped with the 403 CID, 185 hp V8 (an Olds division engine, actually) with shaker hood scoop and screaming-chicken hood decal. The Type K was displayed around the country including at the Chicago Auto Show. The silver K Type took a bow before the television cameras in March of 1979, appearing in a two-part episode of The Rockford Files, “Never Send a Boy to Do a Man’s Job.” Rockford star James Garner, a certified car guy and a Firebird fan in real life, didn’t much care for the wagon, it’s said. Instead, the car was driven in the episode by the character Odette Lependieu, played by Trisha Noble. In The Rockford Files role, the Type K has been updated with a 1979 Trans Am nose, as shown in the GM publicity photo with Garner and journalist and PR guru Eric Dahlquist.
For a time, it was even possible to order a Kammback conversion kit from a company called Deco International that would give any 1977-1981 Firebird the Type K look. As we know, the K Type never made it to the showrooms. Production studies showed the Pininfarina wagon would need to be priced in the $25,000 range, far too expensive to sell in any useful number.

[Schmidt Meister]

This is a 1972 Chevrolet Vega Kammback.

[pipedreams]

1915 Chevy Model H-3 Amesbury Special Roadster | Images Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

 

[pipedreams]

1956 De Soto Fireflite Four-Door Sportsman

[Borg warner]

19 hours ago, Schmidt Meister said:

This is a 1972 Chevrolet Vega Kammback.

In my opinion, the Pinto was one of the best looking cars-turned-into-sttion wagons. Even better was the Volvo P1800 sports car turned into a station wagon, and the best looking car-turned-into-an ElCamino/Ranchero was the  limited dealer-built 1968 Pontiac Le mans and best of all was the Cadillac Mirage for 1975 and 1976.

[Borg warner]

Cadillac "Mirage"

[Borg warner]

[janice6]

9 minutes ago, Borg warner said:

In my opinion, teh Pinto was one of the best looking cars-turned-into-sttion wagons. Even better was teh Volvo P1800 sports car turned into a station wagon, and teh best looking car-turned-into-an ElCamino/Ranchero was the  limited dealer-built 1968 Pontiac Le mans and best of all was the Cadillac Mirage for 1975 and 1976.

I bought my wife a Pinto hatchback when they first came out.  That first Winter the road was icy in front of our house and when she backed out onto it, she couldn't move the tires just spun on the Ice.  I walked out and with one hand I pushed her to get started.

The next year Ford announced the Pinto Wagon with 200 lbs. more over the rear axel.  I drove to the dealer and asked him what it would cost to trade a 1 year old Pinto hatchback for a Pinto wagon.  He told me he would trade me "even up".  I told him to get it approved before I would believe it.  He got approval.

Since it would be an even trade I bought her the Pinto Squire wagon with vinyl wood trim and more crap.  She was happy and we never had anymore problems driving it on ice.

Oh, both were straight stick.  My wife preferred to manually shift.  I did "MY" rust proofing on it and when we traded it 10 years later, the dealer came to me and told me he had never seen a Pinto without rust like that!

I bought her a Subaru Brat with the back cover and jump seats in the bed.  MY kids would freeze their asses off when driven to school just to have the other kids see them getting out of the jump seats in the back bed.  Shitten car spun a bearing at 36,000 miles.  Naver again! 

[Borg warner]

8 minutes ago, janice6 said:

I bought my wife a Pinto hatchback when they first came out.  That first Winter the road was icy in front of our house and when she backed out onto it, she couldn't move the tires just spun on the Ice.  I walked out and with one hand I pushed her to get started.

The next year Ford announced the Pinto Wagon with 200 lbs. more over the rear axel.  I drove to the dealer and asked him what it would cost to trade a 1 year old Pinto hatchback for a Pinto wagon.  He told me he would trade me "even up".  I told him to get it approved before I would believe it.  He got approval.

Since it would be an even trade I bought her the Pinto Squire wagon with vinyl wood trim and more crap.  She was happy and we never had anymore problems driving it on ice.

Oh, both were straight stick.  My wife preferred to manually shift.  I did "MY" rust proofing on it and when we traded it 10 years later, the dealer came to me and told me he had never seen a Pinto without rust like that!

I bought her a Subaru Brat with the back cover and jump seats in the bed.  MY kids would freeze their asses off when driven to school just to have the other kids see them getting out of the jump seats in the back bed.  Shitten car spun a bearing at 36,000 miles.  Naver again! 

My dad liked Fords and his first car was a model A . After WWII he had a 53 Studebaker and then in 1955 he got a 55 ford and in 1959 he got a new ford Fairlane and that was my first car. Then in the 70s He bought a Maverick and that was my younger brother's first car and my dad bought a pinto and liked it but my little brother wrecked the maverick and my dad gave him the pinto. It was a good running car but then little brother moved to Spokane Washington the year Mount Saint Helens erupted and was having trouble getting the pinto started and was running it with the air cleaner off and all the ash from the volcano was so thick that it covered the ground like  a layer of snow and the ash was so corrosive that it destroyed the piston rings and the car burnt oil really badly and had no compression and a perfectly good car was ruined when all  it probably needed was a carburetor rebuild or maybe just a tune-up to deal with the starting problem.

[pipedreams]

1910 Cadillac Thirty Series Model Demi Tonneau

[Schmidt Meister]

1 hour ago, Borg warner said:

In my opinion, the Pinto was one of the best looking cars-turned-into-sttion wagons. Even better was the Volvo P1800 sports car turned into a station wagon, and the best looking car-turned-into-an ElCamino/Ranchero was the  limited dealer-built 1968 Pontiac Le mans and best of all was the Cadillac Mirage for 1975 and 1976.

In my opinion, the only car out of the 3 mentioned that is truly worthy is the 1968 Pontiac LeMans Safari Pickup. I could drive that with pride, not the other 2.

[Schmidt Meister]

The 1968 LeMans Safari Pickup was a one-off combination of a 1968 Tempest Cameo Ivory four-door sedan and a 1968 Chevrolet Butternut Yellow El Camino that when successfully ‘bred’ together were painted Mayfair Maize.
Gordon Theisen, the owner of Adirondack Auto Sales, a World War II veteran, industrial arts teacher, and real estate developer, had a knack for sales and believed that the Pontiac lineup, which he dealt, lacked a vehicle that his customers would buy. He tried appealing to Pontiac, but they cold-shouldered him BUT they told him if he wanted to spend his time and money building a proof of concept and present it to them, he had their permission.
So Theisen bought both cars showroom new and told his staff to bring him one car.
Both the Tempest and the El Camino rode on 116-inch wheelbases, so it was a simple matter for the Adirondack Auto Sales staff to remove the El Camino body from its frame and mount it to the Pontiac frame. The entire Pontiac drivetrain (two-barrel 350 V-8, automatic transmission) and suspension remained with the Tempest frame, and the Tempest interior, down to the dashboard and steering column, made its way into the El Camino's cab. Adapting the Pontiac's front sheetmetal proved a little more involved than simply bolting it to the El Camino's cowl: The fenders required some metal massaging to line up with the Chevrolet body lines, as did the tops of the doors.
Theisen finished the Pontiac-with-a-bed by that October and sent it to Pontiac's engineering office in New York for evaluation. Again, Pontiac officials told him it just wouldn't work badged as a Pontiac, Pontiac's franchise dealers weren't set up to sell trucks. GMC's franchise dealers, however, were set up to sell trucks (and were largely paired with Pontiac franchises), so according to Brady, Theisen's pitch eventually developed into the GMC Sprint, which debuted for the 1971 model year.
(Of note: Pontiac's engineering department in Michigan had previously built a Pontiac-nosed El Camino in 1959 and would do so again in 1978. Neither effort resulted in a production vehicle, but at least one example from each of those efforts still exists.)
While the leftover parts from the conversion eventually made their way through the Adirondack Auto Sales parts and service department, the pickup remained the dealership's shop truck for decades afterward. Jim Brady, a restorer who at one point owned the vehicle, said the family pressed it into boat and trailer towing duties and it often hauled snowmobile's for the family's Ski-Doo dealership.
By the time Brady bought it from the original family following a Carlisle auction in 2012 (Theisen had died in 2001 at the age of 75), the Pontiac had just 34,000 miles on it but had already been repainted once and fitted with a black vinyl roof. He then spent the next year stripping the body to bare metal, repainting it in Mayfair Maize, reproducing the custom lower trim pieces, and cleaning the mostly original interior before selling it at Mecum's Kissimmee auction in 2014 for $38,000.
Now the Pontiac (chassis number 233698P109210) came up for auction once again, this time scheduled to cross the block as part of Leake's Oklahoma City auction, in 2017, I believe. I can’t find any information on that sale.

[Schmidt Meister]

They actually tried it one time before: 1959 Pontiac Catalina Safari. 3 were funded but the project was killed while the second one was being built.

[Schmidt Meister]

And they tried it again, later: 1978 Pontiac Grand Am Pickup (With 1980 Grill). Kept in GM Corporate Museum until sold in 2009 through Barrett-Jackson. Never put into production.

[Borg warner]

2 hours ago, Schmidt Meister said:

In my opinion, the only car out of the 3 mentioned that is truly worthy is the 1968 Pontiac LeMans Safari Pickup. I could drive that with pride, not the other 2.

I agree. except I woulden't exactly be ashamed to drive a Cadillac Mirage, but I'm partial to Caddies. But I like big cars and I like Pontiacs and I loved the old Catalina 2+2 421.

[Schmidt Meister]

1935 Chevrolet Pickup

[Schmidt Meister]

1949 GMC Panel Delivery Van

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

1971 International Harvester Scout Models On Auto Carrier Transport

[DAKA]

9 hours ago, pipedreams said:

1971 International Harvester Scout Models On Auto Carrier Transport

I had a Scout back then, maybe the last of them, I think it was a 1980, great truck....my boys and I used to go the Provencetown and go out on the beach after the summer ...