Camino LS6

I really like the idea and the looks of it in the pic, but I do wonder about durability. Still, the roof-mounted cargo lights are mostly useless.

It's going to be a truck this time, isn't it Ocn?

I can't imagine any circumstance in which I'd buy a minivan, but if I did find myself needing to do so in 1991, it would have been one of these. Like CUVs and microcars, this is a segment I'll never be in.

I "built" every new truck I've ever had - and wouldn't do it any other way. Spending that kind of money, I want what I want and nothing less will do.

I never understood why we haven't moved toward factory orders anyway, the dealers still gamble when they order and the customers still accept whats on the lot - makes no sense to me. I've almost always ordered my new cars and trucks. By the time I hit the dealership I can just hand them a list of codes.

I've been hearing this for years, and I think it's a lame excuse - the way I see it, they are missing a marketing opportunity. But putting that aside, the line-item option has always been there on trucks to at least a certain degree. Given the nature of trucks that they are used in so many different ways, it's a necessity. Limiting that flexibility on trucks would be quite stupid. As for option packages, if we can't kill them they should at least make sense. Back when I was looking at Avalanches, it was those inane groupings of options that decided me against buying one. You couldn't get a locking rear diff. without ordering a huge (and expensive) option package full of creature comforts - and that just makes no sense.

That's what it was when it was new.

I don't really care what options they offer above what we have now, but no more silly option packages in which unrelated options are grouped together! In fact, I'd be much happier with no option packages at all - just line-item options so you can build what you want. I'd love this on any automobile, but it is far more critical on a truck.

Scrap.

The boy'd be walking...

Ugh, big Lincolns are some of my least favorite cars from the fifties. Their 40s cars were so much more elegant.

I'm with you on this, and then again I'm not. The '55 Chevy was a beautiful , and clean design that far outshines the '56-'58 versions in my opinion. However , I don't see linear decline in design with each year a touch worse than the one before. I think you have to take each year as an individual case. The '56 was just a tarted-up version of the '55, and not an improvement. But the '57 really works as a design - there is a reason that it has been an icon for so long. The '58 always looked fat and overblown to me, but I've warmed to its design over the years, especially in the lower trims. Then there is the '59. This is the game changing year, not 1960. It's radical and brash with huge fins, and lots of chrome, but under the gingerbread it was a revolution in design. The stance, the dimensions, the underlying shapes - all of it was wholly new. Yeah it's a bit polarizing, but WOW!. I find it to be a milestone that easily equals the '55 (though in an entirely different way). As far as the late 50s in general go, I'm with you. Many of those cars have always looked like overblown tubs slathered in chrome that didn't compliment their basic designs. But there were plenty of exceptions to that rule. 1959 changed all of that, but then Studebaker had already moved in that direction in '53, or thereabouts. And the late '50s Chryslers had already tidied-up their act. C1 Corvettes never really suffered the general design bloat of the 50s at all... And even on the worst of the fins and chrome crowd, there were thoughtful and interesting design details. Lower, longer, and wider ushered in my favorite era of design without any doubt, but there are earlier gems.

Thanks Ocn, it just sort of wrote itself.

The safety nazis would have a heart attack if the manufacturers used these today.

Yeah, not so much anymore. The high end stuff is too pricey these days, and consequently the more run of the mill cars are being preserved more and more every year. The values are steadily increasing as well. Even everyday cars from those days are pretty high on style as compared to modern cars. Unlike today's appliances, even base cars from the 50s,60s, and 70s are something people can love. Also, those cars are only an engine swap and option upgrade or two away from their legendary siblings. If you can't buy it, you can build it. That just isn't the case with new cars.

Feedback welcome, pro or con. General impressions would be most welcome.

Yep, always good to take a look at where things were at a given point in history. And... the new stuff is pretty boring right now.

A very clever post, Camino... Why thank you, Mr. Blu.

A quick read: http://www.facebook.com/groups/FMANONLINEMAGAZINE/

I used to do that with my '70 El Camino SS - I liked to hunt Porsches. My car was no sleeper though...

I don't recall ever seeing one.

I think you have it right, it also looks like the rear clip was from a Bel-Air hardtop judging by the quarter panel.

Yes absolutely, the Nomad pillar (and the tailgate) are what makes a '55-'57 Camino phantom work. Anything else is an "also-ran" or worse. As for the '55, to each his own - that's just not a look I can love. I'd re-body the car into something else.

Their "sitting and rotting" thread owned me for a very long time after you posted the link.

That whole shortened-coupe greenhouse thing just turns my stomach - even moreso with a bed behind it. As for the '56, it looks pretty good for a fabbed-up pillar and rear roofline - this is where a Nomad donor is essential for a factory look.