Automotive News / Industry / Future Vehicle Discussion Automotive news and discussion about upcoming vehicles

How would El Camino be received?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 06-28-2002, 06:18 PM
  #1  
Registered User
Thread Starter
 
jrp4uc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Hebron, KY
Posts: 1,724
Question How would El Camino be received?

To halfway get away from the GTO...

If the Holden Ute makes it over here in limited numbers, are we going to hear the same resistance from hardcore enthusiasts over styling? How will the new GTO owners feel about a "truck" version of their car?

Having seen the Silverado SS pics (there's something uninspiring), a revived El Camino SS seems better suited to take on the SVT Lightning and PVO Ram SRT-10. I would think the press and enthusiasts would be more excited about it than the Silverado as well.

Opinions?

------------------
-JERRY-
'02 Impreza WRX
'88 Fiero Formula
'90 Sunbird LE For Sale
Formerly owned: '93 Firebird Formula
jrp4uc is offline  
Old 06-28-2002, 06:35 PM
  #2  
Registered User
Thread Starter
 
jrp4uc's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Hebron, KY
Posts: 1,724
Smile

A quick look and info on Ute SS

I dunno, but it seems to me like another car that would serve GM well to import.
jrp4uc is offline  
Old 06-28-2002, 10:23 PM
  #3  
Registered User
 
HuJass's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: CNY
Posts: 2,224
Post

I see 2 issues with the El Camino coming back.
1) Won't it compete with the upcoming SSR?

2) There will probably be a small group of hard core enthusiasts who will blast GM for bringing back the El Camino.
HuJass is offline  
Old 06-28-2002, 10:43 PM
  #4  
Registered User
 
stars1010's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Houston
Posts: 3,123
Thumbs up

I'd buy one, much cooler than lightning!

stars1010 is offline  
Old 06-29-2002, 12:47 AM
  #5  
Registered User
 
Ude-lose's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: AU
Posts: 358
Post

Damn !!!!
http://www.purefect.com.au/PlanB/burnout.jpg
Ude-lose is offline  
Old 06-29-2002, 02:15 AM
  #6  
Registered User
 
CLEAN's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Arlington, Texas
Posts: 2,576
Post

I think it would be a hit. For a truck crazed market, I can't believe it's taken this long for one of the big 3 to come back w/ something like this. Granted they had no RWD platforms to base it on (imagine an El Camino w/ a Camaro front end......) I saw an Impalla SS (94-96 style) El Camino show car many years ago, and it was AWESOME. From the front doors forward, it was an Impala SS, but the bed was seamlessly integrated to the Impy's styling. It was a knockout! I have a picture of it somewhere.
CLEAN is offline  
Old 06-29-2002, 09:50 AM
  #7  
Registered User
 
Darth Xed's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Ohio
Posts: 8,504
Post

Put me in the no column.

While it may seem like it makes sense (and it might) I just was never an El Camino person. I thought they were an odd breeding of a car and truck that never meshed well... I feel the same when I look at the UTE, and actually I think "Dodge Rampage" more than "El Camino"

Plus, would people bitch the same way about a Holden derived El Camino if it didn't hold up to El Camino's fabled history?

Darth Xed is offline  
Old 06-29-2002, 06:21 PM
  #8  
Registered User
 
RiceEating5.0's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 1,313
Post

i don't like it. They need to make their mind up and go with either a car or a truck.

I don't see it competing with either the lightning or SRT-10 Ram. Both are full sized trucks.

Another thing, a mag i looked at over the weekend had the base price of the SRT-10 in the 50 thousands. Holy chit. That's just too much. A lightning still comes in at 20 some thousand dollars cheaper.
RiceEating5.0 is offline  
Old 06-29-2002, 08:09 PM
  #9  
Registered User
 
guionM's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: The Golden State
Posts: 13,711
Post

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Darth Xed:


Plus, would people bitch the same way about a Holden derived El Camino if it didn't hold up to El Camino's fabled history?

</font>
Darth, judging by the GTO response, you're probally right.

Just the same, I think it'd be a great edition. The fact that there's nothing like it in the US anymore should make it worth bringing over.

Holden will be exporting 20,000 vehicles to the US annually. 18,000 will be GTO's. Any guesses on the other 2000?
guionM is offline  
Old 06-30-2002, 12:55 AM
  #10  
Registered User
 
Reno Leigh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: South Bend, Indiana
Posts: 100
Post

We had a couple differt threads on the Maloo Ute imported as an El Camino about 6-8 months ago, about the same time that it was rumoured that the Monaro would be imported and called GTO, and we talked about the GTO then as well, except the discussion was missing the personal attacks back then.

I can only speak for myself, but I said then and I say again that I like the Ute 100 times better than I liked the Monaro. The Monaro looked too vanilla and too Cavalierish for my taste. As a sidebar, please keep your personal slams of me to yourselves. I am perfectly entitled NOT to think much of the Monaro's looks as compared to the Ute's looks.

From what was posted at the time, the Monaro team did the best they could working with a limited budget and next to no factory support to turn a very ugly four door car into a halfway decent looking two door Monaro. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I think it was a Commodore. (It was a car that looked like the extict four door Lumina, only bigger.)

I think they did a decent job with the limited resources that were available to them. I think the Monaro looks better than the 99 up Mustangs, for example. But the low buck re-design cannot escape its homely roots, even if you stick GTO badges on it.

Lets look at the Maloo Ute now. I read that the Maloos designers used the US El Caminos as the muse, as the core inspiration. Pay attention, cuz this is a huge and important distiction between the two cars origins. And it made a huge difference as how the final design turned out. The result: Maloo is the best looking El Camino ever. It took the old ideas and modernized them. It the perfectly executed Retro ideal. Quality goes in, quality comes out. It looks like an El Camino, cuz it was supposed to.

Lets look at the other hand. Can anyone say the GTO was the inspiration for the Commodore or the Monaro? Of course not, and the final results of those two cars dont look like any GTO we ever had here, no surprise.

Now if GM had bought the tooling for the old Dodge Rampages and slapped El Camino badges on them, then I would be upset. Can you understand the difference?
Reno Leigh is offline  
Old 06-30-2002, 02:06 AM
  #11  
Registered User
 
Z28Wilson's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Sterling Heights, MI
Posts: 6,166
Post

Nice post Reno. Makes a lot of sense.

I agree with Darth a lot of times, and even while I've never been a huge El Camino person it does have it's own solid following here and there is nothing else like it here. I strongly believe that GM needs product that distinguishes itself from everything else just as much as it needs strong direct competitors to existing products.

------------------
Mark

94 Z28, Red, A4, 3:23
Lone Mods--LPE CAI, !Lapeer Dragway.
(Hey, I'm a college boy I can't afford gobs of bolt-ons!)

Best time: 14.658 @ 95.1
with SES light on and Driver off! (First and only time at track)

The F-body will NEVER die.

[This message has been edited by Z28Wilson (edited June 30, 2002).]
Z28Wilson is offline  
Old 06-30-2002, 05:16 PM
  #12  
Registered User
 
guionM's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: The Golden State
Posts: 13,711
Post

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Reno Leigh:
We had a couple differt threads on the Maloo Ute imported as an El Camino about 6-8 months ago, about the same time that it was rumoured that the Monaro would be imported and called GTO, and we talked about the GTO then as well, except the discussion was missing the personal attacks back then.

I can only speak for myself, but I said then and I say again that I like the Ute 100 times better than I liked the Monaro. The Monaro looked too vanilla and too Cavalierish for my taste. As a sidebar, please keep your personal slams of me to yourselves. I am perfectly entitled NOT to think much of the Monaro's looks as compared to the Ute's looks.

From what was posted at the time, the Monaro team did the best they could working with a limited budget and next to no factory support to turn a very ugly four door car into a halfway decent looking two door Monaro. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I think it was a Commodore. (It was a car that looked like the extict four door Lumina, only bigger.)

I think they did a decent job with the limited resources that were available to them. I think the Monaro looks better than the 99 up Mustangs, for example. But the low buck re-design cannot escape its homely roots, even if you stick GTO badges on it.

Lets look at the Maloo Ute now. I read that the Maloos designers used the US El Caminos as the muse, as the core inspiration. Pay attention, cuz this is a huge and important distiction between the two cars origins. And it made a huge difference as how the final design turned out. The result: Maloo is the best looking El Camino ever. It took the old ideas and modernized them. It the perfectly executed Retro ideal. Quality goes in, quality comes out. It looks like an El Camino, cuz it was supposed to.

Lets look at the other hand. Can anyone say the GTO was the inspiration for the Commodore or the Monaro? Of course not, and the final results of those two cars dont look like any GTO we ever had here, no surprise.

Now if GM had bought the tooling for the old Dodge Rampages and slapped El Camino badges on them, then I would be upset. Can you understand the difference?
</font>
I've always said styling was subjective. I tend to place much more emphasis on a vehicle's hardware & a slick look than anything that relys on gimmicks. I won't & don't critisize anyone who has a difference of view on GTO on those ground.

It's when some stary throwing the baby out with the bath water when I get a little dumbfounded. When someone says that GM performance is in the dumpster because a car simply doesn't look retro enough, or that the only reason anyone would purchase a car is because they will buy any POS GM puts out because they are somehow "performance starved" is a few kilometers beyound nieve & condencending.

There are people who put their neck out to bring performance back. If GTO proves them right, there is quite a few vehicles in route.

BTW, I think El Camino would be a hit here. I agree in many ways about your observations.

guionM is offline  
Old 06-30-2002, 05:46 PM
  #13  
Registered User
 
steven j's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: FL
Posts: 21
Post

if gm imports the maloo than they might sa well bring this over as the next caprice/impala ss,mind you this is a Middle eastern web site.i cant believe that Gm makes Osama cooler cars than the USA

http://www.gmarabia.com/chevrolet_ca...ce/caprice.htm
steven j is offline  
Old 06-30-2002, 07:06 PM
  #14  
Registered User
 
Decromin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 200
Post

Holden started making Utilities in 1951 - 8 years before the El Camino was introduced. I think Holden and HSV have plenty of local knowledge to design their utes without needing to copy the El Camino ...
Decromin is offline  
Old 07-01-2002, 02:20 PM
  #15  
Registered User
 
Reno Leigh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: South Bend, Indiana
Posts: 100
Post

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Decromin:
Holden started making Utilities in 1951 - 8 years before the El Camino was introduced. I think Holden and HSV have plenty of local knowledge to design their utes without needing to copy the El Camino ...</font>
And I have seen Ford, Hudson, etc Utes that were manufactured in the US and other places years before the first 1951 Holdens even.

Holden did use the US El Camino as inspiration. I read it on the Holden website, and in other web published interviews with Holden designers.

Dont be embarassed about El Camino influence, it turned out great!
Reno Leigh is offline  


Quick Reply: How would El Camino be received?



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:03 AM.