The Chevrolet El Camino was first introduced in 1959 as a rival to the Ford Ranchero. It was withdrawn from production in 1960, but it was reintroduced in showrooms between 1964 and 1987. The nameplate was lost to history more than thirty years ago, but I’m still holding out hope that it may eventually be found again. The El Camino was an incredibly awesome vehicle, and even though I know it won’t happen, I can’t resist.
Especially beautiful was the first generation model, which was based on the full-size Brookwood wagon. When the badge was added back to the Chevelle lineup in 1964, things really heated up. Who could forget the ruthless and swift 1970 SS 454 LS6?
The fourth- and fifth-gen El Camino aren’t as appealing in terms of performance, but they’re also great options if you’re into classics from the Malaise Era. But while I’m a fan of the G-body version and its boxy appearance, I can’t even look at the fourth-gen version of 1973 to 1977. The frog-eyed front fascia is downright ugly.
That’s one El Camino I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. Or if I have no choice but to drive one, I’d do a front-end swamp. As one owner did with the 1975 El Camino you see here. Confused? Well, what you’re looking at is a fourth-gen ute that got a Chevy Laguna face transplant.
The Laguna was a brief nameplate that debuted in 1972 as the top-tier trim level of the Chevelle range. It was equipped with several upgrades both inside and outside and fit above the Malibu. What’s more, it didn’t look like the Chevelle at all.
Not only did it not come with the frog-eye front fascia when it was first introduced for the 1973 model year, but Chevy also completely revamped it in 1975. A front end with an aerodynamic tilt was part of the redesign. The aerodynamic fascia, designed with NASCAR racing in mind, made the Laguna one of the sleekest cars available in showrooms at the time. And compared to the majority of US cars from the time, I believe it’s fairly attractive.
This junkyard-found El Camino proves the car-based pickup would have looked much better with a Laguna S3 front clip. Sure, the transplant we see here is a terrible hack job, but a seamless conversion is totally doable. And I’ve seen quite a few flawless modifications over the years, so I’m not the only one rooting for Laguna pickups.
There are many other 1970s Lagunas and El Caminos available, but this one is in pretty horrible form and not worth rescuing (unless you’re ready to put a lot of money into it). In particular, Chevy produced over 109,000 Lagunas and about 250,0qw00 fourth-generation utes.
Would you drive a Laguna-faced El Camino?