• By Murilee Martin
    Oct 11, 2009 9:00 AM 3,776
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    read more: #downonthestreet, #1950s, #1959, #elcamino, #chevrolet, #chevroletelcamino, #cartruck, #1959chevroletelcamino, #alameda

    1959 Chevrolet El Camino

    Welcome to Down On The Street, where we admire old vehicles found parked on the streets of the Island That Rust Forgot: Alameda, California. You know what's missing from modern trucks? Fins!


    I found this cartruck parked outside Alameda's Tiki Overload Headquarters a couple months back. The bar was having a small pseudo-car-show, and this Chevy was parked just behind the '51 Dodge Wayfarer we saw a while back.

    A base, six-cylinder 1959 El Camino listed at $2,352 new, or about $400 more than a half-ton stepside Chevrolet pickup. For those extra bucks you got a car-like ride and those snazzy fins, though cargo-hauling ability wasn't quite up to serious truck standards. Which would you have chosen?


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    Send an email to Murilee Martin, the author of this post, at murilee@jalopnik.com.