Of course not! Yeah, I could have gone out and shot any one of the dozen or so VW T2 Transporters on the island that remain un-DOTS-ified, but that will have to wait for another weekend. I spotted this El Camino while checking for the supposedly-street-legal Dai Hard Daihatsu Charade LeMons car that lives nearby, in the same household as the '69 Morris Minor Traveller.

Dai Hard must have been in the garage, but it was worth the (two-block) walk to see this El Camino. I've always preferred the angular look of the '64-67 GM A-bodies to the more bulbous '68-72 models, and I think the Chevelle was the best-looking of The General's intermediates during this period. This Chevelle-with-a-truck-bed has a mean-looking coat of primer and cowl-induction hood scoop, and it appears to be a rust-free example of a fairly rare street-driven cartruck.

We've already seen Jesse's '66 Datsun 411, his '61 Austin Mini, his '70 Puma GT (now sold to a buyer in Denmark), and his '83 Toyota 4x4 truck. Now he's added this classic Detroit cartruck to his stable.

This El Camino is in very solid, rust-free original condition, and the original Tonawanda-built 2-barrel 350 still sounds fresh. Could this be the only '69 El Camino in the world that doesn't have headers and a Holley 750 double-pumper by now?

The one questionable modification that's been done to this machine might be the "vinyl top" made out of protective bed-liner coating. It looks OK and is likely impervious to meteorite damage, but just doesn't seem like a good idea.

I'm not enough of an El Camino expert to know whether the proper term for this one is "El Camino Malibu" or something else; the '69 El Camino being a Chevelle with a truck bed meant that the Chevelle's Malibu trim package was an available option. Any of you experts out there got an opinion on the subject?

Car: Tata Nano
Place on the list: 49
Reason it's BS: The Tata Nano isn't ugly, it's simply space efficient. Given the constraints of price, footprint and upright packaging, it pulls off the microcar shape rather well actually. There are certainly uglier cars on the market in India and China right now.

Car: Ferrari Enzo
Place on the list: 42
Reason it's BS: Save the Enzo's! The Ferrari Enzo wasn't built to win beauty contests, it was designed to showcase Ferrari's F1 racing pedigree and tie those techniques and technologies to their road cars. Form follows function and while it's not classically beautiful it's fast and unique. In any case compared to the Mondial, it's a supermodel.

Car: Plymouth Prowler
Place on the list: 31
Reason it's BS: When the Prowler was introduced in 1997, it was the coolest car on the planet, bar none. Unfortunately it was packed with an engine from an Intrepid, and suspension tuning best described as one-of-a-kind. Despite its glaring flaws and how you might feel about the retro-mod style, it was certainly a car that got people looking. When you spot them today, you turn and look longer than you should, admit it.

Car: Lamborghini LM002
Place on the list: 25
Reason it's BS: BusnessWeek complains about "geometric doors, angular fenders, and a busy hood." Perhaps they forgot it was introduced in 1986 when everything cool was geometric, angular and busy. They don't even mention the fire-breathing (for the 80's) 5.0 liter V12 from the Countach under the hood and the take-no-prisoners attitude. You don't get a moniker like "Rambo Lambo" by being lame.

Car: DeLorean DMC-12
Place on the list: 20
Reason it's BS: Are they joking? The DMC-12? Of any car from the 80's this one still plays well on public streets. The stainless steel body is unique, the ridiculously heavy gullwing doors draw crowds and the fastback style screams 80's coke dealer, and nobody was more up on all things stylish in the 80's than coke dealers.

Car:Subaru Brat
Place on the list: 18
Reason it's BS: Apparently BusinessWeek's too busy adjusting its top hat and monocle to enjoy the finer things in life, like riding in the jump seats in the Subaru Brat's cargo bed. It's even got decent capability for an early soft-roader.

Car: Aston Martin Lagonda
Place on the list: 16
Reason it's BS: Oh come on? Really? The Lagonda? It pushed the limit of longer, lower, wider to absurdity and mixed in out of control braggadocio. By all account it was admittedly every bit British reliable, but who cares? Hire a team of mules to pull it around town as you look out upon the unwashed masses from your obnoxious 80's chariot.

Car:Volvo 240
Place on the list: 13
Reason it's BS: Don't you go messing with the 240 BusinessWeek. You have no idea the depths of Volvo love out there, especially by the boxy-but-trusty 240. We dare you, dare you to find a more dedicated owner base. Fine, it's a bit boring, but so is the Camry and that's not on the list. We actually find it handsome, especially with the quad headlight design. You best watch your back BusinessWeek.

Car: Bricklin SV1
Place on the list: 11
Reason it's BS: Okay, this one's a bit on the ugly side, if you look only at the outside, but it was one of the first cars to push the idea of safety in a sports car, even though because of its heavy construction it wasn't particularly sporty. It's got a logical shape, and the nose is designed to prevent expensive damage repairs. Sure it's a bit cluttered in places, but come on, gull-wing doors.

Car:Chevy El Camino
Place on the list: 1
Reason it's BS: Number one. They've got to be kidding. Two words on this one: Screw. Off. First of all, lumping the entire series into one big pile is just plain ignorant. Secondly, it's rude. The El Camino from the outset was a looker and stayed a dynamite design all the way until the fall in the 70s. But then again, everything was pretty fug in the 70s. If they even try to say the 1960 and 1972 were ugly, they might get a Jalopnik-shaped shoe to the butt.

Photo credit: SuperChevy

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?

It's a Yugo GV with a Sawzall Caminoization job, but that's just the beginning. You know that wheezing, underwhelming 1100cc engine that Zastava put in the Yugo? Forget that boat anchor! You get the 1500cc out of a Fiat Strada (aka Ritmo) when you buy this car, and that's not all- check out that homemade intake manifold and brace of four motorcycle carbs! And when it comes time for turbocharging, you'll have a head start with the Volvo intercooler already installed. We say you need to rush straight to Washington State and buy this car (go here if the listing disappears) right now!

Go ahead, pretend you aren't magnetically drawn to the distilled perfection of this magnificent machine. It's got everything a follically gifted and dentally challenged buyer could possibly want. The high rear spoiler is perfect for pretending you're Richard Petty at Daytona, the enormous steel-floored bed is aching for either a garage full of partially complete 70's-era motorcycles or a mobile moonshine still, the Camaro nose sets you apart from the crowd and Ferrari-like side strakes add just enough class to help the odds during ladies night. And then there's the double axle action powered by a good ole V8 engine. Great El Camino? Or greatest El Camino ever? Let the owner convince you if the pictures haven't already:

For sale is a 1980 Chevy Elcamino.This car does runs n drives good.The carb isnt very good.I drive this car every day,this car was originally in car shows until about 7 yrs ago,it has been in magazines also.This car has set in a mans back yard for the last 7 or 8 yrs i bought this car about a yr ago i do drive it daily.I put the car in primer when i bought it,the frame n body is in good shape frame is not rusted out.

Would you believe nobody's snapped this baby up yet? Current bid's $1,422.00 and the reserve hasn't been met, so get going. (Hat tip to Conner)

[eBay listing]

Tom Leitschuh of Wisconsin has done what we've all only dreamt of: dropped 46 lithium-ferrite phosphate batteries and a big 'lectric motor into the best car ever built (well, a first-gen would have been cooler, but this'll do).

This 1981 El Camino was in good shape when it landed in Leitschuh's shop and, after 200 hours and $30,000, he created this 33 killowatt-hour beast. As an owner of an electronics controls shop he was able to do the work himself and describes the acceleration as "quick." Who cares? When you're driving something this spectacular you want to slow down and enjoy the "ooohhhs" and "ahhhhhs" as you pass.

And to top other electric car owners, Leitschuh gets all of the power for his car from his wind turbine and solar-barn. Green has never looked better.

[TDL Electronics via Wired:Autopia]

T3 isn't new to the world of electric vehicles, providing dorky electric chariots to police forces and whoever thinks Segways are too cool. Now they're branching out into passenger-type vehicles, with the CT3, a three-wheeled electric car using the companies patented controller unit and Lithium-Polymer battery pack. When looking at the above render, pay no attention to the swiped and resized Chevy Camaro Concept wheels and that the rear one is on backwards, those are mere trifles. What's important is the goofy, semi-camino-ized fastback shape that gives the CT3 a strong aerodynamic performance. The car will be aimed at winning the Progressive Automotive X-Prize which sets a target at 100 MPG for a consumer car, this one plans to hit it with the energy equivalent of the 100 MPG measure.

[Source: T3 Motion]

Cameron found this fine machine in a Southern California junkyard:

The unbelieveably long-lived XN6 lump. This engine, properly maintained, will run forever.
Drivetrain: BA10/5 transmission. Rear axle is whatever Peugeot put there in the factory. There's a driveshaft, too.
Notes: Found it in a junkyard in Sun Valley, CA and had to get pictures. I mean, it's a 505 wagon that's been hacked into a Subaru Baja - well, sort of. Unfortunately, I was unable to rescue it from the crusher, but at least I can prove that *someone* really did do this to a 505. It's actually kinda cool, in a backwoods-tech sort of way.
Hummer SUT? Screw that, this baby purely rocks!
I found this car a few years ago in a particularly notorious Sun Valley, CA junkyard (no, not the one with Fiat 500, Renault 5, and Citroen SM on the walls, but it's about a mile away from there) and got the photos on their grounds while being yelled at by the employees, Have tp admit, I do miss that place, and, as a past 505 owner... I do lust after this vehicle's remains. The 505 was France's Dodge Dart, and this seems like an oddly fitting end for one of its finest cars. "She's the last of the rear-drive Peugeots, Max..."

It's surprising how well the 740 takes to being reformed into a mean hunting truck. We're not huge fans of the diamond-cut metal on every surface, but we love the repurposing of the back hatch behind the second row of seats. Despite the revised nose, the lights, interior, door trim and rear-window are all 700-series.

Volvo reliability with Commando style and British engineering... where do we sign up?

[eBay Motors]

(Hat tip to Greg!)

The elegant flying buttresses of the XJS are a perfect setup for a truck bed in the back, easily accomplished in this case with the removal of the trunk lid and the installation of a bulkhead and some aluminum plates. We'd have preferred some nice teak bed boards held in place with chrome strips, but beggers can't be choosers. It's definitely a helluva lot nicer than the clapped out version we saw in Project Car Hell. Now all it needs is some llamas in the back. [Autoblog.it]

In Tomsk's words:

F250: The Ford F-Series has ruled the pickup roost for decades now, but how did it get there? This early- to mid-'70s F250 regular cab might offer some clues, including the most obvious of which is the fact it's still operational. The owner has added some wheels from a later F-Series, it appears everything else it wore back in the day, from the novelty mud flaps to the "Camper Special" badges are still in tact. And best of all? No cupholders in sight!

Suburban: This leviathan holds a special place in my heart, as my parents owned an '84 C20 'Burb for 15 years.While ours had a carbureted 454, the 1987 model year (which is what this is judging by the grille and the badge on the tailgate) marked the introduction of EFI. Regardless of what's under the hood, I feel this generation of Suburbans has a certain romance about it, as it was the last of the line that wasn't found in 70% of suburban (See what I did there?) driveways and driven by spraytanned MILFs who wanted something that would keep their 2.5 brats safe in a collision with anything smaller than a Peterbilt and let them (literally) look down upon the other moms in Tauruses, Caravans and 5 Series Bimmers.

El Camino: Considering where tha Jalop's allegiances lie, I had to include at least one Elky, right? Well, here she is, the year conveniently identified by the license plate frames. With the IROC Camaro wheels, it's guaran-bleeping-teed to make your haircut at least 50% more business-like in the front and at least 75% more party-like in the back. How can you lose?

Ford F Series: Before Dearborn's medium-duty pickups were offered with such niceties as voice-activated infotainment systems, heated leather seats, integrated trailer brake controls and diesel engines with enough torque to puree diamonds, they looked a little something like this, because back in the days of Camelot and the Great Society, pickup buyers didn't know they needed such things.

Uh, they do need 'em, right?

Unfortunately, as you can most definitely tell, the images above represent a digital euphoria of a Volvo El Camino mashups accurately depicting what we see in our dreams every single night. Bo Zoland of VizualTech has given us something to wake up for every day. With V8 power, Pontiac G8 ST good looks, and a Volvo face we can't not love, this ranks high among El Caminoized rides we've seen, easily outclassing the XC70chero. Now if we could only get someone to build it. Any takers?

[carscoop via VizualTech]

As with the R35 GT-R wagon and this R34 GT-R wagon, this lime green example of awesomeness was created using Nissan's Stagea station wagon (thought the last generation model) as the basis. The Stagea makes for an easy swap for the GT-R front clip since it shares its chassis and drivetrain with the Skyline. Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan based, Dear Motorsports produced the GT-R El Camino by chopping the entire upper rear portion of the bodywork from the C-pillar on back. They fabricated a new bed and the rear of the cab as well as removing the rear passenger doors to create this tasty little morsel. We're starting to think that maybe we need to start chopping up some cars because this ish is off the hook!
(Hat Tip to Adam!)

[via zenkai-flatout]

As yucky as the ripoff Libertypage is, there are other... vehicles, they plan to unleash on the public like the "Brave Warrior" and the "Luling Pickup." Just goes to show you, for every BYD F3DM we should take seriously, there are at least three Chinese entries to remind us how good we have it.
[The Tycho]

Have we considered a Volvochero before? Of course. The Volvo XC70chero merely teased our pallets, prompting us to fantasize about an amino-ized version of the 240. Had we done it, though, we'd have chopped the doors off of a Volvo 245 station wagon.

This strange truck, spotted by reader Boate, is actually a Volvo 244 sedan. You can tell because of the rear taillights and lack of rear panel vent, among other hints. BUT, this person must have had access to a station wagon because the back of the cab features a hinged, we assume working, wagon hatch. This manages to be a Volvo 242, 244 and 245 simultaneously and yet, is actually a 243. Essentially, this beast is a Hatchback-Caminoized-Shooting-Brake Volvo 240.

All it needs now is a 4x4 conversion.

Be certain your seatbelts are securely fastened, your tray tables and seatbacks are in their upright and locked position, because these Kiwi hoons are about to take you on a triple burnout flight of awesome. Looking like some petrol twisted version of Greg Pike's, these guys pulled out a cabover flatbed truck with what sounds like a serious cam on it topped by what we're assuming is a Holden Ute, which is carrying a motorcycle in its bed. Add three drivers with a taste for tire smoke and you have a seriously glorious gratuitous display of horsepower. Wonder if we could slide a flatbed semi trailer underneath, and a nitromethane Traxxus RC truck on top for a five way burnout stack. We're not worthy.