Today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe custom El Camino is owned by an actual Jalop, asmdjackel, who bravely asks for our opinion of his pricing acumen. Heh, heh, heh, silly asmdjackel.
So, how is everyone's holiday season going so far? Pretty good? Abysmally pathetic? Somewhere in between? Somewhere in between is where last Wednesday's custom drop top 1979 Thunderbird ended up, albeit with a 57% Crack Pipe vote on the wrong side of in between.
I was a little surprised at the T-bird's vote as I thought it seemed reasonably priced. Perhaps I was wrong however. You know who else might have made a mistake? That's right, the owner of today's wildly-custom 1979 El Camino, who also happens to be a Jalopnik regular.
As a matter of fact, when asmdjackel emailed me with his ad, he prefaced it with: oh god, I hope I don't regret this…
I think he's totally mistaken in his trepidation as after all we're all nothing but fair, right? And who wouldn't like Chevy's iconic car-truck when powered by a turbocharged SBC that's been punched out to 406 cubic inches?
Offered up as a 'Protouring turbo El Camino, this electric teal truck is clean as a bean at first glance, but according to the seller is not 100% complete in its reimagining. What is there is the 406 Dart mill running a 75-mm T6 turbo and 120-lb injectors paired with a huge 100-mm throttle body. An air-to-air intercooler ensures that the air pumped into the engine is - like George McFly - your density.
Behind the big rocker is a 6-speed T56, Centerforce clutch, and a 12-bolt rear end sporting a 3.31:1 gearset. There's plenty of other fancy bits that have gone into the car and which have no doubt contributed to its claimed $70K of investment. You can see whee that money went in the photobucket pics.
Inside there are leather-topped seats from a Saab, an excellent choice as the Swedes have a rep for comfy chairs. There's also a billet steering wheel and a Viper shifter, all fronting a set of Autometer gauges.
Outside, the truck looks to be extremely clean, sporting custom paint and a set of American Racing Iron Cross five-spokes. The engine has been dropped and moved back to allow for an un-blistered hood. That bonnet does sport a pair of louvered landing strips for air extraction, and one of the high-beams has been sacrificed to feed the massive mill, but other than those changes, the car is pretty unassuming.
What's left to be done? That's not mentioned, although there's always a lot of last minute fiddling that is needed with cars of this ilk. The other question you're no doubt asking is why is it up for sale if so much work has gone into it with little enjoyment from its use in return?
Well, asmdjackel says that it runs, is mostly put together, and just needs some love to reach completion. Sounds like most of my underachieving life to be truthful. He also says that his interest in the car has been waning, and that its space in the garage could be put to better use.
Let's help a Jalop out by letting asmdjackel know if his $35,000 price tag is as cool as his car. What do you think, is this Elkie worth that sort of scratch? Or, at that price, is its gararge spot going to be occupied for a long, long time?
You decide!
Kansas City Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to asmdjackal for the brave hookup!
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