The Chevy El Camino debuted in 1959 as a response to the Ford Ranchero.
These vehicles were part car and part truck, so they served well as light-duty urban vehicles.
None of them were 4×4 ready—until this one.
Jerry Sutherland
Ron Tkachuk is the proud owner and creator of this beast. He bought a pair of ’59 El Caminos, and this one sat for a few years before Ron decided to move ahead on the project. In fact, it hung suspended in the air on a hoist for three years before Ron decided “to do something with it”.
The next piece of the puzzle came in the form of a 1988 Chevy 4×4 pickup. Ron said the truck was written off when a motorcycle crashed into the pickup bed. Ron said the truck was still in great shape and the engine only had about 12,000 miles on it.
Ron drove the truck for awhile just to get a sense of how it ran, and he was impressed. A friend of his had installed the crate engine and he was also a transmission expert, so he also went through the front and rear differential on the Chevy. This was virtually a rebuilt truck.
That was the moment Ron hit on his game plan. The El Camino was sitting on an ’84 Caprice frame so when Ron pulled it off and hung it in the air, he was looking at a shell that needed a home. The floor and firewall were already removed so half the battle was over.
Ron stripped the ’84 Chevy down to what he needed and mapped out how he would fit the two vehicles together forever.
He started by working on the El Camino’s A and B pillar to make sure they’d align with the rest of the truck. Ron knew he’d be keeping the ‘88 truck’s dash as part of the process, so that wasn’t an issue because (as mentioned) the Elky firewall was already removed.
Ron grafted the truck rockers to the El Camino and found it was much easier because the El Camino floors were already gone, so the trick was to fit the truck floor to the El Camino shell.
The rest of the process was surprisingly easy as Ron explained, “Probably the quickest build I’ll ever do”. Ron said he drove the Chevy under the El Camino shell and started fitting things together.
The width was no problem, but Ron had to move the rear differential ahead by 17 inches. He initially thought it would be 20 inches but with the El Camino set above the frame Ron said, “it didn’t look right”—so 17” was the magic number. The only other thing Ron needed was a short-box driveshaft and the truck was done.
The bumpers were another part of the process. The truck has dual bumpers because Ron thought the extra height of the 4×4 needed two bumpers to balance it out front and back. The rear bumpers are two El Camino rears welded together with the bottom one upside down.
The front one is made from two Chevy bumpers—the top one is a factory El Camino bumper and the lower one is from a ’57 Chevy. Ron needed an extra 5 inches in the center to fit the width of the ’59 El Camino.
Ron said this process only took six months of working on weekends from start to finish. He was amazed at how well this truck drives—he described it as “just like an ’88 Chevy and it even has air conditioning”.
Ron vision for this El Camino was to build a fun, all season driver and he’s there because this one “has AC and a heater”. He wants to put the stainless trim pieces but basically, it’s where he wants it now.
The truck is a people-pIeaser now. Ron said he gets a lot of “Wow! What is this thing?” comments, he loves driving it–and now it’s his favorite vehicle.
No bad for six months of his time.
Jerry Sutherland
By: Jerry Sutherland
Jerry Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer with a primary focus on the collector car hobby. His work has been published in many outlets and publications, including the National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Sun and The Truth About Cars. He is also a regular contributor to Auto Roundup Publications.
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