Customs '62 El Camino? Photo shop project?

Soooo, I'm gonna retrieve the Impala from my son, as we're going to give him our PT Cruiser (that's what he gets for wrinkling the Impala ), meeting him in Denver and trading cars.

I've been thinking about the Impala, and, NOT saying it's gonna happen, but it seems that Chevy should have made an El Camino in '62, and it also seems a totally rust free, original Sport Sedan (pillarless hardtop) would be a pretty natural base.

How hard could this be? Aside from the side molding, seems it'd be a natural. I'm thinking a little quarter window behind the original front door gl*** and the back window and top section from the sedan would have great lines. Actually, I LIKE the car as is, the 4 door hardtop is pretty cool, and how many do you see?

Anybody feel creative?

Brian

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366016&highlight=1962+el+camino

 

go for it

 

Big fan of '62's and El Caminos..........................just not seeing how the two can be mated with a good outcome. Maybe get someone to photoshop an example and prove me wrong.

Frank

 

Just run it man. If you want an elcamino start with a worse car or buy an elcamino.

Me, I'd fix it and use the opportunity to 2-tone with heavy flaked forest green.

good luck

 

I don't think a 4-door hardtop (or any of the other sedans or coupes) is the right car to use as a starting point. A wagon with a damaged roof would be a much better candidate.

 

The windows don´t work out quite how you´d want - so you´ll have a gap behind the door window that will also need gl***.

 

Yikes. Maybee that is why they didnt make a 62 elco. great photoshopping though. Skills.
That thing is way clean. I say shave the handles lower it to the ground put on some cragar spokes and drive the #$%^ out of it. Way cool

 

I'm w/ SLAMIT on this one,,

 

If you do make it into an El C give it a 2 door conversion at the same time

 

See attached, 60-up chevy pickup rear roof section, on a wagon. Or get a door wagon top qtr portions for this car or else your car will look like a cut up closed car. I also did a shortened version, I believe the wagons are longer the sedans and hardtops. o yeah and you do need post top dr sedan doors or else the door will be short, I added long doors.

 

The rear of the roof has to be raised, but I don't know if that back window would ever look right, would be cool with the right top!

 

definetely needs a different rear roof section

 

HERE IT IS WITH A FEW MORE TWEAKS.

 

I would start with a wagon ( for the tailgate) and as mentioned before would use two door H/T or sedan doors....I think you might be able to get away with using the rear window portion of the wagon as well

 

I think the proportions get screwy if you use the short front doors from a 4 door car. Thats why '59-60 Elky's work so well. They use the shell/skin from a 2 door sedan...

I think it would be pretty cramped (for me at least) with the small side window opening...I think the car is way cooler as a clean more-door hardtop. It may be that it reminds me of my first car (1963 Olds Super 88 4 dr. hardtop)

Just my opinion...

 

WITH LONG DOORS.

 

I think the El Camino conversion on a 4 door hardtop is going to be way too much h***le to get the roofline and tail gate area right, not to mention a convincing looking bed without copping out and just covering it with a tonneau.

There was a '61 LeSabre convertible I saw for sale recently for $1500 that had everything necessary for a convertible but the floors and frame were shot. If I had your '62 4 door hardtop and I really wanted to cut it up, I'd do a convertible conversion using the Buick parts car, or get a regular '61 LeSabre 2 door hardtop and make that '62 into a bubbletop.

Granted, both of those conversions would be fairly involved, but the El Camino would be even more work since you have to re-engineer everything. The convert or bubbletop swap is just a matter of swapping out a lot of sheetmetal, not redesigning or reengineering it.

 

If that's as nice a car as it looks, I'd leave it alone. My first car was a '61 Pontiac Ventura "Vista" 4-door hardtop. I loved that car. It had all the "cool" of a 2-door hardtop, in my humble opinion, and none of the stogyness of your average 4-door sedan. Wish I still had it, honestly...

 

didn't this post happen a few weeks ago? heres a 62 from the Davis collection

 

If it's gonna look right it's gonna have to take a cue from the elcos on either side generationally. Which means vertical back window. The later ones may have had sweeping flank lines off the roof, but they all concaved into vertical back windows.

The photoshop above is really well done but sure looks a lot like a 65 corvette removeable hardtop.

 

gotta be honest, that thing is fugly.

 

I like that! To be honest, I wondered about the height of the rear of the 4 door roof section, your first photo shop (great job, BTW!) proves that problem straightaway. I DO like the chop via leaned back window, but to agree with Shifty, that's WAY more work, and this car really is as nice an original '62 Impala as you'll ever see, number of doors notwithstanding. Using the pickup cab with the little overhang is the prettiest, and yes, it should be a two door to start, but I think a hardtop would be prettier...like anybody now would cut up an Impala hardtop...

I've gotton ahold of a guy in San Diego who has a pair of doors, if we can work out getting them to Vegas, Craig will bring them him when we meet and exchange cars. It'll stay a 4 door I guess.

 

The 3 things that might make it work...
a slight chop to lengthen the tops of the windows
2 door doors
a narrowed b pillar

 

I'm not feeling the shorter version. Of all the examples shown, you've got it on the money. I like it plenty!

 

I'd hate to see that nice 4 door cut-up. If it was a mess to begin with it would not bother me but that is a nice drive 4 door.

Your car do what you like, just had to give my opinion.

Marty McF.

 

The '59/60 El Caminos are based off the 2-door WAGON, not the sedan. Same goes for the '64/65 ones.

As I stated previously, one would be best to start with a wagon to get the tail gate, quarter panel tops, etc. Then, use the doors from a 2-door sedan to covert the formerly 4-door car in to a 2-door, and build a custom inner "bed".

 

My eyes keep drifting back to the Spartenette trailer in the background.

 

ofpic car but a lesson i learned i had a 78 buick century wagon i welded the back doors uo knocked out all the side gl*** except tha front doors had a pannel roll formed to match and welded in wala 2 door pannel wagon. now the poin of telling you this is it was a bit of a ***** to drive i still had the short doors wich meant short window all kinds of blind spots i also only had mirror on driners side.changign lanes you turn on turn signal merg and listen for a horn. any ways you need the longer doors off a 2 door car.

 

Here is a Nova wagon that was converted in the 70's.