My neighbor is a metal fabricator. Does some amazing stuff. If ten people would really and truly buy new steel 59-60 El Camino bed floors he would make them up. Right here in the USA. Might be able to do it for five, but the price would get pretty high. At ten the goal is to keep the price around $500 ea. This is for the bed floor, the ribbed piece you set your cargo on, which is nearly always rusted at the ends. (Not the underfloor/smugglers box). I have a very good original for a sample, and so no, I do not need one for myself and want all of you to pay for it. He has more time than usual lately to do this, how many are sincerely interested? Shipping from 89410, Gardnerville Nevada, near Reno. I searched, and did not find any available from any other supplier.
I would be interested depending on the quality of the finished piece. I have seen many "reproductions" of various items that fall far short of what I would expect to receive in exchange for my hard earned $$$. Would this be made of the same gauge of steel as the original or a little heavier material - a little heavier would be better IMO, the originals were not too heavy duty at all. seemed to be almost lighter gauge than the body metal. I would think that if advertised a little, there would be interest enough for more than 10 of them. Lots of people love 59/60 Camino's but the bed floor is one of the bad spots & with no reproductions available a lot of people are probably turned off. Could you post some pics of any of the stuff that he has made up to this point for us to see?
Exact reproductions, maybe a little heavier steel. Cannot go too heavy as heavier steel is harder to form, harder to do drives up the price. I will supply the original to be copied. Black car pics above are the part I mean. Need ten real commitments, or close to it, to get started. Greg will build a custom machine specifically to do these. For my own 59 I will have him make me a floor in aluminum to save weight. Mine will not be original as I will be putting access panels in for the Jag. rear and second fuel tank where the "Smugglers Box" used to be. This leaves my original floor available as a model. I am already in the El Camino and Wingers groups, not much happening there.
I posted a link to this thread in the 59/60 Elcamino owners group so that anyone that visits the group should see it. I also PM'd a couple of other guys that have Elky's on here too so that they would be sure to see it. I would suggest maybe putting an ad in the cl***ifieds as well.
I would love to have picked one of these up.. I have more than $500 of my time, in mine. The bed floor is originally 18gauge or so. 20 gauge I can cut with tin snips,(body sheet) I had to use the 4.5" angle grinder to work & cut the bedfloor pieces.
Doing this is not a simple exercise, or cheap, so it cannot happen until it is certain there are enough buyers for the floors. Experience shows that we will need more people who say they want them than what we expect to make.
I hope to get started on my '59 about this time next year. Since it will be done on a TIGHT budget, I'm hopeful that I can cut the floor out of a late model pick up & adapt it. I think it's great that someone is considering offering this though. I'd think anyone serious about a nice restoration would be interested. Has he thought about contacting The El Camino Store about possibly signing them us as a dealer? If the quality is there, I can't see why they wouldn't be interested. He might sell 10 right there. JH
The problem with contacting The El Camino Store is that they are going to want a substantial break on price, probably around 40%. They are also a long way from here, so that shipping would get added to the price. I would like to see this happen, and to keep the price to where the average guy stands a chance at buying them. I figured this site was a good place to get some idea how popular these would be, 59's are not the main focus here but the site does get a lot of traffic. We will see how it looks in a week or so. If we decide to do them, a real advertising effort will be made.
Sell 10 @ $500 here & call it done...... or sell 10 @ $500 here & find some dealers & sell 20 @ $300. A "real advertising effort" is going to eat your profit as much as selling wholesale to vendors. I'd look into it if it were my project. I think it's a great idea. I'd hate to see it not work because you're relying on a small group of (mostly) broke HAMBers to make it happen. Everything in the world has to be shipped. Can you say "drop ship"? JH
I am the 2nd owner of a 59 El Camino. Have owned and driven it since the mid 60's. Don't need a bed floor but just wanted to introduce myself to this group. I am in the process of putting a 283, 3 dueces, and a 5 speed in it. With "Vintage Air", power steering and power disc brakes. Anybody out there converted to rack and pinion steering? Looks like a Cavaleer (sp?) rack might be adaptable. John
Forever, Post that ? on the main board in it's own thread. It'll get more looks there with a better chance of a good answer from folks with these winged Chevys. JH
I am Interested in one of these Floors for my 59 ELKY ! Did these ever get made ? PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THESE ARE AVAILABLE . Thanks for your time , Doug Marlow 313-215-2776
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