Did Pontiac have a version of the El Camino?
Welcome to the world's only Pontiac El Camino, better known as "El Catalina." And, yes, it was built by Pontiac. Trucks actually have played a role in Pontiac's history, going as far back as 1928 when the company produced its last truck before transferring that production into the GMC truck line.
In 1971 GMC began producing the Sprint, their version of the Chevrolet El Camino. This light-duty pickup truck was identical to the El Camino except for the name, and the chassis for both cars was based on the Chevrolet Chevelle station wagon/4-door sedan wheelbase.
It basically started life as a fourth-generation 1977 El Camino from the Malaise Era following the heyday of muscle cars. Various bits of its exterior and interior were then swapped out with bits from a '74 Pontiac Grand Am, including the first Grand Am's entire signature front end.
GM's G-Body platform produced two of the coolest American cars of the 1980s–the Chevrolet El Camino and the Buick Grand National. Someone took the best halves of each–the El Camino's bed, and the Buick's front end and turbocharged V6–and combined them to create what is inarguably a masterpiece.
More evidence exists of Pontiac police cars from the late '40s and early '50s. Art included with this article shows the '76 Catalina and LeMans Patrol Cars and the '77 total Pontiac Police Option Specifications among others.
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| Pontiac Safari | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Pontiac (General Motors) |
| Production | 1955-1989 |
| Model years | 1955-1989 (except 1982-1986) |
| Body and chassis | |
| Beaumont | |
|---|---|
| Layout | FR layout |
| Platform | GM A platform |
| Related | Chevrolet Chevelle Pontiac Tempest |
| Powertrain | |
Toyota Crown Pickup
And during the 1960s both the S40 and S50 model Crowns were offered in two-door pickup form. One of the rarest of all Crown body styles, these pickups are very popular among collectors and customizers Japan, thanks largely to its resemblance to the El Camino and Ranchero.
The Chevrolet Monza is a subcompact automobile produced by Chevrolet for the 1975 through 1980 model years. The Monza is based on the Chevrolet Vega, sharing its wheelbase, width, and standard inline-four engine.
Pontiac's 350 shares the same external dimensions with its larger brothers. Heads--including Edelbrock's popular aluminum castings--interchange. It uses the same 6.625-inch center-to-center Pontiac rods as the big motors, yielding a great 1.77:1 rod/stroke ratio, even with its relatively long 3.75-inch stroke.
What was the Pontiac Tempest?
The Pontiac Tempest is an automobile that was produced by Pontiac from 1960 to 1970, and again from 1987 to 1991. The Tempest was introduced as an entry-level compact in October 1960 at the Paris Auto Show for the 1961 model year.
The Pontiac Catalina is a full-size, junior series automobile produced by Pontiac from 1950 to 1981. Initially, the name was a trim line on hardtop body styles, first appearing in the 1950 Chieftain Eight and DeLuxe Eight lines. In 1959, it became a separate model as the "entry-level" full-size Pontiac.
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Third generation (1968–1972)
| Model year | Total production |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 47,707 |
| 1971 | 41,606 |
| 1972 | 57,147 |
Though the Ranchero was first, the El Camino was more popular, selling nearly 1 million units overall in its approximately 25-year production period, combined to a little over half a million Rancheros.
The Chevrolet El Camino is what you might call a sports pickup truck. The car, officially a coupe utility vehicle, was first made by Chevrolet from 1959 to 1960 and then from 1964 to 1987. The first generation was in fact based off the Chevrolet Impala, but what would a more modern version look like?
Grand Turismo Omolgato in Italian (Grand Touring hom*ologated in English) refers to road-racing vehicles. In this case, the additional “O” is added to denote that the cars produced are not one-offs with limited production and public sales.
Pontiac differed from other GM Divisions and most other manufacturers in producing only a single small block V8, rather than adding a larger big block to its line-up. The external dimensions of all their V8s, from 326–455 cu in (5.3–7.5 L) were the same.
Forty-five years after it "starred" in the movie, the black 1977 Pontiac Trans Am with the gold bird on the hood still gets adoring looks from car lovers and movie lovers.
Pontiac never built a wagon version of the GTO, but they did build Tempest Station Wagons.
The Banshee was still worked on for a few years before the project was cancelled and the prototype eventually crushed, though it would donate it's badging to the XP-833 prototypes.
Why was Pontiac Cancelled?
Facing financial problems and restructuring efforts, GM announced during the 2008 financial crash that it would discontinue the Pontiac brand by the end of 2010, as was the case with Oldsmobile in 2004. The last Pontiac-badged cars were built in December 2009, with one final vehicle assembled in January 2010.
The Pontiac Ventura was an automobile model that was produced by Pontiac.
The Pontiac Astre is a subcompact automobile that was marketed by Pontiac as a rebadged variant of the Chevrolet Vega.
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| AMC Gremlin | |
|---|---|
| Chronology | |
| Successor | AMC Spirit |
What is the Chevy Black Widow edition? The Black Widow package not only takes your Chevy truck to new heights, with a 6-inch suspension lift and 35-inch BF Goodrich tires, but it also dresses it up with exclusive exterior and interior style upgrades.
Apache was a term used by Chevrolet to cover all of its light-duty truck products, from the ½ ton to the 1.5-ton. It was joined by Viking and Spartan, covering the medium- and heavy-duty fields. The Apache badge replaced the 1947-1957 3100 nameplate, based on the company's internal code for its ½-ton products.
They decided to counter the Mustang with the small, sporty coupe (and convertible) that would become the 1967 Camaro. The overdue approval came in August 1964, just two years before the Camaro's planned fall 1966 launch. The race was on to engineer, design, develop, and build Chevy's Mustang fighter.
- Chevy El Camino/ GMC Caballero. Produced: 1959-1960 then 1964-1987.
- Dodge Rampage/ Plymouth Scamp. Produced: 1982-1984.
- Ford Ranchero. Produced: 1957-1979.
- Subaru Brat. Produced: 1978-1987.
- Subaru Baja. Produced: 2003-2006.
- Volkswagen Rabbit Sportruck. Produced: 1978-1984.
As for nomenclature, T stood for Tempest and 37 was the Pontiac internal code for any and all hardtop coupes across the line. The initial '70 Pontiac GT37 was indeed the fastest Pontiac muscle car produced when equipped with the Ram Air III 400-inch engine that put out a conservative 345 horses.
