[Golden Sleeper]

Originally Posted by goatless

Golden Sleeper, it is certainly a very cool ride- One I'd be proud to own! The story of it being built by a dealership is a lot different than the first post... and a lot more believable.

Enjoy it!

Hi Post 1 is accurate if you blow up the articles printed you will see it was specificilly built for Pontiac in Nov 1967 ,to be presented to the President of Pontiac , upon Completion it was delivered to the Genral Motors Techinal Center St Clarence N.Y. where it was studied by Pontiac to see if it was feasible to build.. This was the sole purpose of the construction of this truck , it was backed by the support of over 200 Pontiac/GMC dealers that wanted a truck they could sell for that market. It was constructed by a Large Pontiac dealer in N.Y. After Pontiac was done with it it was returned to the dealer and they used it . It is Strongly beleived that this truck and the support of the dealers wanting it built was the sole result of the Sprint being introduced. Pontiac had built a Safari Concept pickup based on the ElCamino on 1959 but the sales numbers of the elcamino/ranchero was not Great enough at that time to warrant its construction. The Market had changed by the late sixites and the Sport truck had evolved as we all know. A Very Neat truck with a Great History and Story and the only one constructed New like this, as GM had done in 1959.


Jim

[Vol]

Thats really cool. I love when history comes to life.

[GoatandBirdCollector]

Originally Posted by The Boss

From what I understand it has a Pontiac VIN - How was that possible? What does the PHS come back with?

The dealer used the front end of the Le Mans(dash/firewall forward) and frame of the Le Mans (4 door sedan) under the cab and bed of the El Camino.
My guess is the PHS docs would show the 4 door sedan.

[carpoor]

That's cool!

[fyrffytr1]

That is a very interesting vehicle. I wonder if anyone in the private sector has ever taken on such a project. I don't see where it would be that difficult to accomplish and it would be a head turner for sure.
Maybe the mods should move this to the lobby.

[The Boss]

I like it! Looking forward to hearing more about it and hope to see it at one of the shows this summer.

[north]

Logically you would take the el camino, throw in the Pontiac front clip, engine and dash. I guess the alternative would be to drop the el camino doghouse onto a foor door lemans chassis.

Too bad the vintage photos are not clear, can't make out the emblem on the front fender, the one on the quarter is from a mid 60's fullsize poncho. Note that the current car has A different emblem on the quarter panel along with the obviously incorrect 70+ lemans emblems on the fenders and tailgate.

Neat car but hard to say how much more desirable it would be than a car done recently. The newspaper article is a nice plus.

[north]

Wonder how much body work was needed in the doors to align with the fenders?

Makes me think how even GM used different fenders on the 70 el camino versus the chevelle to avoid having to redo the doors and quarters on the el camino. The fenders allowed the camino to have the 70 "look" without a full body reskin.

[Ken K]

Why would they use a Pontiac 4 door frame? A El Camino frame is boxed, the 4 door frame is not boxed. Someone should get a look at the VIN. A 67 El Camino VIN says Chevrolet on it. They had a story on the 68 like that on Team Chevelle, now I can't find it. They said a car dealer offered them because GM would not build them. Look at the bottom of the doors and rear quarter panels, do they have the same contours as what would be on a Pontiac? They would also have to use the El Camino door window frames.

[GoatandBirdCollector]

Originally Posted by Ken K

Why would they use a Pontiac 4 door frame? A El Camino frame is boxed, the 4 door frame is not boxed. Someone should get a look at the VIN. A 67 El Camino VIN says Chevrolet on it. They had a story on the 68 like that on Team Chevelle, now I can't find it. They said a car dealer offered them because GM would not build them. Look at the bottom of the doors and rear quarter panels, do they have the same contours as what would be on a Pontiac? They would also have to use the El Camino door window frames.

Give the owner a little time to research this car further. Jim is VERY detail oriented and he'll get documentation on everything to the extent it still exists. Lucky that the car got Ziebart rustproofing; it would have never survived Northwest New York winters! Which frame was used; which doors, VIN , etc will all be explained in time. All I can say is the front fender and door contours match up perfectly for the Le Mans. All the gaps are nice as well. Stay Tuned!!

[goatless]

After looking at the pics a bit and comparing them to Pontiac A-bodies, it looks to me like the El Camino doors were used and the back of the Tempest fenders were modified to make them line up. Makes me wonder how much "Pontiac" they actually used in the build. Looks like front dog house, motor and dash?

[Ken K]

Originally Posted by goatless

After looking at the pics a bit and comparing them to Pontiac A-bodies, it looks to me like the El Camino doors were used and the back of the Tempest fenders were modified to make them line up. Makes me wonder how much "Pontiac" they actually used in the build. Looks like front dog house, motor and dash?

That's what I am thinking. The bottom of 68 Pontiac doors and quarter panels have a different contour than a 68 El Camino. I don't doubt they used 2 new cars to make that Ute unless GM was suppling them the parts. They could have just removed the Pontiac dash and then installed it in the El Camino. If GM didn't build it then it should have a questonable VIN.