Saw this while reading a thread earlier. Duane, could you tell about this cool car? http://www.v8buick.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=231722&d=1341362531 First time I have seen this, I like it. Thanks, Michael
James, Thanks for posting the pic. I couldn't seem to get it to open and stay. That is way cool. Looks like it could have been a production vehicle. The fender shape in the rear matches the 70 GS amazingly well. And the GSX stripe looks "correct".:TU: I suppose the purists might be offended, but this is just sharp!! Hope Duane will post some more picso No: Michael
I got a short tutorial on the car from Duane but I'll let him detail it if he wants. Lets just say there was a lot of work and several cars involved in this creation
It's no big deal, just something I whipped up in my backyard out of pieces from 6 cars.:laugh: What I did was alter stock parts as little as possible so it would look like a factory vehicle. Everything on the car, with the exception of the radial tires, was available in 1970. Tomorrow I will post some pics and the story. Glad you like it. Duane
Duane used to have a section about the X-Camino on his website, but for some reason it's no longer online.... o No: http://classiccarinteriors.com/xcamino.htm
OK, Here is the story and a few more pics. What the EL!!! My friends and I are into Buicks; we talk, breathe, and sleep Buicks. This has progressed to such a point that my wife refers to our annual trip to the GSCA Nationals as Buick Camp. For years one of our recurring topics was why Buick never built an El Camino, and if they had, what would it have looked like. I have always liked the 1970 to 1972 Skylark based Gran Sports, especially the GSXs and thought that an El Camino version would look great. With this in mind I took photocopied pictures of GSXs and El Caminos and pasted them together. The resultant car, actually a truck, looked wonderful. I showed this picture to my friends and they all agreed that it should have been built. The more I looked at the picture the more I wanted to make one. Finally, after years of thinking about this, I told my friends that if one didnt show up at the next Nationals I would make one. Needless to say I was stuck. One thing that everyone agrees about me is that I am an originality nut. I know this sounds strange, because here I am preparing to make a custom car, but thats how I am. The goal I set for this project was to make a stock appearing custom car. I wanted to create a vehicle that could have been built in 1970 and was so correct in detail it would look factory built. I bought a nice El Camino shell from a junkyard and started fabricating the doors. I took Skylark Sport Coupe doors and grafted El Camino inner panels and window frames into them. Once this was done I mounted them on the car and then assembled the front-end sheetmetal. El Caminos have a wheel base that is 4 longer then 2 door Skylarks, therefore the distance between the back of the doors and the rear wheel opening is 4 longer. To fill this space, the front portion of a pair of quarter panels from a rusty GS were cut out and welded onto the shell, thus creating my own door gaps. Next, a pair of reproduction rear quarter panels were welded on. This left a space of approximately 1 foot at the rear of each quarter panel that required hand fabrication. At this time the car took its first trip to the body shop. At Iron Hill Auto body the shell and major front-end sheetmetal was plastic media blasted and everything from the rear wheels-forward was epoxy primered. Next, the front-end sheetmetal was painted, cut in, and reassembled onto the shell. Once the car returned from the shop I turned my attention to finishing the rear quarter panels. I figured if El Caminos used Chevelle Station Wagon taillights then a Buick version would use Skylark Sport Wagon taillights. The taillights and bezels came from a 1970 Sport Wagon that was in a junkyard. I altered the housings and then hand fabricated the pieces to finish the quarter panels. Another thing I noticed was that Skylark wagons had the backup lights in the rear bumper. To do this I removed the backup lights from the tailgate and welded the holes shut. Next I found a pair of 1968 El Camino backup light lenses with housings and installed them in the rear bumper. To keep the GSX stripes clean and unbroken the gas tank filler neck was relocated to the interior side access panel inside the bed area. While this was being done I cut out the Chevelle dash and upper firewall and replaced it with a dash from a junked 1970 Buick GS 455 Sport Coupe. Next, the firewall was painted and the entire dash assembly installed. Years before I sold a GSX look-a-like minus the drive train, so the Stage 1 spec motor, Turbo 400 transmission, and 323 10 Bolt Buick positraction rear were incorporated into the project. With the major body panels completed and the car now in running condition it was ready to go back to the body shop for final painting. This time, at Brandywine Coachworks, the rear of the shell was plastic media blasted and epoxy primered. Next came the bodywork on the rear quarters, quarter panel extensions, and tailgate. My friend Tim Garland then sealed, painted, and striped the entire car. At this point it was 6 days before the Nationals and I was determined to take the car with me. The car had no glass, headliner, carpet, seats, door panels, dash pad, exterior chrome moldings, bumpers, lights, grille, hood tach, light wiring harness, etc. However, with the inexhaustible help of my friends Rich Garland, Jeremy Sprang, and Bill Jennings the car was finished in time to leave for the Nationals. That year at the Nationals it rained, and rained, and you get the picture. Well the first night there every time we looked out our hotel room window we saw people standing in the rain looking at the car. We have a Restoration Clinic and try to bring in different vehicles every year. For me the highlight of that trip was when my friend Brad Conley talked me into bringing my car into the Restoration Clinic to sit along side his 1970 GSX Prototype. I said it was not a restored car, but he said, Tonight well have Prototype Night. I thought it was a very nice gesture for him to place his piece of Buick History next to something I pieced together in my backyard from 6 different vehicles, but thats just the kind of guy he is. I call the vehicle the X-Camino. This name does double duty because it looks like a GSX-Camino while parts of it were an Ex Camino. Once the work was finished it came time to title the beast. With such heavy modifications it became necessary to title it as a reconstructed vehicle. With a Buick GS 455 Coupe VIN number and truck rear end it was registered as a 1970 Buick GS Truck. At car shows I hear comments like, It looks Factory. or I didnt know that Buick built a truck. but I explain that its not a factory vehicle and that I built it. Once, a professional Street Rod builder looked at the car, and told me he knew the amount of work that was involved and was impressed with the fact that it looked untouched. But the finest compliment I ever received was when a friend of mine asked me, How does it feel to drive a sculpture? I looked at him and said, I never thought about it like that, but it does feel pretty good. by Duane Heckman, BCA #35259, Rutledge, Pa. PS. I also believe I am the only guy that can go "tailgating" in his GS.:laugh::laugh:
Duane, when was this car first built? Do I recall seeing this car at the 1980 Street Machine Nationals in Indy? I know I have seen and thought wow, now that is cool. I always thought....well. You da man! I've had several Elkys even a 70 4x with a 350 fuel injected on 44's Very nice, thanks for sharing.
Talk about a one of a kind!! That must generate a million questions at car shows! And a few "They never built one of those"! :laugh::laugh::laugh:
LOVE THIS TRUCK !! There have been many attempts to recreate this and I don't know a single one that has ever pulled it off like this one This has got to be one of the most talked about and loved Buicks out there Thanks for posting pics and the story Duane :TU:
The car was built in time for the 98 or 99 GSCA Nationals. I don't remember which year that was but it was the year it RAINED & RAINED. My friend George even got a picture of me washing the "car" before the show that morning and from the angle of the shot it looks like a rainbow is coming out of the truck bed. Mike you are too funny. The window sticker Mike made up was in the window at the 100 year Buick Anniversary at Flint. We had "experimental" on it with all the options. It was a laugh. Duane PS. At local car shows I often hear, "Ya know my Grandfather had one of those!" PSS. HAPPY 4th Everyone.
Shawn, I have often been tempted to make a 71 Stratomist Blue one to match my 71 GSX, but I don't want to repeat history. The X-Camino was originally built to be the tow vehicle for my 70 Yellow GSX, but I had so much fun with it I decided to sell the real one and keep the truck. I certainly don't want the same thing to happen again, as it took me 10 years to chase my 71 down before I could buy it. I do have the "Assembly Manual" of pictures I took while building it. If you are going to the 2012 BPG, and remind me, I will bring the book so you can see how its done. Duane PS. I did actually build another one, but it's only 8" long. Its a 1/18 scale.:laugh:
