Mustangs are particularly famous for this. Any time you’re looking to buy a classic car, make sure you know what you’re looking at. Because the price differential between a normal 1968 Chevrolet El Camino with SS stuff tacked-on, and a genuine El Camino SS396 is substantial. And again, that’s okay as long as everyone is honest about it. Cars like this are called “Tributes” or “Clones” or Wannabe’s” or “Recreations”, depending upon how serious the effort is. Not necessarily to fool anyone, maybe they just like the look.
Not that hard to add onto to your non-SS El Camino, or Chevelle for that matter. An original SS396 came with a blacked-out horizontal strip on the back tailgate with an “SS” emblem in the center, a blacked-out front grille also with an SS emblem in the center, the front fenders got “396” emblems (call-outs), and there was a special hood with twin domed (faux) hood scoops, and the 6.5″ X 14″ Rally wheels with centers and glamour rings. Many did not start out life as an SS396, but received some of the cosmetic upgrades along the way. Funny that just a few years later, GM would be downsizing nearly everything it made.Ĭhevy built almost 42,000 El Caminos in 1968, but only 5,190 of them were SS396s. But as a trend, its interesting to observe how GM perceived that buyers wanted bigger, heavier, more substantial cars in the 1960s and going into the 70s. Not in a bad way, the ’70 Chevelle is one of the toughest-looking cars on the planet. The ’68-’69 models look bigger still, and by the time the 1970-74 models came out, they got even bigger and fatter. Look at the 1964-65 Chevelle, then compare it to the ’66-’67 Chevelle/El Camino.
When this ’68-69 body was replaced, it was by the decidedly smoother, more aerodynamic 1970 model. 1968 seems to be the year that Detroit started backing away from sharp-edged boxy cars like the Chevelle and the GTO for rounder, more organic shapes.
The new look was a departure from the convention 3-box style of the outgoing cars. Now riding on a 116-inch wheelbase, shared with the Chevelle sedan and wagon, it was an inch longer than before. And of course, the El Camino benefited from it. The 1968 Chevy Chevelle had just received its 2-year facelift, making it sleeker and more aerodynamic than the boxy ’67 Chevelle it replaced.
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