Chevrolet El Camino 1960 – V8 Start Up

1960 was the quiet, final year for the original full-size Chevrolet El Camino before Chevy pulled the model for a few seasons and brought it back on the Chevelle platform. This clean survivor still wears its era well, and its V8 rumble tells a story about how these trucks-that-look-like-cars have been kept running and upgraded for over six decades. Here’s what made the first-generation El Camino tick — and why this one’s a little different from how it left the factory.

Sweet ’60 Chevy El Camino With 350 V8 Start Up!!

There’s something almost mischievous about the El Camino — Chevrolet built a car that looked like a sedan up front and worked like a truck out back, and buyers either got it immediately or never understood the appeal at all. 1960 turned out to be a pivotal, if quiet, year for the model: it was the final season Chevy built the El Camino on the full-size passenger car platform before pulling the plug entirely for a few years. Sales had already cooled significantly from its debut year, which makes surviving, running examples like this one a little more interesting than the average weekend cruiser. Fire up the V8 under this one’s hood and you’re hearing the last note of the first-generation El Camino’s short run.

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The Quiet End of Generation One

Chevy launched the El Camino in 1959 to go toe-to-toe with Ford’s Ranchero, and 1960 was its encore — and its finale, at least for a while. Production dropped substantially from the roughly 22,000 units sold in that debut year, and Chevrolet wouldn’t bring the El Camino back until the 1964 model year, this time built on the smaller Chevelle platform instead of the full-size body. That makes this ’60 one of the last examples of the original, full-size-based El Camino before the nameplate went on hiatus.

About That V8 Under the Hood

Straight from the factory, a 1960 El Camino buyer chose between the base inline-six and small-block V8 options — the 283 was the volume choice that year, with Chevy’s big-block 348 available for buyers who wanted more muscle in their utility coupe. A 350 small-block roaring to life under an El Camino’s hood, like the one here, almost certainly means someone’s done some updating since 1960 — Chevrolet’s legendary 350 didn’t arrive in the lineup until later in the decade. It’s a hugely popular swap for good reason: more power, better parts availability, and a soundtrack that still turns heads at every stoplight.

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