While the Chevrolet El Camino dates all the way back to 1959, when they added an open bed to the 2-door full size Chevy Brookwood station wagon, it wasn't until the 1971 model year that GMC began offering their own version of it.
Christened the GMC Sprint, it shared the platform of the Chevelle sedan & wagon, just like its Chevy sibling.
For the 1978 model year, the Sprint name was changed to Caballero, Spanish for "gentleman" (literally "horseman") possibly to reflect the Spanish themed name of the Chevrolet original.
Riding on the Malibu chassis with the wheelbase stretched nine inches (to 117"), the Caballero had a bed that was a bit over six and a half feet long, capable of swallowing the standard 4'x8' sheet of plywood, if you didn't mind some of it sticking up over the tailgate.
The original '78 Caballero had an eggcrate type grille, while the horizontal bars and single headlamps on either side of the one in the photo identify this Beige-and-Camel Metallic two-tone example as a 1979 model.
Standard under the hood would have been the L26 3.3L pushrod V-6 with a 2-barrel carb, rated at 95 SAE net horsepower. A buyer dismayed at the thought of trying to drive a pickup loaded with up to 1,250 pounds of cargo using such a dismal little motor could instead opt for either the 2-barrel 4.4L L39 V-8, which put out 120 horsepower, or the LG4 305 V-8, which made 160 horsepower with a Rochester Quadrajet carb.
This one was photographed using a Hasselblad Lunar and a Sony Zeiss T* 16-70mm f/4 OSS zoom lens in August of 2021.
My first car was a 1980 Malibu Classic powered by the 4.4/267. All the power of a 6 with the fuel economy of a bigger V-8.
ReplyDeleteThe list of undersquare Chevy small blocks is short, but undistinguished… ;)
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