They got the “south” right

05 Jun 2008 at 21:54

A Free Man

Australia El Camino expatica Lucinda Williams utes

“We used to drive
Thru Lafayette and Baton Rouge
In a yellow El Camino
Listening to Howling Wolf…”

-Lucinda Williams -”Lake Charles”

If you grew up, as I did, in the U.S. in the you probably have fond (or other) memories of the Chevrolet El Camino. You couldn’t go far in the American South or West without seeing one of these babies languidly cruising the back roads and byways. They were almost always piloted by a man with questionable fashion-sense and a coiffure in the style of an Oakland A’s relief pitcher. As your average El Camino crept past it usually left in its wake a funky cloud of ZZ Top, exhaust fumes and marijuana smoke. Sadly, the El Camino is an endangered species these days in most parts of the civilized world.

If you ever wondered what happened to the El Camino, if that’s a mystery that’s plagued your waking hours, I am here to help. When they fell out of favor – probably for the embryonic SUVs – in the late 80’s Chevy didn’t stop making them, they just found a new market. That market? Well, I currently call it home. They call them “Utes” down here in South Australia and their owners are more inclined to Silverchair than the Top, but an El Camino by any other name still smells of exhaust and cannabis.

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11 Comments

by Nichole

05 Jun 2008 at 22:55

I nearly bought an El Camino once. It would’ve been my first car. I imagine my life would have gone very differently if I’d driven an El Camino. It’s almost more Statement than transportation.
by courtney

05 Jun 2008 at 22:57

Is that a cover over the trunk? El Caminos have gotten fancy!

There’s a song that I always sing whenever I see one: “El Caminoooo, blazing down de road, El Caminooo…” I have no idea where it came from or who sings it, but there it is.

courtney’s last blog post..Contrary to What You’ve Heard from Peter Griffin, Sarah Jessica Parker Does Not Look Like a Foot
by Ray

05 Jun 2008 at 23:33

When I was a young and impressionable lad (way back in the Me Decade), my neighbor had a TOTALLY BOSS bright orange El Camino. You completely described him here, except that his road music of choice was Foghat; or, as he preferred, “The Hat.”

Good to the EC is a hit in OZ. Truly, one could say, the future’s uncertain; the end is always near.

Ray’s last blog post..Some call it heavenly in it’s brilliance; Others, mean and rueful of the Western dream
by Angel

05 Jun 2008 at 23:41

I had no idea those things are still around. Much nicer now, but they’re still ugly.
by Jessica K

05 Jun 2008 at 23:50

HAHA! My boyfriend when I was fourteen got his first car while we were dating, a metallic brown El Camino! My brother and his friends made a sign that said “turd-mobile” and stuck it on the back before we left in it one time. He was cute enough at the time that I excused his embarassing ride, but I saw him recently… He looks like he should still be driving it, if ya know what I’m sayin’.

Jessica K’s last blog post..Peter Pan Picnic
by Not Afraid To Use It

06 Jun 2008 at 00:23

Okay, I am totally fessing up that Hubbie and I both separately wanted to buy one and only recently told each other. I see them all the time on the road. Someday, I will drive one. Talk about a phenomenal way to embarrass your kids when you take them to college.

Not Afraid To Use It’s last blog post..WW: Why I Treadmill
by Gypsy

06 Jun 2008 at 00:51

My father had a black one when I was in high school. It embarrassed the crap out of me to be seen in it, but my guy friends loved it.

Gypsy’s last blog post..Sit on my face and tell me that you love me
by Vixen

06 Jun 2008 at 01:45

Hmmm, I am much, much fonder of the original. We are a old skool car family, but the men are into Camaros. I always wanted to restore an old El Camino and they always say ewww. Maybe it’s a chick muscle car?

Vixen’s last blog post..Dona Nobis Pacem
by Nathan B.

06 Jun 2008 at 07:13

I wish I was old enough to remember the original El Camino…
by Maggie, dammit

06 Jun 2008 at 07:49

I have never, ever understood the el camino.

I do, however, LOVVVVVE Lucinda. Good choice.

Maggie, dammit’s last blog post..Help wanted.
by arizaphale

08 Jun 2008 at 19:50

You mean they drive utes in other parts of the world? I thought they were a strictly Aussie thing! I must say the new utes are a major step up from the utes they drove in my heyday. In those days the back covers were canvas or some form of synthetic fabric. The last time I rode in one was out in the bush, probably chasing kangaroos in that macho endeavour known as ’spotlighting’. Ah…good times…

arizaphale’s last blog post..The Further Adventures of Morticia Part II