69 El Camino/station wagon ... prove it!
 

So I got into alittle disagreement with a few friends ..... i.e.:

It has always been my understanding that my 69 El Camino that I owned 30 years ago was built on the chevelle station wagon platform. They both jumped on me saying it was the 2-door coupe platform..... they both own 65 El Caminos .... but I am talking the 69 not 65!

Anyhows I cyber-search and get all kinds of contary (to each other) facts. Does anyone know, for fact, what platform was used for the 69.

For the most part (but not always) I have read that the 59-60 was the Impala, the second generation 64-67 was the coupes platform , and the 68-72 third generation with a four inch longer WB than the chevelle was built on the station wagon or 4-door chevelle platform .

.... can anyone steer me in the right direction with FACT???? There seems to be alot of mis-information on this issue.


I have a bacon and egg dinner riding on this bet.

Supposedly the plate cover in the bed right behind the cab is where the rear seat of the wagon would have been bolted down .Dont have any proof positive but I am on your side .I think you will be getting a bacon and egg dinner from this bet .

Yeah I brought up the rear footwell situation to the disbeliever and their arguement was the coupes also have a rear footwell!

My problem has been finding Proof ... alot of claims out there in cyberspace!!! LOL

68-72:

Coupe/convertible wheelbase = 112 inches
Wagon/El Camino/4-door-sedan wheelbase = 116 inches

The mid section of the frame is boxed on El Camino and Convertibles only.
Wagon and El Camino frames are 6-1/4" longer in the rear, and do NOT curve up in the rear; they are flat.

The doors on an el camino are the same length as a coupe door though...

I think they are a hybrid between the 2 but closer to the wagon platform. I know someone who totalled a 69 Elky in highschool and ended up buying a wagon for the parts car. He swapped the nose and frame and even left the 396/TH400 from the wagon right on the frame with the rad support. I think he even cut out some patches out of the wagon for the quarters on the Camino. Looking back on it, I would have put the wagon together and put the dash from the El Camino in it!

I think you are probbably right. The 68-72 chevelles share the same wheel base as the station wagon and four door chevelle which is suspect in itself .... but I have yet to find the proof to clear this bet. It seems GM would have something on the web as actual proof but I havent found it yet.

.... all conjecture at this point.

In 70-72, wagon and El Camino had unique front fenders that didn't even fit the other models. Wagon and El Camino kept the 68-69 side body-lines, and all the other models got the "bulged" fenders/doors/quarters.

Other than the length of the doors, the El Camino has far less in common with the coupe than it does with the wagon.

Wow Derek the coupe and elky fenders are different? I didnt know that, is there some kind of interchange book or something that would state that? ...

BINGO!!! http://www.angelfire.com/tx/lonestar...s/chassis.html
*1964-67 A-bodies used the same frame design, but different models and bodystyles utilized various body mounting, while all frames had a 115 inch wheelbase, which is similar to the 1955-57 Chevrolet.

*1968-72 frames had two different wheelbases, a 116 and 112 inch wheelbase. Sedans , station wagons, and utilities like the El Camino used a 116 inch frame, and the frame is interchangeable, except that the sedan had non-boxed rails.


http://www.angelfire.com/tx/lonestar...terchange.html And this area explains that the 70-72 Chevelle and Elky frontend do NOT interchange

................. pretty dam!n indepth site

Does this mean you win the bet ?