Watch the unboxing video here!
In 1957, Ford established a new segment in the U.S. market with its automobile platform-based utility vehicle the Ranchero.In 1959, Chevrolet responded with its own car-truck combo, the El Camino, which was based on the two-door Brookwood station wagon with a cargo bed in the rear.
There have been five generations of the Chevrolet El Camino culminating with the 1978-1987 variant. Café standards in the late ’70s forced carmakers to downsize many of their products, and the El Camino was no exception. Chevy transferred the El Camino to the sleeker Malibu platform, where it proved successful and stayed, with minor styling changes, until it was discontinued.
Revell’s 1978 Chevy El Camino represents the first year for the new and last generation of the utility vehicle, and the overall dimensions represent this icon well. Inside the box reside five plastic bags gathering all the parts, plus three sets of tires for the three possible build variations.
To start, decide upon your preferred engine and chassis combo. For the engine, you can go with a naturally aspirated or a turbocharged V6; the turbocharged version uses proprietary parts for the exhaust and hood. I chose to assemble the V6 naturally aspirated and mixed in parts from both engine options. The chassis comes as numerous parts to allow you to build your El Camino as a lowrider, a street machine, or factory stock. It was the lowrider for me. When I mocked it up, the stock suspension made the car look like it was riding on a 4WD suspension; way too high. Overall, the stance was vastly improved by using the lowered suspension from the lowrider along with the optional five-spoke Cragar mag wheels.
The interior can be built in various configurations from the many options available in the kit. A two-tone interior with Dupli-Color black (No. DAP1698) and gray (No. DAP1692) and coated with Dupli-Color matte wheel clear coat (No. HWP106) gave my El Camino interior a leatherette feel without being overly shiny.
The well-proportioned body can be customized using parts from the box, including an optional hood, front grille assembly, and a choice of a tonneau or camper for the bed. My only complaint when it came to the body was that the bumpers are mounted to the chrome sprue in such a way that clipping mars them. I touched the bumpers up with a Molotow Liquid Chrome pen; Bare-Metal Foil would work, too.
Assembly goes smoothly with few challenges or fit issues. All the parts have positive locators to make sure everything positions correctly. Overall, a satisfying build emerges from the vast array of parts available (you’ll have plenty for your spares!).
In keeping with the two-tone theme on the box, I decided to use a slightly different color combo of House of Kolor metallic black (No. HOK0323-01) over HOK razberry II pearl (No. S2-PBC69) with Dupont Nason (No. 497-00) 2K urethane clear coat.
The decals include markings for the Black Night edition, along with hood and body stripes and whitewall tire decals. Two sets of license plates and a number of wheel and lowrider options are also presented.
The Revell 1978 Chevrolet El Camino is a straightforward build with somewhat sparce underhood detail and a simplified suspension. But it assembles into a faithful representation, and I would recommend it to anyone with a love for this oddball vehicle. The wheel and suspension options combined with the engine and induction accessories give this kit the ability to become just about any sort of El Camino you can imagine — 3 ‘n 1? More like 30 ‘n 1.