Chevrolet’s 1959 car-based pickup that shared styling with the Impala was the El Camino.
Chevrolet launched the El Camino for the 1959 model year as a response to the popularity of Ford’s Ranchero. Instead of using a conventional truck body, Chevrolet combined a passenger-car front section with an open cargo bed. The first El Camino was based on the full-size Chevrolet platform and shared design themes with the 1959 Chevrolet cars, including the dramatic tailfins.
The name El Camino means “the road” in Spanish. Chevrolet later redesigned the model around the Chevelle platform, creating the best-known generations sold from 1964 through 1977.
A common mix-up is calling every El Camino a Chevelle-based vehicle. Only later generations used the intermediate Chevelle architecture; the original 1959 model was a full-size car-derived pickup.