In 1958, Chevrolet introduced the El Camino. Built on the body of an Impala, Chevy advertised its sedan/pickup truck hybrid as “the most beautiful thing that ever shouldered a load! It rides and handles like a convertible, yet hauls and hustles like the workingest thing on wheels.”
The El Camino story began in 1932, when the Australian division of Ford Motor Company received a letter from a farmer’s wife in Victoria asking for “a vehicle to go to church in on Sunday, which can carry our...