İ Want to Buy An El Camino But I'm Not Sure. Help?

Hi first I’m sorry if my English is bad because I’m just learning. Anyway, there’s a few things I’d like to ask you. First, I live in Turkey and I’m moving to Seattle in six months. I saved some money because it’s the muscle car that I want most. But I don’t know what to watch when I take it. I’m undecided between El Camino and 69 GTO which is better?. Give me some information. And the parts are easily found?. And my last question is, is there a law on exhaust in America? High-voice exhaust is forbidden in Turkey. Thanks to everyone for the questions already.

Neither is better. There are guys who love their old El Caminos, and guys who love their old GTOs. Both are great, both will be very old, and their reliability will be almost 100% based on their history.

Being in the U.S., and with foreign relations and policies being as volatile as they’ve been in past years, it’s impossible for me to suggest availability of parts for either of these vehicles. You’d have to research that yourself from Turkish sources.

Thanks for you answer but in turkish resources you cant find anything about muscle cars :confused:

OP is moving to Seattle, so he’ll be able to source parts here.

@the_same_mountainbike is right- once you get into classic cars, which one is better is 100% based on which one you like better.

They will all be harder to find parts for than a modern car. They will all drive worse than a modern car. They will all probably be more unreliable than a modern car. They will all be less safe than a modern car.

I would always recommend against making it your daily driver - but if you’ve got the money and can afford a weekend/summer fun car in addition to a more practical car, then go for it. Get what you like, not what we like. If I were buying a car from that era, it’d be a Porsche 356 or early 911, so obviously my tastes won’t help you very much. :wink:

Thanks for your answer. But İ am a muscle car guy. These cars are my childish dream. You are right about modern cars. But i dont want of them for now. İ have 50.000 dollar budget. İ Want buy and little modificate an el camino or 69 gto. Can you help me which one İ need to choose. İ dont care Safety and other modern things :P. :slight_smile: :wink:

No one can help you choose between them. Which one do you like better? That’s the one you should get. If you’re buying in that market, it’s a purely personal decision.

Hmm okay thanks.

That might be because parts for these vehicles are simply unavailable. Turkey and the U.S. have had a rocky relationship over the years, and exports may have been banned for some years. Foreign relations or economics may also have made marketing these cars and/or parts unprofitable.

Assuming that means you have 50 thousand in US dollars here is what I would do. First find the cheapest vehicle that will meet your daily needs . Wait until you have adapted to buy . Spend time to research and you might even find a classic you want more than your first choices.

From a practical standpoint, I’d guess the parts availability for the El Camino may be slightly better. But there were several generations. I’m not sure which one you’re interested in?

There is a company called year one that only deals in parts for classics. But I’m not sure if you’re into originality. I believe that company sells aftermarket parts, but they should work just fine.

There’s no easy answer. Depends on your local ordinances. Every county could theoretically be different. And it’s safe to say the ordinances aren’t equally enforced

You’d be wise to hire an expert to thoroughly check out any prospective vehicles. Likely any car you’re seriously interested in will have been restored. You’ll want to see all the paperwork and talk to the shop(s) that worked on the car. You’ll also want to see as many videos and photographs . . . of the restoration . . . as possible. Both before and after pictures.

Do you want a fairly original vehicle?

Or one slammed on dubs with a loud exhaust, booming system, wilwood brakes all around, etc.?

hemmings is a publisher. they actually have several magazines, and I believe one of them lists cars for sale. The others offer owner profiles and stories of restorations, among other things

You would have like my nephew’s Cameno, but its long sold now.

One thing though is that it might be easier getting parts than finding someone to work on it-at least is there are carburetor issues. People that have these cars tend to do a lot of work on them themselves and require a lot of upkeep.

Either car is not suitable as a daily driver due to difficult to get parts and inherent reliability problems. OK if you want to buy one as a hobby car and buy a basic used compact car, such as a Hyundai Accent or Mazda3 as your daily transportation.

It seems to me that an El Camino should cost a lot less to buy than a 1969 Pontiac GTO. Buy one in the best condition you can afford. Expenses add up fast when you try to make it driveable. Both of these cars will have trouble with ethanol treated gasoline (E10) unless they are modified to accommodate E10. Typical insurance would be classic car insurance, but you can’t get that if you plan to drive it every day. Finding an insurer that will accept your valuation might be difficult if it isn’t insured as a classic car.

With a $50,000 budget, you can get a car that is redone with new motor, transmission, etc and will be a decently reliable car.

Unless you are a purist and having to have an all original car as it rolled out from the factory, you should be able to have just about anything that you want. Maybe a el camino with a modern LS engine and transmission might be more reliable that the nearly 50 year old oem chevy 350 with carburetor. Values of these old cars can vary significantly based on originality, options, color, and number produced.

DO NOT buy a car off the internet sight unseen!!! You will likely get scammed. If you are shelling out big bucks, you need to put your eyes and hands on the car and also hire a professional to inspect the car closely. Beauty is only paint deep. The car may look flawless but be a rust bucket jalopy. I would plan to buy a car from the south, to avoid the heavy rust that happens in cars from the northern part of the country. The seller will always take the best looking pictures for his/her advertisement. There is also no guarantee the pictures posted are current and could be a picture from 10 years ago after freshly painted.

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Many old cars have fan clubs. Search for a fan club for the car you’re interested in - maybe they have a web site. They’ll offer you more help than anyone.

An El Camino is a muscle car? My muscles maybe.

My neighbor has El Camino 396 SS similar to this one;

There are plenty of common 1970’s and 80’s El Caminos for under $10,000 available in the southwest.

A gto might be a more practical choice, you can carry more passengers.

Something tells me OP isn’t interested in the number of passengers his future muscle car will carry

Any GTO that doesn’t need work will destroy that 50000 budget.

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Looks like good ball park figure
https://classiccars.com/listings/find/1970/pontiac/gto

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