Goodguys 2025 Speedway Motors Homebuilt Heaven Winner – Craig Coulter and his ’59 El Camino
Congratulations to Craig Coulter for being named the 2025 Speedway Motors Homebuilt Heaven Winner!
First-year Chevy El Caminos were rare even in 1959. Only 22,000 or so were sold that year out of the 1.4 million full-size Chevys produced. So, nearly seven decades later, finding one in decent shape is challenging.
Craig Coulter built a ’59 Impala a few years ago and decided he wanted to tackle a ’59 El Camino for his next project. He found a pair of prospects in Oregon and brought back to California what he thought was the best starting point, a bare body and rolling chassis (no driveline, no interior), plus boxes of parts. The boxes of parts proved critical during the rebuild because most of the trim pieces were there and could be restored.
The ’59 El Camino was built on a Brookwood two-door station wagon X-frame (GM called it the Safety-Girder chassis) and the cab and front clip mimicked Bel Air trim with the wide grille, large wrap-around windshield, and expansive rear glass. Chevy marketing guys said the back glass added “control tower visibility.”
“The El Camino was probably not a smart choice based on parts limitations,” Craig says, “but, hey, always up for a challenge.” The hardest part of a ’59 or ’60 El Camino build is sourcing the trim around the cab and bed moldings, not to mention period-correct clips.
Craig acted like a general contractor for the project, tackling most of the construction himself and contracting with experts for certain tasks. “The only subbed out items were the body and paint, upholstery, and exhaust,” Craig says. “Everything else I did. My forte is mechanical, so having a background in the service repair and refrigeration industry has helped out immensely over the years.”
Craig kept the stock frame on the car, which was stripped, powder coated, and fitted with Air Lift Performance air springs from BC Fabrication, plus Global West steering and control arms. Wilwood disc brakes were installed behind the 19×9- and 20×10-inch American Racing wheels that are wrapped in Falken rubber.
Craig also rebuilt, prepped, and detailed the 5.3-liter Chevy LS V8 that cranks out 550 horsepower. A Holley induction system sits between factory heads that host Holley valve covers. Exhaust waste exits through Summit Racing headers and polished stainless steel pipes and mufflers. A Chevy 4L65E automatic transmission, controlled by a Lokar shifter, directs the power to a Positraction rearend with 3.55 gears. The nicely detailed engine compartment includes hood hinges from Eddie Motorsports.
Craig turned to the team at Rosewood Street Rods to massage the body back into shape. That work included a smoothed firewall and relocating the gas filler from the left rear quarter panel to the bed floor. At the same time, a Tanks, Inc. fuel tank from a ’67 El Camino replaced the stock unit to better serve the fuel injection system. The GM Bermuda Blue paint was also applied at Rosewood. Dapper headlights replace the stock units.
Historic note: The 1959 El Camino was the first Chevy truck bed floor to be made of sheet metal. Regular pickups used wood-plank bed floors until the 1967 C10 models were built with metal as the default floor. The metal floor in Craig’s El Camino gets an extra dash of class with custom carpet to match the interior, plus a custom-designed and -upholstered storage box with V-shaped trim that matches the tailgate.
“The interior color combos, like all my builds, are always chosen by my wife,” Craig says. “She has a fantastic eye for colors and textures.” From there, the team at Paco’s Custom Upholstery took over. The cut down the power seats from an Audi A4 and stitched them in two-tone brown leather with diamond-stitched inserts. The custom door panels and console are upholstered to match, and there’s LED lighting incorporated into the door panels. Craig notes that the crosshatch pattern in the machined door handles mimics the stitching. “Small details that make a difference,” he says. The diamond-stitch pattern continues in the headliner.
The stock dash pods are filled with Dakota Digital gauges while a Billet Specialties wheel sits on an Ididit tilt column. A lower dash valance houses custom air-conditioning outlets that mimic the wheels while the pedals and door handles were supplied by Eddie Motorsports, which also provided the lighted cup holders.
Craig installed Nu Relic electric windows and handled the wiring throughout the El Camino. He also tackled installing tinted front and rear glass, a task often sourced to experienced professionals. “When I installed the new tinted glass with my friend’s help it took quite a few hours, but got it in without breaking it,” he says.
Besides the great quality of the finished car, perhaps the most impressive part of this home-built El Camino is the construction time. “I completed most of the build in 12 months,” Craig says. “Upholstery was a few months because of the complexity of the interior and the designed box and layout. We are super happy with the build recognition and being a part of Goodguys.”
And we’re happy with your El Camino being the Speedway Motors 2025 Homebuilt Heaven winner, Craig!
Photos: Brett Macadam
