Restored 1966 El Camino is Packed with Power and Factory Options
For the 1966 model year, Chevrolet produced approximately 447,000 Chevelles, the company’s mid-size car introduced just two years earlier. Of that number, around 77,000 were Super Sports. That same year close to 35,000 El Caminos rolled off the assembly lines. So, here is today’s car-guy trivia question: How many 1966 El Camino Super Sports were produced?
It’s a trick question. While perhaps 3,000 1966 El Caminos were built with the 396-cubic-inch big block engine, none were Super Sports. The SS badging didn’t show up on El Caminos until 1968 models.
Super Sport badging aside, Wayne Ferrandino’s highly optioned and meticulously restored ’66 El Camino sets the bar high for the SS396 and SS454 El Caminos that followed a couple years later. Wayne wanted the challenge of producing a date-code-correct vehicle with an array of rare factory-installed options. “These numbers-matching, date-code cars are very hard to do,” Wayne says. “Finding correct parts and refinishing them to the highest perfection.”
Wayne turned to Jim Mott Restorations in Kimberly, Idaho, to acquire the El Camino from a Mott client who didn’t want to tackle the project. Mott’s team would end up handling many aspects of the restoration, from mechanical work to paint and body as well as interior.
Even with the rare options, the Marina Blue El Camino is a classic mid-’60s example of fast go and stop slow. The 360-horsepower big block pushes power and lots of torque through a Muncie four-speed transmission. However, the four-wheel, non-power drum brakes with a single master cylinder pale in comparison to later years’ equipment.
The engine compartment has been returned to its original appearance using a combination of NOS and restored components. This includes the factory air conditioning parts as well as the original four-row radiator. BF Goodrich redline tires (7.75×14) are mounted on 14×5.5-inch steel wheels with dog-dish hubcaps.
The interior is plush by 1966 El Camino standards – whoever ordered this Chevy really wanted an upscale hauler! A console that includes an optional clock sits between black vinyl-covered bucket seats. An original wood-trimmed steering wheel sits on top of a tilt column. Barely 7,000 wood-trimmed wheels were ordered for the 447,000 Chevelles in 1966, while almost 6,000 tilt columns were installed. For the number crunchers, that is about .016 percent of the total Chevelles produced that year. The optional knee-knocker tach is aptly named since it hangs from the dash right above the gas pedal. An AM/FM radio is also rare, given the few rock ’n roll FM stations that existed in 1966.
Wayne’s 1966 El Camino is as close to a perfectly restored ’60s muscle car as you’re likely to find. At a national 1,000-point judged show last year, the car scored a 996 – no wonder it became a Finalist for the Snap-on Muscle Car of the Year title during the Goodguys 23rd Meguair’s Del Mar Nationals presented by FiTech Fuel Injection!
Photos by Damon Lee