1974 Chevy El Camino dealership promotional film

This 1974 Chevrolet promotional film, titled " El Camino ", was sent to the Chevrolet car dealerships to be used as an in-house Sales and customer training film. The film highlights technical aspects and features of the new model year. If you look up a different film I posted, titled "1974 Chevy Selling Monte Carlo ", you can see a rare glimpse of the film cartridge viewer that was used at the dealership where the customers and personnel were to view these films. The machine was made by Technicolor and called the " Chevrolet Mini Theater System "
This film came from my personal collection. This film was not downloaded from any website and is not reused content. This restoration is my work. The restoration process started with removing the super8 film from the Technicolor Cartridge. After removal the film was cleaned, repaired, and spooled onto a standard film reel. Next the scanning to digital process was performed on the Lasergraphics Scanstation motion picture film scanner in 2k resolution. This film was very red without almost no color left. The extensive color correction was performed in Davinci Resolve. Finally, the film was converted to MP4 format for uploading to KZbin.

[@modiste]

Note the appliances they load (but apparently don't tie down...) are, of course, Frigidaire - owned by GM at the time.

[@CRISPFELLA]

Thanks for posting this, I just so happened to have received a dent exactly where the double wall diagram shows, this is going to be a lifesaver in my repair!

[@impalaman9707]

I had a 1976 Camaro as my first car, but if I had to do it all over again--I would have gotten an El Camino instead. Sure, Camaros are cool---but so are El Caminos---and they have a truck bed so you can haul stuff with them!

[@geirmyklebust]

People didn't like it in the 70s, my coolest and useful car ever, a fast light weight car, love driving it.

[@reallyrandomrides1296]

I was never really a fan of the Colonnade styling (I like the 1968-69 models the best), but I have to admit, this generation of El Camino was pretty good looking, especially with the taillights in the rear bumper. It's a shame that car-based pickups fell out of favor with American and Canadian buyers by the 1980s, but they seem to be making a comeback with the new crossover-based Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz pickups. They'll more that suit the needs of most people who want a pickup.

[@theemulsionalchemist5688]

I think it's the lack of seating that has kept them from coming back. its 4 door trucks that have held the market for some time.

[@reallyrandomrides1296]

@@theemulsionalchemist5688 Yes, good point, the new car-based pickups coming out now (and even the Subaru Baja in the early 2000s) are/were 4 door models, offering seating for four or five people and the pickup body style. The four door full size and mid size pickups are certainly very popular in 4-door configuration. I've got one myself. I needed the interior space and the towing capacity.

[@impalaman9707]

The tailights are modeled after the 1968 Impala "horseshoe" tailights--which sadly, Chevrolet used for one year and sparingly after that 😔

[@KoldingDenmark]

They were very popular in Denmark because the the much reduced import tax and annual tax, along with the Malibu Wagons with the rear seats taken out. Many young Danes had their US car debut in these pick-ups. Same goes for the Ford Ranchero these years, which was my first US car in Denmark. The Elcamino could actually get inside my parents' garage, why I talked a friend from highschool into demonstrating it with his, because I wanted my parents to buy a Malibu Wagon. They didn't take the bite.

[@theemulsionalchemist5688]

Thanks for the info. Great anecdote. My Great Great grandparents are from Denmark and Norway . I haven't made it to Denmark but definitely on my bucket list. I found a travelogue from Norway made in the 1950's. Already got it scanned but its in rough shape. I will be uploading it soon.

[@KoldingDenmark]

@@theemulsionalchemist5688 Good luck with your travelling plans. I found three cousins of my grandmother south of Boston in 1980. It was an eye opener and great fun. Visited the last one in Florida several times in the 1990's. She was the spitting image of my grandmother. Two years ago we took a DNA test. That was another eye opener, which answered a lot of unanswered questions. I have some door bells to ring, next time we go to Boca Raton. 🙂

[@5litreho]

I had a 1974 El Camino Classic with 2 tone paint like the red one shown. Mine was light blue metallic and white. Mine had a 350 with 2bbl engine. I bought it in 1984 at night at a dealership. It looked really nice, but I found out the car was from Minnesota and had rust from the doors back that had been repaired with bondo and new paint Lol

[@theemulsionalchemist5688]

I never understand why anybody would buy a car at night; I think the sales staff intentionally would try to sell the cars that were turds at night

[@goodbonezz1289]

Always have and always will prefer GM cars. But wow..is it just me or is the front grill emblem grossly skewed at 46 sec? Not unusual either lol

[@jaymes1]

Lol, its terrible

[@TheGewidener]

Is the narrator Bud Lindemann?

[@theemulsionalchemist5688]

I don't know, none of these films have any credits