With no one hurt, and many anecdotes in between, the accident with the Snap-On truck led me to venture into body repairs on the ElCamino. I ordered the primary parts like fenders, grill, some chrome parts. But once I lifted the engine out of the car, removed all the wiring, the seats and interior parts, I knew I couldn't put new parts on and in the rusted, bent old body.
I could feel a new level of fabricating and welding ahead.
A partial list: completely removed the whole front clip; completely removed the dash; cut away rusted areas, patch-welded with new steel; fabricated patches for areas with tricky curves and angles; stripped the complete interior down to bare metal.
With the repairs done (I hoped), a neighbor connected me with Tino, who is well-known around Shasta County for excellent paint jobs. Once he had a window of time available, I loaded the ElCo onto the Featherlite and carted it over to the shop. Within a week I got the call to come pick-up the newly painted 1966 ElCamino.
Driving back home and unloading the car into the shop I felt a true sense of accomplishment. Now I'd test my skills on putting all the pieces, some new some old, back in place.
After 9 months' work, when Tino said "It all looked good!" I felt my expectations melt away.
October 15
2025
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