Palomino aka 64 GTO

[kennb]

Four months ago I took trip to Detroit to meet with an older gentleman that used to work for Pontiac to talk about some cars he had stashed away. Looking over the cars

I noticed a strange looking truck in the back. I asked about it and he told me the story behind it. Late in 1963 Pontiac was looking for a new project to compete with

Chevy and wanted to one up them. There was a lot of discussion that went on for weeks about what they could do. He suggested that they go head to head with the El

Camino. In a bit of whimsy he thought that the Le Mans would be perfect for this since all the tooling for the vehicle was done for the 1964 model year and they could have

a prototype ready for the spring car shows. One of the other engineers said why don't we go one step further and do a muscle truck based on the GTO line. That set

things in motion and the design department put together a working prototype of the GTO truck to be called the "Palomino". there was no other interesting names in the

works at that time. They knew Ford had the Panther in the works so they went ahead with the Palomino. In January of 1964 Ford announced the Mustang aka Panther

and the design team then scratched the entire project and sent the Palomino to the car grave yard of unknown models.

The truck in the back was the only one ever made and he was willing to part with it now after 50 some years of rotting in his garage. I got it out and put it on a trailer and

brought it home to start the task of restoration. Basically is was in better shape than I first thought and all that was needed was a paint job. After four months I now reveal to the world the

Palomino in Primer yet waiting to paint this unique truck a deep metallic burgundy that will make it stand out. I am also searching for a good rear bumper for this since

somewhere along the line it got taken off and was missing from the truck when I brought it home.

So with out further ado I present "THE PALOMINO"

[cobraman]

Cool project, cool story. : )

[crazyjim]

Excellent.

[Dragfreak]

That story is amazing! I love elcaminos and a Pontiac palomino would have been very cool and probably a huge hit like the elcamino. Should be awesome to watch this build

[brett]

thats a great looking pickup

[PappyD340]

SWEET!

[a/gass]

jiffy!

[kennb]

Thanks for the comments....here is a colour check,, Long ways to go yet but getting there................will post some build picture prior to primer later on.

[slusher]

Thats going to be awsume..

[Jantrix]

9 out of 10 ElCamino/Ranchero conversions I do not care for. This - looks right to me. Well done. Keep at it.

[Dragfreak]

Paint looks great!

[kennb]

final clear ready for sanding and polishing...finally can paint today................................thanks for all the comments.................this has been a fun project.

[kennb]

progress update

[crazyjim]

I'm really liking the SHINY :)

[slusher]

Very nice progress. Really looking sharp....

[kennb]

sisters together

[b_lever1]

Kenn just love your story telling I almost thought you found a rare proto type beautiful work and awsome story my friend

[kennb]

[Guest]

That is awesome!

[Davewilly]

Nice!

[kennb]

I finally have the glass installed in this.....Here is some piccys with the phatt chevelle that has been rework chassis wise. I just used plastic from a donut box for the glass as I do in all my models.

[W-409]

I just used plastic from a donut box for the glass as I do in all my models.

That is a great excuse to visit in a Donut Shop !

The Pickup is looking excellent. This is something that could have rolled out from Pontiac Factory. All shapes are perfect and body work is smooth, as is the paint. These kind of builds are really nice to follow, keep them coming.