El Carumba!
Alyn Edwards recounts the remarkable story of well-travelled, and rare, car
The special order, brutish 450-horsepower Chevrolet El Camino SS muscle car with the highest performance options available in 1970 is one rare beast.
There were approximately six GM Canada-documented 1970 El Camino SS 454 LS6 optioned cars that came in to the country.
This particular muscle-flexing El Camino was built in Baltimore and delivered to the Red Deer, Alta.-dealership that sold it new. And that was just the beginning.
This car has had no less than 20 owners in its 45 years, taking it all over Western Canada and as far away as Australia before being repatriated.
Here’s the story of this one-ofa-kind El Camino with research and photo-documented history provided by the current owner.
In 1970, mining property surveyor Paul Torgerson lived next door to car salesman Gordie Bonin who would go on to become a drag-racing legend. He was known as “240 Gordie” as he was the first funny car driver to hit 240 miles per hour (386 km/h) over a quarter-mile from a standing start. Bonin helped his customer place the order at Red Deer Motors for what would be the ultimate muscle car produced by General Motors. The choice was the Chevrolet El Camino — a car-based utility vehicle with a pickup bed.
With Bonin’s help, Torgerson ticked all the boxes for the ultimate in high-performance options: The LS6 engine with a 454-cubic-inch engine producing an advertised 450 horsepower (which was really more like 500 horsepower), M22 heavy duty four-speed manual transmission and 3:31 posi-traction rear end.
The car cost $4,200 and would roll off the General Motors assembly line in Baltimore, Md., in early June of 1970.
The order called for Forest Green paint accented with white stripes with a black vinyl roof and interior. In addition, the El Camino was equipped with factory rally wheels and an aggressive special air induction hood.
Torgerson was at work in Pine Point in the Northwest Territories when he was informed that his new car had arrived at the dealership. Salesman Gordie encouraged him to pick up his car as soon as possible because there was a lineup of people wanting to buy it and the car had to be hidden in the back of the lot.
In addition to its obvious performance attributes, there was another reason Torgerson ordered the car he had seen advertised in Hot Rod magazine early in 1970.
“I had a snowmobile along with my work gear to haul,” the now72-year-old said from his home near Tumbler Ridge.
In fact, he would also carry a 170-litre drum of fuel and a pail of two-cycle oil along with his surveying equipment back and forth on the 1,322-kilometre trip north.
Two years later, he sold the car to a co-worker and friend who eventually took the car to his home in Hinton, Alta. then on to Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. There, the El Camino had numerous proud owners and became infamous in the late 1970s and early 1980s as the fastest car around, knocking off all comers on the street and drag strip.
The car was eventually sold to an enthusiast in Olds, Alta., who did a complete off-frame restoration that was completed in 1986. From there, the car went to another enthusiast in Saskatchewan who kept it until December 2001.
Then the real travelling began. It was shipped to a new owner in Sydney, Australia where it would remain for a full decade stored in a garage. During that time, the original high-performance engine, four-speed transmission and posi-traction differential were removed and put in storage.
In 2011, the car was purchased and repatriated to Canada by Abbotsford enthusiast and collector Brian Wear, who has owned three 1970 El Camino SS cars. In fact, of the six 1970 El Camino SS 454 LS6 cars that came to Canada, Wear has owned two of them.
He got his first 1970 El Camino SS in 1977, which was an SS 396 car.
He sold his Shadow Gray LS6 El Camino in 2001 to the same owner that he bought his current Forest Green car from. Before shipping the car back to Canada, Wear had a well-known engine and race car builder in Sydney rebuild the engine, transmission and rear end to the original factory specifications.
“I believe this 1970 El Camino SS 454 LS6 to be the most highly documented car of this type,” he says. “This vehicle is one of one as it was ordered with 32 options.”
He has documentation that includes a list of the 19 previous owners by year, a letter from the original owner, letters from the famous salesman, “240 Gordie” Bonin, the original GM build sheet, original dealer option order sheet, the General Motors Canada documented option sheet and certification from the LS6 Registry. He also has photographs from its multiple ownership and travels over the past 45 years.
In 2013, Bonin, the drag racing legend and original salesman who ordered the El Camino, visited Wear and the rare El Camino.
Last September, original owner Paul Torgerson came to see the legendary car that he purchased new. It was the first time he had seen it in 43 years. Oh, the memories ….