Collector Car Corner / Cars We Remember; Car and Pickup Combo: Ford Ranchero, Chevy El Camino, and Hudson Big Boy

By Greg Zyla

Q: Greg, you once wrote a column on carlike pickups, which mean pickup trucks being built on a car chassis. I enjoyed the recent Ford Mustero column on the Ford Mustang pickup very much, but realize it was not a factory-built truck but a half and half design of a Mustang and Ford Ranchero. However, it is an interesting article that you said was something you never heard of.

Looking back, how many companies built pickup trucks on their car chassis? Which is most popular in your opinion? Any favorites? Thanks, Jim Moore, Spokane, Washington.

A: Jim, thanks for your letter. Currently, there are still only three real car pickups, and one that isn’t. Let’s start here.  

1.1957 Ford Ranchero: The Ford Ranchero was introduced in 1957 as a carlike pickup built on the Ford 2-door station wagon chassis. Although marketed as a truck, it did not offer the payload capacities of a Ford F-series pickup, but sure was popular with the owner that didn’t need to haul much.    

So, the first “car-truck” that I was aware of was the Ford Ranchero, which debuted in 1957 and Ford never looked back. There was a Ranchero every year right on through its final year of 1979.

Not only did Ranchero precede Chevy’s El Camino by two years, Ford’s idea was an immediate hit with those who loved cars and trucks but didn’t have anything “in the middle” to choose from.

So, back in 1957 Ford took its full-size Ford Station wagon chassis, known as the Courier, and put a car front end on it along with a pickup truck bed that could carry about 850 pounds of cargo.

Further, Ford then created Ranchero pickups throughout its car line to include the compact Falcon and the intermediate Fairlane. At the end of the sixth generation run in 1979, over half a million Rancheros had been sold and today these Rancheros attract lots of attention at car shows across the country. Chevy never released the El Camino in compact or full-size, other than in its first two years of full size 1959 and 1960. My personal favorite? The 1969 Ranchero GT Cobra Jet 428.

 2. 1959-1960 Chevrolet El Camino: Brought to market with those gigantic rear top flowing wings that stretched across the back of the vehicle, I was mesmerized by the design and remember running to my favorite hobby shop and buying the first AMT 1/24 model kit of that 1959 El Camino. Unlike Ford, which continued annual production through 1979, Chevy did not make an El Camino from 1961 to 1963 as sales of the 1960 models weren’t good and trailed Ranchero sales, 21,000 to 14,000. Surprisingly and with some irony, the 1959 El Camino outsold 1959 Ranchero by about the same number. The El Camino was built on the Biscayne station wagon chassis, similar to Ford’s Squire wagon chassis.

Chevrolet then re-introduced the El Camino in 1964 based on the intermediate Chevelle line and in keeping with Ford’s Fairlane based Ranchero. Thanks to the high-performance crowd, a 1966 to 1970 SS396 El Camino is today an extremely popular muscle car / truck, and like the Cobra Jet Ranchero, these Chevelle-based El Caminos are a big hit at the car shows and area drag strips. My favorite? I’ll take a 1970 El Camino SS454.

I will give the Chevy one major pat on the back as it outlasted the Ranchero by 10 model years through 1987, and six generations. This means there are more El Caminos on the road today than Rancheros, which then gives a collectability advantage to Ford.

3: 1941-1942 and 1946 Hudson: Although I can’t call one of these novel carlike Hudson’s a favorite (I was born in 1949), I’ve got to give Hudson its just due as being the first of the American manufacturers to build a pickup on a car chassis. These Hudson pickups were available in 116- or 128- inch wheelbase lengths and, most importantly, were built on the Hudson Commodore automobile chassis.

Hudson’s total vehicle pre-war production was particularly good as 91,769 Hudsons were sold in 1941, followed by another 40,661 car and truck units in 1942. Production for 1942 was down due to the government mandate that stopped all commercial car/truck production from 1942 to 1945 to concentrate on the war effort.  

When the war ended, the 1946 Hudson Big Boy came back to dealer showrooms with its long wheelbase design and overall Hudson sales went right back up to 95,000. 

As for pricing, you could buy a 1941 Hudson 116-inch pickup for $723, while the “Big Boy” 128-incher cost $775. In 1942 it cost $907 for the smaller pickup and $960 for the “Big Boy”, which was quite an increase that year. Engine availability included flathead six- and eight-cylinder engines, many with dual carburetors. 

Additionally, when compared to the Hudson cars of the day, these pickups sure looked identical to the front-end car designs, so again I give Hudson an official pat on the back for being the first “carlike pickup” ever produced. These 1941 and 1942 Hudson Pickups were known as The Gentleman’s Pickup and unlike other pickups of the day with floor shifters and drab interiors, Hudson’s Commodore influenced pickups included a “three on the tree” column shifter, independent front suspension, and other Commodore niceties. Values are quite impressive, as I’ve seen these ’41, ’42 and ’46 pickups in number one condition going for upwards of $65,000 at Mecum and Barrett-Jackson auctions.

I’ll end with the 1957 Dodge D-100 Sweptline, and why it doesn’t make the cut. The Dodge Sweptline (also called Sweptside in 1958 and 1959) was a pickup from the start, utilizing Dodge’s long-bed truck cab chassis. So there’s no chance it could be included in the first carlike pickup truck discussion. Although most Sweptlines were V8s with a torqueflite automatic transmission, they were pickup trucks underneath. Additionally, the Sweptline’s exterior included many of its car design cues, like chrome trim and two-tone color schemes. 

Through the years this Dodge Sweptline pickup has become a darling of pickup truck collectors, thanks to its now unique looks. Additionally, in 1957 Dodge used the D-series nomenclature for the first time and two engines were available, a 230-inch, 120-horse flathead six, or a 315-inch, 204-horse V8. The D-200 and D-300 Dodge pickups had truck-like design rear beds and sold much better than the D-100 “Swept” models.  

Today, Dodge Sweptlines / Sweptsides are valuable because they never made it to the “official” Dodge truck assembly line. Only 1,200 were ever built and hand assembled when it came to the body.  

Thanks for your letter, Jim.  

(Greg Zyla is a syndicated auto columnist who welcomes reader interactions on collector cars, auto nostalgia and old-time motorsports at greg@gregzyla.com or 303 Roosevelt St., Sayre, Pa. 18840.)