I would like to get some of your opinions on a spray in liner.

I went with black on mine. Goes along good with the blue and silver paint.

I spayed mine black because it goes well with orange. Did everyone spray around the rear window or stop at the bottom?

Some of it depends on the color of your El Camino. What color is it?

I spayed mine black because it goes well with orange. Did everyone spray around the rear window or stop at the bottom?

I stopped at the bottom.
PiC: http://www.elcaminocentral.com/modules.php?set_albumName=albun47&id=DSCN0821&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php

[quote]Some of it depends on the color of your El Camino. What color is it

It is two tone light brown on top dark brown on the bottom. There are pics on page 6 of the 5th generation member cars.

My 2.5 cents FWIW is get the bed liner the same color as the upper paint. Black would be OK but I think light Brown would be better. Looking as the pics in your album the black plastic one you have gives a good idea of what black would look like. I just think body color would be better.

I sprayed the tintable bed liner from the Eastwood Company in my ELKY. I sprayed the entire bed below the SS trim. She looks just great!!

TOMMY - I had the bed sprayed. When I picked it up I thought it looked great except I wish I'd have had it sprayed around the window too. The bodyman that did the application thought the same thing after he saw it done. I never had it sprayed around the window but if I had it to do over again I would.
BTW - the spray-in liner is GREAT! Mainly, it improved the ride quality. It seems to have a sound deadening effect.

Mine is sprayed up the side of the window to the gap toward the top. I am thinking of spraying around the top of the window too.

I want to spray my car the same blue I am going to paint my car

Buy or paint the vehicle black and the decision is easy!

Black all around on a Black upper body or complete color works real well!

THx,

Diablo :evil: Doug

Just a question as I would like to also spray my bed. Do you have to do a lot of prep work on the bed? Does it cover up small ding's or imperfections, or will those show through? What I'm asking I guess is how thick is this stuff to get away with some of the bed dings and small dents not showing?

Well the TORO liner i had a few years ago in a pickup was about 1/4" thick it did a great job of hiding the small dings. I think i have decided to NOT spray in a liner in my Elky at least for now. The new paint looks to damn good!

Nothing looks better than a clean bed painted like it came from the factory. When you are buying a El Camino that has a thick coat of bed spray you sure don't know what you are getting it hides to much rust and damage. Give me a clean factory looking bed any time, I can live with a few ding and dents.

I don't know about hiding dents, but, I've put in a few small ones since the liner was in and the liner bent right down with the dent. On bodywork, I have an Ameri-Gaurd liner and they insisted on appling epoxy primer to bare metal before appling the liner. I had this job done about 2 months after painting the truck, with epoxy primer as an undercoat. I had to argue a little with him as he said he didn't know how well it was applied and could not warannty the liner unless he applied the primer. (And I don't blame him for that at all!) After he checked into it a little he said OK, let's go. I'm very happy with it.

While I agree with Kansascamino about the look of a great painted no dings bed I use my El Camino way to much as a daily driver and do use my bed alot. Not real heavy stuff but do use it. My El Camino is not for just looks and hauls more than ass. :P

If I spent all that money in body work and paint I would die at the first ding, scrape, scratch in it. Plus that is an a lot of wax on wax off in the bed. I want some protection and I think the spray in liner does look good while giving you some piece of mind. While the bed spray might hide bed flaws and others might have question of the condition of the bed before it was sprayed on I think the over all condition of the truck says a lot.

I'm not worried about a future buyer saying I won't buy it because I don't know what is hiding under there. There is more than one buyer out there. If that is a big concern to someone wanting to have a spray in liner, take some before and after dated pictures to show a future buyer.

So the question might be is how you use your El Camino and how picky you are. If you just drive it on weekends or just to shows, or it's a show car...paint it! If it's a daily driver like mine...maybe the bed liner is the way to go.

I'm not selling mine anyway. I have 2 boys that would love to have it. I think it should stay in the family always! 8)

i think that black is very cool it goes with any color and is just plain classic style just like the elky 8) i have a 84 and sky blue paint and the black blends in like sin.

If you are restoring the car then I guess I'd have to say that you should fix the dings and paint the bed like you would the rest of the body. If you are using the car (for its intended purpose) then a spray on bed liner is great. I am in the middle of restoring a 72 Elky and it has a sprayed on bedliner. Realize that this stuff is really difficult to get off!

Well here is a pic after the paint job. And why i have decided i do not want a liner.

http://thumb8.webshots.com/s/thumb4/3/83/48/99138348pWdiKc_th.jpg

I vote for Body Color spray in Liner. I just got mine back from the painter ( pictures next week). Color was a 2003 Lexus Ash Blue Mica ( a dark grey metallic). I went with the Eastwood Tintable liner, and it came out great. While the truck looks good, I did not want a Concours truck, as I would not want to ever put anything in the bed. This stuff looks pretty durable. I've put a few items in the bed, and no hint of scratches, marks, nicks, etc.

Good luck with your decision.

I purchased a drop in liner and I HATE IT,It makes the bed look much larger than it realy is.It also covers up the lower window trim which I replaced with new.I installed it in my garage and removed it right away,put it back in the box and stored it in another bldg.The price for returning it was unbeliveable.I will be refinishing the inside of my bed and painting it to match the body color[ Drk red met ]this winter,it has some small dents that needs to be worked out to make it right.

I am not too fond of the textured liners in El Camino's. When I repainted my car I wish I had sandblasted the bed instead of spending so much time on my knees with a sander. My bed was at the point that it had enough dings to have used the liner but I opted for the normal painted surface. Diablo Doug painted the car (he's my father) and it raelly looks great. :-)

Buy or paint the vehicle black and the decision is easy!




:lol: I LIKE that idea!!! It's no problem for me either! :lol:

Black goes real well with orange! :)

Consider this. If your going to have a topper on it then you might want to spray or paint in a light color. It will make it easier to see inside at night and dimly lit dayz.

I got a bed carpet for my 80 it is fitted. Its a gray material darker than I actually wanted but it looks good, fits nice and its padded. I am not going to be hauling much in my 80 so carpet works out for me.

Although I like the "sound-deadening" aspect of a spray-in bedliner - I have to agree with Kansascamino - there's nothing quite like looking in the back, and realizing the paint matches. I looked at a lot of Elky's before i bought one and 99% seemed to have been painted/sprayed or had some sort of covering (large mats, old rugs, auto parts,etc.) in the bed. I plan to paint mine to match one of the color's (Conquista) when I finally finish all bodywork and paint.