hi im new here so this is my first post... i am a high school kid who has gotten a 72 el camino in perfect condition for my birthday... i have been considering a soft tauna cover that uses snaps, but you have to drill into the quarter pannel... does anyone know any companies or know if it is possible to install a tauna cover by drilling the snaps into the rails rather than the body... thanks

Welcome to ECC, Bill :) That is some birthday present, someone sure treats you good. Very nice looking car. Not sure if this helps any but OPGI has a tonneau cover that mounts with velcro.

o thats awsome i'll look inot that... thanks :D

Be careful with the velcro ones, I hear they turn into a nice big kite at highway speeds.

Rob

My brother has a velcro-attached tonneau on his Chevy pick up, and its lasted over 10 years, so I guess it depends on the individual cover. I made a "hard shell" for my 71 that didn't require any drilling into the outside body panels. It took about two days and cost about $100. There are also some fiberglass tops out there for around 700-800 bucks that don't require drilling into your body panels

I SAW ONE ON EBAY EL CAMINO PARTS - THINK IT WAS CRAFTEC INC. NEW PRODUCT. DOESN'T HAVE SNAPS OR VELCO. PICTURES LOOK REALLY GOOD.
I THINK SNAPS LOOK BAD ON ELCAMINOS

Man! I wished someone would give me an Elky for my birthday and especially a "Muscle Car" Elky! I sure wouldn't be putting a soft tonneau on it. I'd go with the Fiberglass cover, they last a bit longer and - well - to me look better. But we all have our own tastes and that is good. Glass does cost a bit more.

I had a soft cover, 6 or 7years, the cover lasted longer then the truck. I still have the cover, truck has been gone about 10 years. But I agree get or make a hard cover, you'll like it better.

Pat

Welcome aboard, Baby Blue 72. Man, you are a lucky kid. You sound like you want to do things right, and take care of it. If it's in nice shape like you said, you sure don't want to be putting a bunch of holes in it. Good man. Congrats on the present....

Soft in my book and yes you can drill into the trim and snap all the around but put push locks on the under window at the cab trim (you need good trim). I like the soft because it is old school and was an option in most of the early years like your 72. If your car is all stock and you plan to show it a little a hard cover will put you out of stock class and into street or modified. The down side of soft is they leak at the window. I know two Elky's with hard tops that leak also in the same place as soon as the weather strip gets old or damaged.