Hey gang

[CheeseSteakJim]

New El Camino owner here. I've got a blue '79 SS Royal Knight with dealer-installed Cadillac interior and vent moonroof. Car's falling apart due to neglect but it was originally an Alabama car so the frame is nearly perfect. It's got a low-mile mildly built '89 carb'd truck 350, a '71 TH350, and a '78 Monte posi rear with 2.41:1 gears. The car tears even with those gears in it so I am optimistic from a performance standpoint.

I currently intend to fully restore the old beater due to its rarity, with a few mods. I plan to swap to a 200R4, some shorter rear end gearing, replace the smashed vent moon roof with a Mitsubishi Eclipse-style power moonroof, a base/clear blue paint job, with all new Royal Knight decals (under the clearcoat this time so they're protected) minus the dated-looking hood decal. I do mechanical stuff as a hobby and am in the autobody trade professionally. I am also working on rebuilding a 1967 Mustang coupe with a mild 200ci I6 (built by myself and coupled to a T5 5speed) for my girlfriend, a 1981 CB650 bobber, and am drastically hot rodding an '88 Town Car.

I've never owned a Chevy before and I am full of questions, so I'm happy to find such a wealth of information available.

Nice to be here.

[dpotter]

Good to have you with us. Sounds like you might be able to answer as many questions as you ask.

Welcome aboard buddy! Glade to have another guy willing to restore an El Camino. Hope to hear from you more.

Also we are having an El Camino meeting at Carlisle PA car show. All the info in my sig. Maybe I will see you there.

[toms84ss]

Welcome to ECC. Sounds like a nice project. Can you post pics of the interior and moon roof? I'd like to see that caddy interior!

[O. D. Showtime]

Welcome aboard!

[dougs85]

Welcome to the forum Jim. Appears with your experience, that 79 SS should be a good-looking vehicle in short order. Good luck with your projects. And get some pictures up.

Doug

[mgs72elky]

Welcome Jim, Good luck with the Elk....

[novelle]

Welcome to a great site! Good luck with your project.

[Russ84]

Hi Jim, Welcome to El Camino Central and the National El Camino Owners Association. You will find that there are a great bunch of El Camino folks here in Region 2. Welcome aboard.

[JJLT1]

wtg...welcome...we like cheesesteaks

The car tears even with those gears in it so I am optimistic from a performance standpoint.

thats the chevy talkin...

[harris5898]

welcome aboard!!

[speedy86]

Never heard of a "Cadillac" interior in a EC before. Let's see some pics.

[hagensen 78]

Welcome to the site,sounds like a great project.

[CheeseSteakJim]

Originally Posted by speedy86

Never heard of a "Cadillac" interior in a EC before. Let's see some pics.

Neither have I. The previous owner told me that the original buyer (I am the third owner) had the Cadillac interior and moonroof put in by the dealership before he picked it up. It has blue velour power seats and the door panels have some sort of fake wood pattern on them, along with an imprint in the cloth where a "BROUGHAM" tag clearly used to be. However, with there never being any RWD G-body Cadillacs, I have no idea what the panels could've been off of. They don't look like any Cadillac panels of the era, nor do they look like typical El Camino panels - though they have the same window switches, lock switches, and mirror thingy as any power-optioned '79 Elk. They also are a 2-piece design like G-bodies back then. They definitely look stock to this car.

I seem to remember the previous owner showing me the dealer's order receipt or something (he's a good friend of mine) mentioning something about Cadillac interior and vent moonroof, but I may be imagining things. That was quite some time ago. I've been bugging him to give me it now that I own the car, but he hasn't been able to find it recently.

I was hoping that if it ISN'T Cadillac stuff, someone here would be able to help me identify what it is, because these panels look kind of ragged and I'd like to find replacements. Like I said, this is my first Chevy so maybe someone here has seen them on another car before. I'll start showing pics as soon as I can get a hold of my girlfriend's camera.


Thanks for the welcomes, guys. I'm definitely excited about this project. The car is going to look incredible when I'm done with it. I'm excited to start replacing panels as soon as the weather warms up.

[O. D. Showtime]

Sure would like to see some pics of the interior..the whole Camino for that matter.

It could be the interior is from a Gbody Cutlass they had a Brougham series. The upper door panels sound alot like what they used.