The El Camino barely qualifies as a 1950s vehicle with its debut year of ... It was meant to chip away at the market share of the Ford Ranchero, which had been around since 1957.

The El Camino ... a fact which Ford changed with the introduction of the Ranchero. Unlike most pickups, the Ranchero was built on a car chassis, highly unorthodox in the 1950s U.S. market.

While Ford was first to market with the pickup-cum-car Ranchero, and El Camino has attained universal ... that had yet to die off in the early 1950s. The independents were often more creative ...