Truck Thursday: 1987 Cadillac Cad Amino

By Kamil Kaluski Jul 7, 2016

cad amino rear
We all love El Caminos here at Hooniverse and many of us still cry over the 2010 Pontiac G8 ST pickup that could have been. Like the Solstice, hundreds of people would bought and it and easily pull GM out of a bind. But no, GM decided to kill Pontiac and the modern El Camino with it. They did not attempt to badge it as a Chevy, which it should have been from the beginning, and the whole thing died a quick death.
Thankfully there are numerous people out there who share our El Camino fetish and those people properly convert boring sedans into cool male dork symbols. This Caddy happens to be a great example of such car.
Thanks for the tip, Larry!

cad amino front
From the ad:

1987 Cadillac Cad Amino custom$8500 (W Las Vegas)

*Cadillac custom 2dr pickup – RWD Brougham
*5.0 L. 307 cu Reman. eng. w/200R4 auto/overdrive – receipts in hand
*CRAGAR chrome rims 15″ MUST SEE
*Full power w/gauges added – A/C upgraded 134
*Rare Custom – NO TEXTING – NO TRADES

cad amino bed

I’m not sure if it has a tailgate but I really don’t care. What I could whine about is the fact that a coupe version, with longer doors, would look so much better and be more functional, but I won’t. Assuming it is running well, what do you people think about the price?

Source: San Diego Craigslist

By Kamil Kaluski

East Coast Editor. Races crappy cars and has an unhealthy obsession with Eastern Bloc cars. Current fleet: Ford Bronco, Lexus GX 470, and a Buick Regal crapcan racecar.

23 thoughts on “Truck Thursday: 1987 Cadillac Cad Amino”
    1. It’s funny, when we lived in Portland, OR, I had an ’85 Fleetwood Bro d’Elegance (also had a two year old Suzuki Grand Vitara I bought new, in CO, but hated that trucklet), and when we were house shopping, if the driveway were steep, I’d pull in to see if either end dragged. If so, the house was immediately written off.
      I wrote off more than I thought I would, initially. Many times, both ends would hit, albeit not at the same time.

      1. You should see some of the driveways in Bend. My neighborhood is built on volcanic outcroppings and lots of the driveways have a “knuckle” in the middle so even my Saturn SL2 can ground its muffler.

    1. I was going to ask if this was just a flower car conversion since it has the classic car tags on it.

  1. Seats cannot be moved because cabin too small.
    No space because spare wheel.

    1. Movable seats … are you one of those people who expect to ever sell their project cars again?

  2. This blue one is lame. If’n you’re gonna do this, do it correctly.
    Please note, this one has a proper tailgate. Also a 500 C.I.D. motor putting out about 200 HP…maybe. Many torques, however.

      1. Nope, but dealers could send them out to be modded when new, and the OEM warranty remained in effect. Same goes for the station wagons of this time frame, too. Those were harder to find, though there were a couple in my neighborhood growing up.
        I grew up in Dallas in the 70s and 80s, so these weren’t an altogether rare sight.
        The one above, the dark gold/beige one, I was pumped when I saw it, but then I spotted the stupid aftermarket grille which was a huge thing back then. It was damned clean.
        Having owned a ’73 Coupe DeVille for a few years in the 90s (I miss that car), I can tell you single digit MPG is it, no matter what.

        1. I saw one at the Arthritis Foundation show a few years ago. The conversion added something like $8K to the price.
          It does have a cool in bed trunk decades before the Ridgeline plus a storage space under the bed behind the seats.

  3. So many cars in the world, not enough lifetime to turn them all into utes. This bad MSPaint mockup would probably be my dream ute project, ’61-62 Buick Special wagon, especially considering no El Camino existed in those years.

    1. that would be pretty cool, but something needs to be done to the rear of the roofline. maybe back glass and rear roof section of a four door flat top to give it a better flow.

      1. Obviously, but my kung-photo is weak. I’d probably attempt to use the tailgate glass from the same wagon but rotated 180° so that it creates an inward curve, and then just model pillars around it, maybe with a slight overhang on the roof. And by modeling I mean taking it to a body shop so they can do it because I don’t know the first thing about body work.

    2. As an excuse to actually used the Photoshop I paid for, here’s your ute with the cab back of a 1964 El Camino.

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