“Choo Choo Customs El Caminos”:
GM offered a special package-version of an “SS” that was dubbed the “Designer Series”, which was introduced around the middle of 1983.
Starting in 1984, they essentially ended the traditional “Super Sport” package by renaming it as the “SS Sport Décor Package” (RPO Z15) and then added what’s referred to as the “Choo Choo” conversion as the new “El Camino SS”. There were basically two “SS” versions available from that point on until the El Camino was discontinued in 1987.
The custom pieces for the “El Camino SS” package were manufactured for, and installed by a van conversion company in Chattanooga, Tennessee called Choo Choo Customs.
These vehicles were either shipped directly from the manufacturing plants to Chattanooga for conversion as they were ordered, GM sent batches, or “pools” of them to be converted and sold from, or they were sent for conversion from a selling dealer’s inventory prior to sale.
The introduction of this appearance package design somewhat coincided with the introduction of the aerodynamic Super Sport Nose styling that was present on the Monte Carlo SS which was introduced for use on the NASCAR racing circuit about the same timeframe. The nose assemblies appear to be almost identical and are often times referred to as the “Monte SS Nose”, but are actually rather different in construction, and are not interchangeable between the models. The do however use common lighting hardware parts.
Choo Choo Customs data shows that there were 4,950 of these conversions assembled between 1983 and 1987. However, according to reported build sequence data, roughly 2,700 Choo Choo’s would have been produced using build sequence numbers for the trucks reported as known or still existing. Either way, they remain to be some of the harder to find and collectible models of the El Camino population, and often bring in a couple thousand dollars more in resale value. View the Choo Choo Customs Database of reported sequence numbers here.
But that’s not all there is to these…there’s quite a bit more interesting information on these unique versions. “Spoiler alert!” almost all of the Choo-Choo’s aren’t actually “Super Sports” by GM’s definition… read more in the linked document below!
The “Choo-Choo-SS” document found here, and linked below, contains a detailed breakdown of what the package consists of and how to identify them.
(’85 Shown and appearance varies slightly by Model Year and options selected).
