Now, we do appreciate the fact that Marcel went down to bare metal to make his Elky's body perfect and laid on a coat of HOK Tangelo to make it an eye-catcher as well. Remember, though; with this guy, getting ready for paint is only the first domino to fall. We really dig what else Marcel did while he was at it, all in the name of drivability. Which is where he wanted to end up when he first scattered this El Camino across his garage floor, and the third time was the charm. "I'll take this car anywhere," Marcel declares. And seeing the effect it has on him, he probably will.
Drivetrain
Starting with a 454 core, Marcel tapped Morris Automotive in his hometown of Fontana, California, for the machine work and balancing before assembling the goods himself. The '78-vintage block received a 0.040-inch overbore and an Eagle cast crank working a 4.00-inch stroke, making for 460ci. The rods are shotpeened and resized Chevy items, 6.135 inches long; the pistons Clevite hypereutectic with floating pins and Speed Pro chrome-moly rings. When topped with Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum oval-port heads, compression comes in at 9:1. A Comp hydraulic-roller cam sporting 0.510 inch lift and 230/236 degrees at 0.050 is the brain, and Comp 1.7:1 roller rockers and pushrods work the valves. Induction consists of an Edelbrock Performer 2-0 manifold and a Performer 750-cfm square-bore carb topped by a modified Walter Prosper air filter. An MSD Pro Billet distributor and Blaster 2 coil burn the mix, while Hooker Super Comp headers running through a Magnaflow X-pipe and mufflers take out the remains. The tranny is a Bowtie Overdrives Level 3 700-R4 running a BTO lockup converter and a B&M cooler. The original column shifter works just fine for Marcel, but the original 3.08:1 open rearend is due for upgrading. Output? I guess we'll have to wait for the next dyno thrash to find out.
Rolling Stock
It's hard to beat the look of Classic Torq-Thrust II wheels, and Marcel DeKerpel's Elky wears them well. The hoops measure 17x7 inches and are clad in Ultra HPR rubber, 245/45-17 at each corner. The brake system still makes use of the original rear drums and the stock master cylinder, but is nicely updated with 12-inch front discs and a prop valve, both by True Connections.