Everyone remembers the Chevy El Camino – the truck bed car that was around from the 1960s to the late 1980s. Ford also had a version called the Ranchero for a similar period, but its possible successor is far less well known. Meet the Ford Durango: an unofficial, purpose-built “what-if” car that was produced in minimal numbers. We just came across one for sale in Vermont for $11,000.

When this Craigslist link dropped into our editor’s chat, I thought it was some simpleton selling an SUV he didn’t know the name of. But no, the Ford Durango is real. It was basically a Fairmont with the rear cut off and turned into a truck bed. It seems this wasn’t an official Ford product, but a custom conversion organized by another company before the vehicles (only hundreds of them in total) were sold through dealers.

Reliable information on the Ford Durango is not so easy to come by. It was produced by a company called National Coach Products in California, which either no longer exists or is well hidden on the internet. Classic Car Authority Hems There was an article about it in 2008, but it has disappeared from the main page of the publication and I couldn’t even find a cached version for reference. Perhaps someone has an archive link they’d like to include in the comments?

In the meantime I have Was I was able to find some discussion of these vehicles in an old forum thread on Ford Truck Zone. Critically, user KW5413 copied and pasted this great nugget in the context of the old one. Hems Story attributed to a Mr. Bill Stephenson (sic):

I thought I’d chime in here, as I helped my father, Jim Stephenson, design and build these cars. He was a “car builder” who built custom cars in Los Angeles starting in the mid to late 1960s. He worked at Barris Kustom, managed George’s shop for a time, and built cars for George as a subcontractor for about 20 years.

The original “Durango” was built in our own shop in Sylmar, California, with the intention of offering it as a replacement for Ford’s “Ranchero” after it was discontinued. Among those who helped were my older brother Jim, George and Katie Gowdy of G&K Fiberglass (they also did the funny bodies for many of the famous names back in the day), and George Price, a very talented “body builder” who did most of the finishing work on the original plugs used to make the bed molds. He was one of the best “Bondo” men in the business.

I did a lot of metal work on the bed and helped design and build the tailgate and hinges. The metal work I did was used to make the plugs for the fiberglass molds for the production parts.

The tailgate proved to be one of the most difficult design issues we had to deal with. There was no good way to move the taillights into the rear quarter panels as they were too narrow and it was too expensive to build a completely new taillight. So we used the factory taillights in a fiberglass tailgate and had to make it swing outward and away from the bed so that it was level with the bed floor when opened.

When we finished the prototype, we took the car to National Coach to see if they were interested in production, and my father made a deal with them where he bought the molds and production rights and paid a royalty on each car sold.

First, National Coach bought a fleet of new Fairmonts from Ford, but they forgot that we had told them the conversion was designed for cars without sunroofs. The dealer they bought the cars from gave them a great deal on a bunch of cars that all had sunroofs, and they bought them without consulting us. This was a problem for them because they pretty much blew most of their budget on this deal. And since my dad’s income depended on the number of cars sold, it was a problem for him too. I wasn’t involved in the modifications that were made to the original bed molds to make this possible, but it almost prevented any from being produced at all. My dad and my brother Jim worked with National Coach to get the car into production. I wasn’t involved in that at all. I had moved on to other projects by now, but I went there to help redesign the tailgate hinges because there were some production issues with the ones originally used.

The Durango was the last custom car I built with my dad. It’s really nice to see that there are people out there who appreciate our efforts and have worked to keep the few remaining ones in good condition.

I have no way of verifying all this easily, but I’m inclined to believe it. I was able to find a bunch of pictures of Ford Durangos in the wild on another old forum called Ranchero.us and an old brochure picture that had National Coach Products written in the corner:

Now that you understand the context, let’s go back to the Craigslist post that got us hooked – $11,000 for a 1979 Durango that looks pretty clean. Or as the seller puts it, “A race car, but not a trophy show car.” Good thing. It’s virtually impossible to say what a good deal would look like for one of these cars, as the rarity and weirdness make it exceedingly attractive, but it would certainly attract a lot more attention at car shows than some more expensive vehicles.

I love mini pickups, but I understand why these weren’t so successful. It looks like there’s a lot of fiberglass in the bed area, which makes loading sharp and heavy objects a dangerous proposition. In fact, the wall between the bed and the cab also appears to be fiberglass, which only invites trouble. However, the model for sale here could have a wood floor to mitigate the hazards there.

Of the few Durangos built – and forum posts vary from under 100 to 300 – not many can have survived, so it’s pretty cool that one is for sale.