For this week's Everything You Need to Know | Up to Speed video by Donut Media, they feature the Chevrolet El Camino. The El Camino is surely one of the most unique vehicles to be released, it's a car and it's a truck. Donut Media's, James Pumphrey, provides the details on why the El Camino was created and the impact it had on the car world.

While the Chevrolet El Camino is arguably the worlds most loved car-truck-thing, it was not the first. As Pumphrey points out early in the video, the Ford Ranchero was the first. The Ford Ranchero began sales in 1957 and the sales were so good that they caught the eye of General Motors who released the first El Camino in 1959. Eventually, the Ranchero was based on Ford's muscle car Falcon which forced the hand of General Motors to add muscle. For the second generation of the El Camino, the car was based on the Chevelle.

According to Pumphrey, the design of the El Camino changed every year from 1964-1980.

In 1968, for the third generation, Chevrolet released a SS model featuring the 396 V8 engine. In 1970, El Camino's were available with the 454 V8 engine good for 450 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque. The El Camino survived through the gas crisis and declining sales, and in an attempt to save money, General Motors moved production to Mexico in 1985.

The El Camino ended production with the 1987 model year, but the El Camino's spirit was continued down under with the Holden Ute and the HSV Maloo. On our shores, between the years of 2003 to 2006, Chevrolet released an El Camino-like ride, the Chevrolet SSR. In the video, Pumphrey mentions the continuous rumors that the El Camino has the potential to return. The recent resurgence of the horsepower wars shows that a brand new El Camino might have a home.

Check out the video below to get more of the details.