1971 Chevrolet El Camino

1971 Chevrolet El Camino

1971 CHEVROLET EL CAMINO EVOLVES
The 1971 El Camino along with its Chevelle stablemate, retained the same basic sheetmetal as the 1970, but got a new front facia with single headlights instead of doubles, a new grille and front bumper, and a one-piece turn signal/parking light/side marker light on either front corner. The rear end remained unchanged. GMC launched their own version of the thinly-disguised El Camino in 1971 and called it the GMC Sprint.

1971 CHEVROLET EL CAMINO ENGINE OPTIONS
1971 marked the end of the muscle car. That year, federally-mandated unleaded fuel with lower octane forced GM to lower the compression ratio of their engines, which in turn reduced power and performance. GM’s A.I.R. system was a smog pump that was supposed to help clean up tailpipe emissions, but it just further hurt performance. Horsepower ratings were quickly heading south, and sounded laughable at the time, even more so by today’s standards. The standard engine was the 250ci 6-cylinder with 145hp. Then there were several 307 and 350 small block V8s offered. And for a little while longer, you could still get a big block, either a 402 (formerly 396) or a 454 LS5. Alas the LS6 was gone forever, a one-year flash-in-the-pan. And the LS5 had been choked down to 365hp.


1971 Chevrolet El Camino PRODUCTION NUMBERS

Standard El Camino 6-cylinder

Standard El Camino V8

Custom El Camino 6-cylinder

Custom El Camino V8

El Camino SS

Total 1971 El Camino

1,058

4,506

0

36,042

SS was an option package on Custom V8s.  Included above.

41,606


1971 Chevrolet El Camino SPECIFICATIONS

Wheelbase

Length

Width

Track, front

Track, rear

Tire size

Weight

Fuel capacity

V8 ENGINE OPTIONS

116.0 in / 2946 mm

206.8 in / 5253 mm

75.4 / 1915 mm

59.3 in / 1506 mm

59.2 in / 1504 mm

F70-14

3,501 lbs / 1588 kg

19 US gal / 72 L

307ci OHV V8 , 1X2bbl

350ci OHV V8 1X2bbl

350ci OHV V8, 1X4bbl

402ci OHV V8, 1X4bbl

454ci OHV V8, 1X4bbl

140 hp / 300 lb/ft

245 hp / 165 lb/ft

270 hp / 300 lb/ft

300 hp / 5260 lb/ft

365 hp / 390 lb/ft