In 1964, GM designer Harry Bentley Bradley purchased a new El Camino. Working on the design of the next generation ('68) El Camino, Harry wanted a fastback-style roof profile, but management didn't agree. So what did he do to convince them? He had the Alexander Bros. chop his truck 2 1/2 inches and use a '64 Pontiac Gran Prix backlight at a faster angle with the roofline sweeping down into the body. When management saw the results all they could collectively utter was "Wow!" And so was born the '68 El Camino with its flying sail panels and the first production truck without an upright, rear roof profile.

In 1966, Mattel Toys hired Harry to design a line of small die-cast metal cars. Harry's boss liked his chopped Camino and said, "Make them all look like your job!" And so it was that Harry's El Camino became Hot Wheels(r) No. 1. It also appeared in the original line as the "Custom Fleetside." Harry's "Job" would, with additional customizing by Bill Cushenbery, appear on the cover of the July '68 R&C in its second finished form, painted green with a black vinyl top and padded bed cover, mag wheels and a quick-fill gas lid.

It was in 1973 that Harry designed this, the third, and final, version of his El Camino. Harry says, "I suppose what pleases me the most is when people see it, they walk around and around it. They can't stand still. It's not just a vehicle, it's an experience, and it makes them smile, then think about what they are seeing." And now let's get to the how and the why of its extensive and unique modifications.

First, the name, "Blind Faith." It's black and white; two words-two colors. Harry is asking, "How do you see blind faith?" Starting with the aforementioned top modifications, the upper door glass is now fixed, with only the lower sections powering up and down to pay tolls and to speak to someone in the outside world. The doors are activated by buttons under the mirrors. With Harry's move to California, more of his design changes were made by Cushenbery at his Burbank shop for version two, changes that would stay for version three. The truck was becoming a deliberate work in progress. The squared wheel openings, for instance, aren't flared, but rather beveled inward, lending a tight, lean image, emphasizing tires and wheels. The handmade hood is front-hinged, powered by an electric screw drive, and its underside lined with a contoured aluminum panel-the work of Rod Powell. The nose, also by Rod, is hand-shaped, rolling down to the underslung grille made from finely perforated, heavy-gauge screen. The hood's accent lines sweep down over the nose and onto the grille, which, along with the pearl-coated headlight lens, is flush mounted. The bed cover consists of a flush-fitting, one-piece aluminum skin (with built-in air intake) over a framework of rectangular tubing, also powered by electric screw drive. There are two pairs of gas struts flanking boxed Lincoln decklid hinges-all the work of Don Borth of Hawthorne.

The vertical taillights, which help to frame the back end, have clear textured lenses with red bulbs. Note, too, the smoothed bumpers that extend around the body sides and the twin exhaust outlets in oval housings. That rear valance is, of all things, a '65 Corvair piece that hides the rear crossmember of the Toronado subframe. Also, the rear fender line straightens as it approaches the door.