Chevrolet is thinking about making a modern version of its versatile 1959 El Camino, which was half car and half pickup truck with rakish "bat wing" tail fins introduced on the automaker's cars that year. The El Camino was so popular it was sold through 1987.

The current market has many new vehicle types to satisfy niches in an increasingly fragmented market. Some have designs dating back decades, so it makes sense that Chevy would introduce a distinctive "car pickup" -- especially since utilitarian vehicles are becoming more popular.

All types of new vehicles were welcome in the 1950s. The El Camino ("the road" in Spanish) thus wasn't seen as being as radical as some might think, although Chevy called it "the brightest new idea of the year." In fact, Ford introduced its Ranchero car/pickup in 1957. Like the El Camino, it looked like a car but worked like a truck and was built through 1979.

Ford and Chevy were bitter rivals. If one offered an exclusive vehicle, the other often countered with a similar one.

Car-based utility vehicles dated back to the Ford Model T, which could be had with two seats and an open cargo box. Chevy, Studebaker and Hudson sold "coupe-pickups" in the 1930s. Mostly for salesmen, they had a cargo box in place of a trunk.

Station wagons replaced the "coupe-pickup" after World War II. The wagon became especially popular in the 1950s, with the exodus to the suburbs. Carlike pickup trucks, such as Chevrolet's Cameo Carrier with its two-tone paint, also were growing in popularity. But pickups mainly were plain workhorses not used as car substitutes, as they now often are.

Pickups had a hard ride, so a sporty "car/truck" with a softer ride for suburban streets seemed like a good idea. After all, the hybrid El Camino could carry more cargo than a wagon, although it had no backseat and held only three adults.

The El Camino and Ranchero were station wagons with their rear roof sections artfully removed. But the El Camino looked sleeker than the boxy Ranchero because it was based on Chevy's longer, lower, wider 1959 auto body, with its "bat wing" styling. The nickname came from the audacious sweeping horizontal tailfins, which looked like outstretched wings. The pickup bed was stylish and even the cab had rakish lines, with a graceful slope to the rear window.

"It's Terrifico. . . it's magnifico!" Chevy advertisements said of the El Camino. It was reasonably priced at $2,740, or about the same price as the 1959 Ranchero.

The El Camino was General Motors' most luxurious "hauler." Maximum load capacity was a respectable 1,150 pounds -- or 1,200 pounds with larger tires and heavy duty springs. That motivated Chevy to boast: "Good looks never carried so much weight."

Indeed, the El Camino's glassy cab mimicked the sleek roofline of the Chevy Impala four-door Sport Sedan, and the cab had GM's distinctive rear roof overhang and sloping wraparound rear glass. Rear quarter sheet metal and tailgate were from Chevrolet's two-door Brookwood wagon, and the long sidespear trim piece was from the upscale Chevy Bel Air passenger car.

The El Camino had Chevy's strong X-member chassis and coil-spring suspension with heavy-duty station wagon shock absorbers at the rear. It had the same long new 119-inch wheelbase as Chevy's regular 1959 cars and offered most of their drivetrain choices.

The base engine was Chevy's "Hi-Thrift" 135-horsepower six-cylinder, but you could get a 283-cubic-inch V-8 with 185 to 285 horsepower or new 348-cubic-inch V-8 producing 250 to 315 horsepower.

Most El Camino's had a three-speed manual transmission with a steering-column shifter or a two-speed automatic transmission. But the 315-horsepower V-8 could be hooked to a Chevy Corvette four-speed manual transmission -- making the El Camino one of the first Chevrolets (besides the 'Vette) to have a floor shifter.

Sales of the 1959 El Camino were decent for a specialized model at 22,246 units. And it topped the 1959 Ranchero, which found only 14,169 buyers. Pizzazz still played a big role in sales.

A 1959 El Camino in nearly perfect shape is valued at $24,450, with one in good condition at $12,225, says the Collectible Vehicle Value Guide. The 1970 high-performance SS model with a 454-cubic-inch LS6 V-8 is worth the most, at $109,100 (excellent shape) or at $54,550 (very good condition). The 1987 El Camino SS is valued at $15,600 in top shape and at $8,575 in very good condition.

I'd opt for the 1959 El Camino with the "348" V-8 and four-speed manual transmission. It's hard to top an original.