I have long had a fascination for real entrepenuers. I'm talking Howard Hughes here. Man, if it was needed at the time, or in the forseeable future, Howie found a way to get it to the marketplace. His idle projects would be a life's work for most people. His big projects? Legendary, like the H-4 Hercules; the longest wingspan and highest tailfin plane ever to take to the air. Also the largest flying boat ever built, no matter what the specification. And he did it 60 years ago!

Well something on a much lower scale of impact on the world, but cool as anything on wheels were Reuben 'Ruby' Allende's 1956 and 1957 El Morocco automobiles. They began life as 1956 and 1957 Chevrolets. They were the result of Ruby's desire to put a 'Cadillac' in the hands of the less fortunate folk.

A big time surplus dealer, both of military and the mundane, Ruby assigned the second floor of his Detroit warehouse to the scheme. Aquiring new Chevys from an accomodating dealer for $50.00 over invoice, he set to morphing them into Cadillacs. Precious little was done to the interior, but the exterior became a symphony of swoopy upscale 1950's sheet metal, complete with 'EL MOROCCO' in block letters adorning the hood and trunk of the completed car.

Showcasing Ruby's peerless resourcefulness, on the '56, '37 Dodge headlight buckets were reversed, reinforced with fiberglass, and chrome plated to become it's 'Dagmars'; the missle-shaped protrusions on the bumper. He reworked a Kaiser-Frazer horn button for the '56's hood medallion, and the trim on the top edges of the doors were 1955 Willys dash panels! More examples of this recycling were found in other areas of the conversion, but some trim was specific to the El Morocco, and was produced by local casting shops.

The consumate recycler, any parts or trim removed from the Chevys for the conversion became surplus, and were set aside for sale to local body shops.

The El Morocco was indeed a distinctive automobile. Even though they were, in all reality, for their vast majority, stone stock Chevys, Ruby somehow managed to get them registered as 'El Morocco' on their titles in Michigan!

Two of the finer views of these rare works of art are shown below.

The 1956 El Morocco: Pure class with a finish like glass

The 1957 El Morocco: A swoopy beauty

For comparisan: The 1957 Cadillac El Dorado; the El Morocco above actually has a nicer roofline!

Alas, the El Morocco was too much more money than a Chevy, and not enough less money than a real Caddy to give them the mass appeal Ruby had hoped for. Also, the 1958 offerings from Chevrolet varied too much from a Cadillac to be restyled with any economy, so the El Morrocco project was concluded, with only about 40 examples of Ruby's gems all told being sculpted.