Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) cheap; occas. also as n.

1953		A.S. Young Great Negro Baseball Stars 4: Many [owners] considered him a cheapskate (‘El Cheapo,’ New York sports writer Jimmy Powers called him).
1957		Look 14-26 169: In the brilliance of his El Cheapo strategy and design, he resembles Napoleon.
1967		CB Buyers’ Guide 100/2: You now have built an ‘El Cheapo’ CB tester [OED].
1973		Chopper Mag. Feb. 27/1: Doing el cheapo jobs all week long by doing wild and thorough numbers on his own car.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 72: This was going to be the El Cheapo job to end all El Cheapos.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 190: Now and then we wash it down with a nice bottle of el cheapo plonk.
1995		M. Dibdin Dark Spectre (1996) 7: The el cheapo digital watch his dad had got free at some gas station.
2001		‘Randy Everhard’ Tattoo of a Naked Lady 78: The nub of an El Cheapo cigar was wedged in the corner of his mouth.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl.