Whether through divine intervention, good karma, or a combination of both, sometimes good things just drop into your lap, as if it were a gift from above. This truck did- right when I needed it most. Over the next decade, this trusty machine proved not only to be reliable transportation, but often my very salvation as well.
By the summer of 1999, my life had taken a significant downturn. AutoNation had recently bought out Champion Chevrolet / Olds, the dealership where I was working at the time. Due to corporate politics, I was swiftly demoted from mechanic to “helper” in the takeover, and had to take a hefty pay cut as a result. Because of this, I was forced to move back in with my folks- at age 28. For a fiercely independent and proud individual like myself, this was both extremely humiliating and deeply depressing- more so than anyone could imagine.
My once-carefree weekends riding my bike at the beach, playing on the computer, meeting friends for lunch, or hitting the mall scoping babes were now spent either assisting my folks in their endless gardening and home improvement projects, or running all over town earning extra cash by doing odd jobs for people. If that wasn’t bad enough, my love life at that point was virtually nonexistent. I felt utterly bereft over the whole situation, trying to deal with the stress caused by the loss of my freedom, privacy, and independence, my greatly reduced income, a total lack of female companionship, and my somewhat cloudy future as I lay awake at night pondering my next move.
As the rancid icing on a very bitter-tasting cake, I suddenly found myself without reliable transportation. My 1968 Mercury Cougar was convalescing in the garage, never to run again thanks to a blown engine. The car’s resurrection never occured, thanks to the combination of my small bank account and a schedule stretched to the limit due to working full-time, taking various side jobs, attending nighttime college academic classes, and checking off items on my folks’ ever-growing and ever-changing “honey do” list. My 1985 Mercury Topaz, a generous hand-me-down from my pop, had been serving as a temporary replacement for the Cougar. That was until the Topaz’ overworked, underpowered four-cylinder engine finally barfed its guts out on the 105 freeway late one night as I was headed home from a party.
I needed wheels- fast. I didn’t give a damn about year, make, or model- I just needed something that worked. I didn’t have the luxury of being picky. I mentioned my dilemma to the manager of Champion’s used car lot, a nice man named Eric. He asked if I might be interested in an old truck which had just been traded in. I looked it over, liked it, got a bank loan, and the rest is history. It was the right vehicle, at the right time, for the right price. Owning this truck changed my fortunes. In the process, it also changed my life. At the time of its introduction, this truck was a harbinger of positive change in the domestic light truck market as well.
When the radically redesigned GM C/K series pickups ( also known as the GMT400 platform ) made their debut in late 1987, they hit the light truck market like a rogue wave. Their sleek aerodynamic profile, with a low sloping nose and generous glass area, turned their competition from Ford and Dodge, and even their own long-lived predecessors, into instant dinosaurs. And their advanced-looking design wasn’t merely skin deep. Underneath, the GMT400-based C/Ks boasted an all-new fully boxed frame with revised suspension geometry. The new chassis was significantly stiffer than on the previous model, and ride and handling were both noticeably improved. NVH was greatly reduced. Compared to its predecessor, the GMT400 platform was a huge leap forward in comfort, refinement, and civility for a light truck. Rust protection was vastly superior to the outgoing model. Strangely, GM kept the Blazer and Suburban SUVs on the archaic R/V platform, not switching to the GMT400-based design until 1992.
The interior is typical 90’s GM- cheap, cheap, cheap. Even so- the reduced wind noise, superior visibility, cushier seats, heavier insulation, and an overall roomier cab make these trucks a more pleasant place to sit for long periods than their contemporary rivals- even in the standard cab configuration. To this day, 88-98 Chevy and GMC full sized pickups are about the only regular cab pickups from that era that I don’t feel totally squeezed in.
I told you that this truck saved my butt ( and occasionally other folks’ butts ) and in the process changed my life, didn’t I? Well, it did- more than once. As a struggling, low-paid mechanic’s helper, I earned steady side money helping people move, hauling their unwanted crap away to the dump or recycling center, or even towing them home after their cars broke down and left them stranded. When my old church lost its original building ( long and complicated story ), and had to rent out the nearby middle school auditorium for Sunday services, Goldie and I were right there to lend a helping hand with transporting furniture, equipment, and whatever else was needed.
As word of mouth spread among my friends, neighbors, and casual acquaintances, I got even more side jobs and also met lots of interesting and cool people, a few of whom eventually became good friends. I still had to watch my budget, but thanks to that old truck I always had a few extra bucks in my pocket. As an added bonus, I also scored numerous free meals.
This old truck also greatly improved my success with the ladies, believe it or not. Whether it’s the “manly” image that a truck conveys, or the woman’s knowledge that a guy can use that truck to do things for her, I don’t know. Probably both.
On one memorable occasion, a good lady friend of mine asked me to help out a gal friend of hers. This friend I had met once before, and thought she was kind of cute. The friend was half Jewish / half Italian, mid-20’s, a recent transplant from New York. She had a cute face, dark reddish brown hair, and a butt that you couldn’t ignore. This gal was built like a 71-73 Buick Riviera. Her hooded sweatshirt stretched to the breaking point, while her rather generous backside threatened to burst free from its blue denim prison every time she bent over.
Anyways, she had bought a fancy used dinette table and a queen-size art deco metal-framed bed from some funky little secondhand store in Hollywood, and needed to get them back to her newly rented place in Santa Monica. After a quick stop at Del Taco, we headed back to her place and set them up.
Me and this gal were giving each other looks all night, even before we picked up her furniture. After we all sat around yukking it up for a while, my friend said she was working early the next day and needed to go home and get some sleep. I noticed she looked at her friend with a sly grin when she said that. Minutes later, me and furniture gal were alone.
One thing led to another, and I wound up driving home from Santa Monica to Inglewood at 4 A.M. with a smile on my face and a spring in my step. To this day I still thank my lady friend for introducing us. There was also “Jamie”, the former cheerleader and budding adult entertainer that I delivered a refrigerator and ab machine to, but that’s a story for another time 🙂 . I also enjoyed several successful dates in this thing. When one thinks of stereotypical studmobiles, one normally thinks of Porsches, Bimmers, and Jags. Not a faded, oil-burning old pickup with a sagging headliner and a cheap aftermarket seat cover. Who woulda thunk it?
I’ve had many other memorable and amusing moments with this truck as well. Hastily loading up another lady friend’s stuff and whisking it ( and her ) away to her new apartment at the opposite end of town before her drunk loser live-in boyfriend got home from work ( that is when he actually did work, which wasn’t always ). Sitting with two friends on a dark side street in downtown Santa Monica with a cold 12-pack of Rolling Rock on the cab floor and passing a doobie back and forth, stumbling into Hooters restaurant an hour before closing time, completely blitzed. Hauling several hundred pounds’ worth of ancient, rusty scrap metal out of my maternal grandparents’ backyard, not realizing that one of those old lengths of pipe contained a very large wasp nest.
Losing a dresser mirror on the 91 freeway in the middle of rush hour. Being rear-ended by an elderly Eastern European woman who completely demolished the front end of her ’87 Delta 88, but left my truck undamaged. In the end, she cared more about making it to Hollywood Park Casino to gamble than driving home at night without lights. Being cut off by a station wagon and having to slam the brakes while hauling a fully-dressed 454 engine, nearly giving myself a big block Chevy enema. Shredding my right front tire on an improperly secured metal storm drain cover in Home Depot’s parking lot. Leaving Westwood Village and being followed by UCLA campus police almost all the way to Inglewood before being pulled over for my trailer hitch ball partially blocking my license plate ( no ticket, fortunately ). Taking Koby, my 18 year-old tom cat, for his first and last rides in it to the vet just days before he peacefully passed away at home.
I plucked this from Champion Chevrolet’s wholesale used car lot, with 123,000 miles on the clock, for $3500 total out the door. Just like that truck rescued me, I also rescued it. It was a truly symbiotic relationship from the very start. When I first acquired it, it was a lot like me at the time- sort of a mess. I met the previous owner once and he was an interesting fellow. Physically, he resembled a cross between a young Gene Wilder and a young Marty Feldman with wild curly hair, a crossed eye, a slightly spaced out expression on his face, and a noticeable speech impediment. He had traded the Cheyenne in on a brand new, fully-loaded Tahoe. He noticed his old ride sitting in the employee parking lot and asked who bought it. That’s when the service advisor introduced us. He wished me luck and advised me to take better care of it than he had.
In the eight years that I drove this truck daily, it only quit on me three times, all for minor reasons. By this time I had a good-paying city job and was once again living on my own.
The first breakdown was a failed water pump. Due to the noise it was making, I had anticipated this and purchased a new water pump ahead of time. When the old one disintegrated in front of the South Bay Galleria mall, I had the truck towed home, slapped the new water pump on, and was mobile again in a couple of hours- just in time to accept a last-minute invitation to dinner with friends at PF Chang’s in the Valley. Everything went great- except for me requesting a “to go” container for my leftover veggies and then carelessly leaving them behind at our table as we departed 🙁 .
The second hiccup a few years later was equally minor- a failed electronic pickup in the distributor. Thankfully it happened right in front of my apartment building. I pulled three feet away from the curb and the truck just died. I pushed it back into its space and went inside. I had to rent a car to get to work on Tuesday, until a friend and I could figure out what was wrong. That little mishap cost me a date with “Kristie”- yet another female “friend with benefits”. As luck would have it, her ride was also busted. Did I mention that it was a three-day holiday weekend when this happened? Oh well.
The third incident was when I was washing the truck and somehow water got under the hood, getting the distributor cap wet. When I went to pull the cap off to dry it, the cheap and brittle plastic broke in my hand. I was supposed to go pick up my aunt in Altadena and bring her back to my folks’ house for Thanksgiving dinner. My dad had to stop cooking, help me push my lifeless truck out of the driveway and into the street, and go get her himself. He wasn’t too happy about that. After dinner, while my dad was driving my aunt back home, I hopped on the spare mountain bike that I store in their garage and rode it back to my apartment, thankfully a distance of only two or three miles.
The next day I pedaled over to Pep Boys for a new cap and rotor, and then straight to my folks’ house. After finishing the job and scarfing down a generous amount of Thanksgiving leftovers, and having my mom load my arms up with even more leftovers, I headed back home- happy to have both a full stomach and a working vehicle. By 2006, I had picked up a clean, straight 2001 Ford Crown Vic ( civilian model ) to use as my daily driver, so the truck got a bit of a break. It certainly deserved it by that point. In December 2008 I also acquired my Ford F250.
Goldie soldiered on until 2009, when, after 223,000 miles, the little throttle body injected 4.3 decided that it had had enough. It still runs like a top, but burns so much oil that it kills every bug or bird within a mile radius. There was no way it would ever pass a smog check, so I parked it at my parents’ pad where it’s been sitting ever since. Some time last year, I started it up and let it run to charge the battery. Once it was fully warmed up, it smoked so badly that a neighbor freaked out and ran across the street to check on us. She thought that the house was on fire.
I once had big plans for this truck, and started collecting parts to fully resurrect it. Those plans came to a screeching halt when a hefty pay raise, combined with a generous inheritance from my Nana, allowed me to purchase my 2002 Ford F250 Powerstroke, as well as my various other CCs that you’ve seen here. I realized that a half-ton six cylinder just wasn’t going to cut it for the serious towing that I anticipated doing, so the decision was made to park the Chevy and get something beefier. I did make numerous upgrades to the Chevy while I was still driving it, however.
After all the money I’ve already spent, and after all the work I’ve either done myself or had done, I refuse to scrap this truck or part it out. I’ve had this truck listed on Craigslist for over a year now, but still no takers except for folks who want to procure the straight, rust-free sheetmetal from it. That’s not happening- it’s either all or nothing.
I’ve got a line on a good used replacement engine, and if the truck hasn’t sold by then, I’ll throw that engine in and stick the truck on a consignment lot somewhere. Neither the junkman nor some shady “charity” is getting their hands on it. Hell- I’d give it to somebody before I’d feed it to the crusher. This truck deserves a loving home as its final reward for a lifetime of faithful service, and for helping to enrich my life during my ownership of it. Hopefully a new chapter in Goldie’s life will be written, and she can be just as much of a blessing and a life changer for some other honest and hardworking soul as she once was for me.
Here’s to you, Goldie, and thanks for all the memories.
There seems to be no shortage of GM hate being spewed daily on the interwebs. How refreshing to read something positive. A lot of folks ridicule the thousands of old Cavaliers/ Grand Ams and Silverados, that soldier on day, after day. Sometimes life throws some curves. Sometimes a tired old GM may be just the thing to get someone back on their feet.
I’m glad life is treating you better these days Chris. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
These were indeed great trucks. As somebody who’s gone through more than a few lean times with the help of a GMT400 or two, I can certainly relate.
Too bad I’m not in the rust-free southwest, else I’d probably still have mine, and be well into its third time around the odometer!
Sell it in Nevada after driving to Las Vegas, no emissions testing in most of the state. Great story and glad you are doing well.
That Italian lady sounds divine.
Some vehicles take on a persona of their own, and Goldie is no exception. Like a trusted old friend, she helped you through a rough patch in your life, and now that it’s time for her to move on, you’re repaying her by fixing her up and making sure she goes to a good home. I think she’s got more miles to cover and lives to share before her story is through.
And no, they do not have a fully boxed frame, most around here are sagging between the box and cab, Junk, total junk.
I did make a slight technical error when I stated that the frame was fully boxed. The front section IS fully boxed, just not the rear. Still stronger than their predecessor. These trucks are far from perfect, but they get the job done.
So- who pissed in YOUR Cherrios this morning? Geez. You must be a real blast at parties… NOT!
no they are not sagging at the frame. here in the rust belt part of the country the back cab bushings fall through the rusted out hole in the cab mount frame and it settles on the frame, these trucks are not perfect but their not junk either. get your facts straight.
No big deal on the minor error on the frame. I think the point was that the previous generation was not boxed at all and the GMT400 was a better design than the previous generation.
Around here the sagging cab is almost always cab mounts, but I have seen some severely rusted broken frames too (but not just on GM trucks). These are usually parked though because they wouldn’t last long on the roads around here without getting pulled off.
As for the trucks being junk, I can tell you I have probably seen more extremely high mileage GMT400’s than all other cars and trucks combined.
My salvation car was a 1989 Bonneville.
My last year of college was really rough on me for a variety of reasons and after graduating I couldn’t get a job. Like most desperate people I moved to Florida. My grandparents graciously petitioned their 55+ community to let me live with them.
My briefly-owned Buick Century had given up on me a few months earlier so I was without a car. I had little savings but I needed a way to get around because the town I was living in had no bus service. I found an old Bonneville that someone wanted to get rid of. The price was low and it was in okay shape although the audio system was completely removed and the tires were worn to the cords. After buying the car, paying to license/register it and putting the finest of Primewell tires on it I had about $150 to my name.
I still couldn’t get hired anywhere. Not fast food, not the mattress store, not janitor work. I remember going to a “career fair” for a single Aldi grocery store that easily had over 300 people in attendance.
I finally got lucky when Wal-Mart hired me to be a seasonal cashier. The store liked me enough that they kept me on as “permanent part-time”. I worked there for two years saving nearly every dime I earned.
I decided I could either go to college again or resign myself to being a retail cashier and living with family for the rest of my life. I took the risk and went back to school. Thankfully this go round was much more successful and I managed to get hired into my field.
Throughout all of this time the Bonneville never let me down in any way. Not having to spend money on repairs or a replacement vehicle was one of the few positive things I had going for me in those years. Ironically after work on the first Friday of my new, much better job the car failed to start on me for the first time ever (a battery cable had become badly corroded). A few months later the battery itself needed replacement. I will own a 3800-powered car until the day I die.
The Pontiac was never popular with the ladies though.
I had to smile. I owe a lot to another GM product, my hand-me-down 1979 Malibu.
It was a struggle to go to college. My father was broke at the time (still is) and could not contribute. My grandparents could, but I got loans and grants and ended up getting the best deal at a school in Tennessee. Quite a haul from where I was living in Massachusetts.
For the first two years I got along all right without a car, relying on friends and boyfriends to shuttle me around. It helped to be on an urban campus too. But when I had an offer to intern across town, I had to get some wheels. That’s how I ended up with my grandparent’s rusty old (in 1996) Malibu, which had served them and college students in two families for years.
I had to pick it up in northern Virginia and it was a nervous drive back to Nashville. My friend April volunteered to come with me. She loves cars and at the time had a Seville bustleback – perfect vehicle for a fledgling country singer.
Well, that old tub made it with only slight excitement when we turned the lights on and smoke came out of the dash. I drove it all over Nashville for two years even though I embarrassed to drive it. The burgundy paint had faded to a dark brown and the carb was balky. It started having issues, like brakes and exhaust hangers crapping out. The death knell was reverse. It would take a while…and then it wouldn’t do it at all.
What memories that car held…I remember riding in it with my grandparents as a 5 year old in Manassas, then being so excited to see it coming down the street when they came to visit us in Tennessee. Then it carted around all my college friends, made airport runs and took me to my first TV job, where I so nervous I almost threw up in it.
But memories mean very little to a 22 year old. Instead of doing the bright thing and getting it fixed (or just flushed) I bought a car I could ill afford and hated. The Malibu sold within a few hours of the sale sign being pasted on the window.
I’d love to have another one someday.
+1 to ’79 Malibu memories. I also owned one originally purchased by my grandparents, then was the family car for my entire childhood, then passed to me at 16 (also in 1996). Mine gave me five good years of service, then a broken timing chain on January 2, 2001 was the end of the road. For 13+ years now it’s been waiting for me to get to a point in my life where I have the space, the time, and the resources…soon. I hope, soon. It deserves to see the road again.
And as to Chris and “Goldie”, it’s good to hear something as simple as an honest, no-frills work truck could help you not only survive financially but also mentally and even to have some fun. I applaud your decision not to let it be parted or scrapped–sounds like it could help someone else as much as it helped you.
Top-notch writing. But the tales remind me of a (supposed) ancient Chinese curse: “May you have an interesting life.”
Just looked it up… it’s “May you live in interesting times.” Close enough.
I very briefly drove a truck similar to this one as part of a chore for my folks. My folks had loaned my mother’s brother an extension ladder and my uncle allowed me to use his truck to bring the ladder back to my folks. As has been stated already, these were pretty good trucks let down by their cheap interiors. (The sad part is that a lot of GM cars and trucks at that time shared these cheap interior plastic parts.)
My partiality for Ford products would have me gravitating to an F series truck (much nicer interior, for starters) but my rational mind says that these Chevy/GMC trucks are (probably? ) the better truck overall.
GM has always been a hit and miss kind of operation and sadly the misses have outnumbered the hits by a fair margin. My “saviour” car was a 1989 Cutlass Ciera, which served me well for over a year when I returned from Asia. It looked terrible but had a perfect interior and drove really well. It even had Michelin tires. The 3.3 litre V-6 was corn-cob rough but made fantastic GM-like low end torque. I paid $700 for it, and I had to do the front brakes, which I did on the side of the road, one side at a time! Rotors, pads and exchange calipers were all of like $100 for it. I got my then five year old son to pump the brake pedal for me to bleed the system, which was great fun for him. I sold it for $700 after a year. It had the best instrument cluster I have ever seen to this day, and the a/c blew ice cold.
The GM trucks were pretty good at the time, too, since they had the volume to put some quality into them. A friend of mine is still driving his 1988 Chevrolet 1500 with 4.3 V-6, which he bought many years ago. A simple, low-tech affair.
Sometime either just before or just after I bought Goldie, a friend’s mom bought a ’96 or ’97 Chevy 2500 series ( 3/4 ton ) . Extended cab, long bed with the 7.4 liter big-block gas engine and the deluxe towing package. It’s the base trim Cheyenne model, plain white with the mouse grey plastic / vinyl / rubber interior and single sealed-beam headlights mounted in a W/T style grille. A bargain-basement fleet special.
According to my friend, it languished unsold on the dealer’s lot for over a year before his mom scooped it up. She originally wanted something a little fancier, but the sales manager and general manager gave her such a screamin’ deal that she couldn’t pass it up. In the end, she got that truck at or just barely above dealer cost.
She bought it with the intention of taking long road trips all over the country once she retired from a long career in nursing. She strapped a huge, fully-loaded Lance camper to the back and bought two extra spare tires and rims, mounted to the camper’s roof. For that sort of duty she would have been better off with a dually, but whatever.
She used it only a handful of times before parking it. Once she retired, her travels took her around the world rather than around the country. My friend, who lives at home and can’t work due to a medical condition, couldn’t really do anything with it. Last I heard from another mutual friend, the truck and camper are just sitting there slowly deteriorating in her front driveway. She refuses to split the truck and camper- buyer must take all.
Interesting story and well written.
I had a 91 S10 that had this same power train. I think it will run forever. My SIL couldn’t kill it by running it low on oil and water. It put my Granddaughter through school. She and her mom drove it to Florida and she has been driving it there for about a year now.
I do think that GM fouled their nest when they went electronic on the transmission a couple years later. YMMV but the 95 Olds Bravada I tried next was a miserable experience. As much as I like the Toyota I’m driving now I can’t help but wish I had just cosigned for her to buy another car and kept that truck. Sometimes you don’t appreciate what you have till it’s gone.
I found myself being more popular and having more friends after buying my 70 C10 in 1976. Guess that’s why it’s called a ‘pick up’ truck. And there were experiences that developed into more intimate friendships that started out as a friendly favor. A lot of memories went away when I finally sold her in 2006, still running well if getting pretty tired. I stared at her as she drove down the street and disappeared into a little dot fading away into the sunset. The brand new truck I bought in late 2004 is better in every way, but I still think about and miss the old girl from time to time. Good read, nice write up. Can’t go wrong with an old Chevy pickup.
Great story and good old truck. I still think that these GMT400’s are the best modern trucks to date. They were sized just right, had awesome visibility, the TBI engines had great low-end grunt and were reliable, but simple and easy to fix. I also agree the cabs on these trucks were very roomy compared to the competition, especially for leg room. The 1987-96 Fords just weren’t in the same league for overall refinement in my opinion. It also seems these trucks are capable of racking up huge amount of miles on them, and at least around here they are much more common than the Ford and Dodge of the same era.
I sold my old C1500 a couple of years ago after many reliable years of service, but I still miss it. The old 350 TBI may not have had much top end power, but it was still rock stead reliable after 240K miles. Even the old 4L60E and 8.5 rear end were original and still surviving. My new truck has almost double the power, way better brakes, and is overall a much better driving vehicle. But I still miss that simple old truck…
I bought a new one almost exactly like “Goldie” (but white) in 1993. Even in sub-Cheyenne Work Truck trim, it seemed far more refined than the F-150. I was sorry I sold it, because it was such an honest and mostly trouble-free vehicle. The gray plastic grille and sealed beam lights further illustrate the simple, straightforward honesty of these low-trim GM trucks.
So is this the real reason so many people drive pickup trucks? Am I missing out??
Nice write up on your faithful “companion”. These were great trucks from the very first ’88 all the way up to the final one in ’99. I wouldn’t trade my ’97 K1500 Silverado extended cab for any other truck on the road. Well yes I would, for another identical ’97 without rust lol. Counting mine, we’ve had a total of 13 of these in the family over the years (mine being “lucky” #13 and the only one remaining – the rest have been either wrecked or sold) Mine had the DexCool-induced intake gasket meltdown 4 years ago but I felt it was worth fixing.
I bought it 5 years ago – the day after Thanksgiving 2009. Best Black Friday shopping I’ve ever done! 165,8xx miles & still runs like new.
You cannot go wrong with a simple honest to god work pickup truck and yes you are correct, it seems like the GM trucks during that time packed in more room in the single cab then other truck makers. With the early 1990’s FG150 single cab it felt like my head was up against the back window no matter how far up the seat was. The GM truck by contrast seemed to have an airy feel to it.
The 4.3l was a great engine. I had a 4.3 in my GMC S-15 Jimmy(aka the small Jimmy) and it hauled. I only had to use the 4 wheel drive 4 or 5 times
Yep ;
Out standing trucks in every way , we had a fleet full of them and they took it all in stride and begged for more .
I nearly bought one as So. Cal. is littered with these in V6 W/ AOD , well equipped Fleet specials ~ ice cold AC , CD player , 60/40 seat , rubber floor mat , usually about $1,500 with 150,000 miles , never wrecked , mostly white , good color for the Desert here .
Instead of course , I bought an older junky fleet special Chevy 1/2 tonner with NO AC =8-( .
All the stories written here are very good , one must be careful when buying a pickup as some will assume you’re always ready to haul things for free and worse , they’ll thrown things into the bed , denting it….
Any Woman who judges your chances of getting laid , by the vehicle you drive, needs kicking to the curb post haste no matter how cute she is .
-Nate
My dad had a 91 or 92 chevy Silverado. I was 12 at the time and remember how much I loved the sound of that large 350 when he’d get home from work. But a long commute ended up forcing us to trade the truck in on a smaller vehicle. ( you guessed it, a subaru.).
Even now I think this model of Chevys holds a special place in my heart. If I had the need and spare parking space I’d pick up a no frills c1500 with the 4.3L engine and drive it around. There are a few still around in St louis and they are mostly in decent shape.
The GMT-400’s were one of the most significant light truck designs of modern times. Perhaps because they are still so ubiquitous today it is easy to forget how advanced they were in the spring of 1987 when they were first introduced. Flush mounted glass, welded and riveted tapered rail modular frames with boxed front sections, IFS on 4X4 models, advanced electronics (for a truck anyway), and aerodynamic design was not matched by Dodge until 1994 and Ford until 1996. I remember driving these when they first came out and being amazed how good they handled, even the heavy 3/4 and 1 ton models. They also had very few ‘bugs’ throughout their production run (intake manifold gaskets on the ‘Vortec’ EFI engines comes to mind). I think we will be seeing many of these trucks in use for years to come.
I own a 1987 Chevrolet R10- the old square body ones. I used to have a 1989 K2500 Scottdsdale, though.
I think the 80s Chevrolet trucks were the best ever built by anyone. My 1987 has had a very had life until recently (abandoned for 8 years), and it is still one heck of a truck.
I’ve owned two Ford trucks (1995, 1997), and one Dodge (1992), and the Chevrolets were far and away the best.
Having driven both the square body and the GMT 400, the 400 was a huge change. To be honest, I don’t see an issue with the square body. They were both very reliable trucks.
I’ve never used a 4.3L, my Chevrolets have had a 305 in the 87 and a 350 in the 89. But, I’ve heard that they’re a very good engine.
I hope Goldie finds a good home. She’s been a good truck for you. She’ll be a good truck for the next owner, too.
I’m way late to this post, but I have to say we had these at work and I fondly remember them. The first was an ’89 2500 with the 4.3 and auto, which I used on and off at work for years. The second was a ’95 2500 (with the 7500lb GVWR) with a 350. These were great trucks, and were far more advanced than any other truck I’d driven before. I can’t believe JB at TTAC thinks early-mid ’90s Fords were more refined than these. Unlike today’s trucks, reaching over the bed rails was no problem even on the husky ’95. The weak spots were intake manifold gaskets, and the door hinge detent mechanism on the earlier models. I’ve never particularly cared for any truck I’ve used since. Reliable, easy to live with while not trying to make an image statement, I can see why this truck is your friend. They hauled, they towed, they did it all without complaint for many years.
I’m no fan of GM due my personal vehicle experiences, but this truck they got right.
About six months ago I bought a 1992 Chevy C1500. It’s optioned very odd. . . . It’s an extended cab, short box truck with the 262 V6 (4.3 litre for you metric folks), a five speed manual transmission ( the main selling point to me was the third pedal!) . So , we have the lowest tier engine with the second lowest tier transmission, but here’s the kicker: the truck was ordered with the Silverado trim ! Premium cloth interior, carpeting, AM/FM/Cassette deck, electric windows, electric locks, cruise control, delay wipers,footwell courtesy lamps, and two-tone paint. Who orders a “Cowboy Cadillac” with a V6 and a stick ?!
Anyhow, she has 217,122 miles on her at the time of this posting, and I got her for the princely sum of $300 ! The previous owner had just gotten a Dakota and was going to crush the Chev, but I swooped in and rescued her. She makes an oil cloud when you start her up, and the shock absorbers need replaced all the way around, but she DID have brand new tires on her. I like to think that I bought $300 worth of tires and that they came with a free truck attached ! Everyone keeps telling me to pull the 262 and drop a 350 in there, but I’m kinda different and actually want to build up the V6. It’s too bad that speed parts for these engines are prohibitively priced.
Good trucks, and maybe even future classics, they’re simple, reliable, and cheap to own, and in my opinion look pretty good. I got my hands on my dad’s old 94 1500 chevy when I got my licence, and have been driving it for a year now. I’ve replaced alot of things, fixing the rust, and kept it clean. 273 thousand miles and it takes me to college everyday. I’m thinking this is a future restore project for me haha. I love this old truck. Thanks for the story. Hopefully goldie went to a good home.
Great read, thank you. I love my 1995 Suburban with the 5.7 TBI. I’ve owned two Vortec 5.7 trucks (98 Silverado, 96 Yukon) but they both had problems with the intake gaskets. While they started quicker and definitely had more power, the TBI engines are just so simple and durable. I am aiming for 200k or maybe 300k on my burb (currently has 175k all original drivetrain minus the water pump and starter)…
I recently financed a low mileage 2007 Colorado but it’s a horrible little piece of junk and the old suburban drives better. I’m in the process of saving up for a later model square body (I want an 87 with TBI – I hate carburetors) because except for the carburetor my all time favorite truck I owned was a $700 1983 c20 I dragged out of a field after 15 years, changed the oil, and got it running and drove for a few months with no other major work. Once I get the square body truck I will get rid of the crappy Colorado, daily drive the suburban, and have the square as a backup if the burb’s 4L60E takes a dump.