There’s not a lot to say here. Or perhaps there is. If these trucks were people the one on the left would probably just get on with it. The one on the right would perhaps talk a lot. Maybe they’d talk to each other. Or maybe they’d just talk past each other. One probably does some work. The other perhaps does as well. Which one actually does more? They did both come from the same house, both literally as well as metaphorically so they have that in common despite the several generations between them. 
I (like most readers) probably instinctively prefer the 1971 (or 1972?) GMC 1500 Custom, although here in Colorado it’s probably useless when it snows. Then again, last year was our least snowy winter in memory, probably in part due to these two trucks (and other stuff too).
The Chevy Silverado is a 2500 series, so there is yet another step up the ladder that’s possible there. It’s quite capable too, I actually reviewed a very similar one right here at CC a few years back. Most notable was probably that GM forgot to put badging on one side of it. Doh! It was comfortable if not exactly a looker.
The only truck towing a trailer though is the Toyota parked around the corner… Never mind that, which of these two would you prefer?
If the GMC were stock, it would be no contest. No interest in the Silverado at all – I’m still driving my now-five-year-old RAM Classic and plan to keep it quite a while.
Pic is of my former RAM 2500 and my Dad’s (former, as he passed in 2018) Ranger.
That Silverado pickup looks like a cartoon. I like the GMC better.
It’s got a face only a Mother could love!
Quite extreme for a full size truck comparison. The 3/4 ton 8ft bed version would be longer, and sitting a good bit higher than this lowered example, but I think still be dwarfed by the new one. I prefer the old one, but the new is no doubt very capable and comfortable
The newer dinosaur looks like it ate then coughed up the older one here, leaving it slightly chewed and lowered, but I prefer a ’71 F-series anyway. The front styling of the GM’s has always looked a bit like a cheap die-cast toy to me, and somehow over-large for the vehicle.
The choice between these vehicles would be determined by psychological needs not by actual utility needs.
I disagree. The choice depends on the anticipated use of the vehicle.The older truck is probably limited to being a hobby vehicle, but it could still offer quite a bit of functional use. The new truck, as a 3/4 ton, is someone’s everyday working truck. perfect for handling bigger loads, more passengers, and towing bigger trailers. The new truck is useful and comfortable, but I agree that the styling gives it a more massive appearance that is more polarizing. I’ll stick with my ’07 F150 long bed, it’s been a great truck.
Ironically, bed size is the same. Functional utility for cargo is essentially identical. In fact, the tailgate opening is wider on the older truck.
That picture just reinforces what I just saw on my 4,300 mile (round trip) drive on vacation. The truck makers are pushing this macho image that huge is great and better than the other huge truck. And the people buying them (mostly) are NOT using them for the real intended purposes. These have become “personal” use vehicles that are being made and sold to make the driver feel powerful and in charge. It’s insane and why climate change is real.
I fully support the ranchers, farmers, construction workers, landscapers and others who truly need (and use) these huge trucks for their work. But as my 4,300 mile trip just showed me, we have WAY too many wanna-be guys and women driving these things for fun or to Wal Mart parking lots.
Whenever you hear a young man complaining about the taxes he pays, dollars to donuts he’s massively under water on his truck loan.
Boy, you got that right!!! And how much of that “under water” is caused by the massive “upgrades” he made to his truck? You know, those over-sized tired. 6″ lift. Expensive exhaust. Side steps. Box mounted (waste of space) roll bar with huge lights on it. And the list goes on.
These dealers are making a fortune on these goobs that just have to have a bigger truck than the next guy. And then there’s the gas/diesel. That alone would be a full car payment for most of us.
id care to argue with that argument. HA!
Owe roughly 2 years worth of rent on my mortgage and owe 4K on a 2013 Chrysler 300 with 70K on it, purchased last year out of necessity when my kid wrecked his first car and i had to do some vehicular juggling. My truck is a paid for 75 Chevy C20. My tow rig is a Paid for C2500 95 Suburban. The wife drives the “nicest” car we have… well, newest, i wouldn’t call it the nicest because its a FWD hunk of uncomfortable crap. but it gets 45mpg so there is that.
Believe you me i absolutely bitch about the insane cost of taxes and fees coupled with lack of basic services here in the Peoples’ Republic of Illinois. Soon i too will be leaving for much greener pastures, last one out hit the lights would ya? While ya are at it would someone build a cage around Chicago to keep the cancer from spreading? thanks! Oh and i bitch about 4 dollar a gallon gas from overgrown ommpa loompa’s wars of choice too before you decide to paint me a certain way….
Some people absolutely use the new trucks as an overgrown sedan, and catering to them the reason i hated my 2014 Ram 1500. It was a standard cab Long Bed, 5.7 V8 and towing Package equipped and it was a HUNK OF CRAP! Sure it had power, and brakes, but the chassis could NOT handle a load AT ALL! they had the suspension tuned so soft for the soccer moms that a simple load of firewood took half the steering away. it was downright scarry with a trailer above 55 mph.
BUT LETS NOT FORGET that it was the EPA regs that caused this. (passed by Obama no less) they penalized truck makers of inefficient small trucks by throwing them into basically the same cafe bracket as cars. They made brackets of sizes that cafe was calculated off of and no surprise, all the new trucks are maxed out on the size to keep them in bracket with the smallest CAFE goals. The same EPA Rewrite killed the family sedan by the same methods. market forces played a roll for sure, but so did regulations dictating the market and where R&D money goes.
How many times have you seen passengers in the cabs of these vehicles? Other than a probable annual visit by passengers, the other truck, with an eight foot bed, would match the carrying capacity, by volume, of what is now the typical pickup truck. And even restored to standard height, a much shorter lift to the bed. All this is conditioned upon the owner/driver of the small one not feeling anxious and inferior because he does not have a mano-truck.
Around here the 71 holds one or two guys or gals in the cab, and a bunch of lawn mowers or carpenter tools in the bed. The four-door sea monster holds one man in a suit on his way to a white-collar job, and the bed has never been touched.
What the photo illustrates is that full size trucks have gotten needlessly Large over the years! It’s not exactly apples to apples though, the C-10 looks like it may be slammed, but a K-20 would still appear smaller even with its solid axles and leaf springs all round producing a much higher ride height and an 8FT bed.
Light trucks -should- be ordered / bought for their intended use, this apple cart has been upset by making YUUGE pickups “cool” .
As a farm boy I learned early on to never get / buy more than you need .
The blue / white truck looks nice but won’t be doing any serious work lowered like that .
-Nate
Passed a Square Body Chevrolet, in red, older driver and probably original owner on the freeway today Late 70’s to early 80’s. Nice. Then on a local street a big black F-350 4 wheeler pulled up next to me. Early 30’s driver with a pristine undercarriage. Bed at my face level which is 5’10”. Massive tires. I doubt it is used for work or out in the dirt. This, to me, was the classic attitude truck seen all over where I am from high schools on up.
Which would I choose? Of a Chevy! Well, OK, the 71 as the other truck is just too darn ugly in the front for me.
I have a similar juxtaposition in my neighborhood. A lifted Ford Super Duty parked next to an early 70s F100 and at first I thought the F100 was a first generation Ranger.
A lot of my neighbors have children so the back seats of their crew cabs often contain kids. I have an extended cab myself and very rarely have passengers but use it for luggage or groceries. On the other hand I use the 8′ bed a lot
Some people are apparently willing to sacrifice function for style since I see lifted trucks at job sites all the time
I guess I’m one of the rare ones that prefers the GMC grille to the Chevy grille on that era trucks. As far as which one I’d rather have the reality is neither as the big one isn’t big enough with only the 6.5″ bed as I want an 8′ bed on a 3/4 ton. I don’t mind the 6.5′ bed on the 1/2 ton but it being lowered so significantly does limit the usefulness as a truck and I do engage 4wd in my trucks regularly.. In the looks dept I definitely prefer the GMC, but the Chevy is one that would at least fulfill more of my reasons for owning a pickup.
I wonder how the cab of the current pick-up would look compared to the cab of the medium-duty trucks of the 1970s and 1980s like the Chevrolet C-60, Ford F-700, International Loadstar 1700 and Dodge D600?
I’m driving a 25 year old F-150 XL and love it, so I’m partial to the 1971 GM product.
I won’t knock the ginormous truck however. It’s not for us to judge other’s purchases. We don’t know why they chose it, or the color, or the brand. I’m tired of strangers judging people based solely on their own personal preferences. It’s childish.
Just pick what you’d want. We don’t need to hear your carping about the other. Here at CC, we’ve learned to love every vehicle based upon its own merits.
I dunno. I just read all the comments and as I understand it, maybe one can “have their own preferences”, as long as their preference is to NOT to by a truck UNLESS you work on a “jobsite/farmer/rancher etc”.
And if you DO have a truck, the bed MUST be scratched up & dirty.
Also, if you own a truck with 4 doors, you are NOT allowed to drive by yourself.
(Kinda half kidding). 🙂
I agree, do we really need a “truck use” police?
The 72% increase in pedestrian deaths from 2009 to 2024 is a small price to pay for all of the wonderful attributes of these monster trucks.
I suppose the size thing makes sense when you consider that GM could sell the old truck for the price of an inexpensive Chevelle, but can sell the new truck for the price of an inexpensive house.