Commentator chas108 left a link from a 1969 Chevy Truck brochure on the Upside Down Headlight post, and Shazzamm! instant time warp: I remember that very picture! and all the rest in that and so many other truck brochures. And I’d pore over them, trying to figure out why Chevy made a 366 inch version of their big block engine for trucks only, and how it was that the mighty 427 could be equally successful in a Corvette as well as in a big truck. The mysteries of life, and no one to answer them properly.
Can’t say I ever bothered with truck brochures as a kid. The reason for the 366 was to have a sort of competitive mid 300 truck V8 the small block is just too wimpy for MD truck use and lacks the longevity in those applications. The big blocks aren’t that long lasting either in a MD application though so the 366 still could hold a candle to a FE or 385 series Ford nor an IH SV.
I was always into 50s and 60s Truck brochures. The language used to sell the product always intrigued me.
I did, I always liked brochures about vehicles or machines that were not for “civilian” use, Police Car brochures were cool too, they had all that extra info about all the police spec equipment, “certified speedometers” and “single fleet key” options seemed so cool.
The 366 cid big block was made so that it could be bored again when the engine was overhauled, a big block with that displacement has so much extra meat in the block that you could machine it again and again.
Not really when they “de-bore” an engine they adjust the coolant passages as well make the cyl wall too thick and the heat transfer, something that is especially important in a truck engine that spends much of its timing making at or near it’s rated power, suffers greatly.
The 366 can be bored .125 over. And still be used for it’s intended purpose. Like in a Dump Truck. That’s all.
Now it’s really not worth a second look unless someone gives you one for free.
Exactly, I remember seeing some of those 60’s vintage 366’s in use until the 90’s.
They offered them into the mid 90s later ones were even injected. Most likely TBI but still. I remember peeking under the hood of at least 1 that had “INVADER 366” on the valve cover at a
junkyardvehicle recycling yard.I miss the cool names they used to give engines.
Yup. `Ecotec’ can Kiss my Arse. Gimme an INVADER!
Exactly! Give me a Plymouth Fury with a Golden Commando or D100 with a Power Giant!
I read them sometimes. I always wondered if the LoadFlite transmissions in Dodge pickups and vans was different from the TorqueFlite in cars.
One of these times I am going to go on an expedition into my basement and find the collection of car (and some truck) brochures that I started collecting in the early 1970s The recent brochure shot of the 73 Imperial coupe took me back to my early teen years and a brochure that I read over and over.
It was pretty much the same A-727 in police cars and probably Imperials and the like. The dashboard lever shifter for the LoadFlite was kind of cool.
Not so much the truck brochures but read (studied really) car brochures quite a lot.
Guilty as charged, Paul.
Yes I read car and truck brochures as a kid…especially Chevy. Plastered my bedroom wall with Chevy ads from Look/Life/Post magazines too.
Also I read car magazines such as Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Car Life and especially Hot Rod. Had subscriptions to all of them, but no, I didn’t go tearing ads out of my car books.
After I graduated high school and moved out on my own 500 miles away, my parents lost the farmhouse we’d lived in and had to downsize quickly to move into a mobile home. All the car books and brochures were destroyed without my knowledge, and being 500 miles away there was little I could have done without enough notice.
I re-subscribed to Hot Rod in 1984 or so…about the time I joined what is now Eckler’s Classic Chevy. Every one of those mags is still around, safely in storage in the attic…along with w/a few Chevy brochures and other promotional items.
13 years ago, Three Rivers Stadium played host to the George Strait Country Music Festival – the last concert held in that venue before its 2001 demolition. The radio station for which I work presented the show. Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, The Dixie Chicks, JoDee Messina…and the main sponsor was Chevy Trucks. I received permission to scarf two 8′ plastic “Chevy Trucks” banners and one 16′ fabric banner (identical to the plastic ones) from the festival…all still present and accounted for.
I thought you had to prove you had read them all before you were allowed to pass through puberty. At least, thats how I remember it.
Absolutely, I loved looking at all the obscure options you get like front PTOs, wet wheel seals and 6 different rear suspensions. I may still have a mid 70s Chevy Astro 95 brochure somewhere, alongside my 1985 Ford Louisville catalog and several Ford Transit brochures.
The Astro/Titan series is one of my all time favorite heavy trucks. Drafted by Larry Shinoda no less!
I loved going to the dealer and getting literature for all makes and models. My family mainly bought Fords so that is most of what I have.
I love commercial vehicle brochures! Where else can you find prose gushing on about something called a “P-cutaway chassis?”
Can’t say I’ve read or even encounter any truck brochures ever in my life. It must be quite an interesting marketing lessons to see how they’re put up differently compared to car brochures, or at least I’m assuming they were, as brochures are sales tools, mainly, and commercial truck buyers are probably different than car buyers in things that appeals to them, etc. Perhaps you could enlighten us who never had the opportunity with future article?
Here’s a place to spend a couple of lifetimes catching up: http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/GM%20Trucks%20and%20Vans/dirindex.html
That’s just for GM; others are there somewhere too.
That place is a time sucker!
I found a Broughamized GMC pickup there. I knew about the Gentleman Jim pickup but Beau James? With Olds wire wheel covers? Really? All it’s missing is a vinyl top. Technically, it did if you consider the factory vinyl tonneau cover with a zipper down the middle.. I guess it did have a vinyl top..
These were cool, there was a brief period there in the 70’s where GMC was coming up with special edition packages for their trucks, trying to build an image as the upscale GM truck brand.
Ever seen a GMC Desert Fox?
Can’t say that I have. Yet.. I’m probably going to have to look that one up.
I started collecting brochures when I was eight, so that was early 1984. Cars, trucks, vans, I loved them all! For a number of years after that my dad would take me around to different dealers and let me have at it at the brochure racks while he would pretend to be thinking about a new car. I still have all of them, including all the stuff I collected from NAIAS over the years. I was telling my mom not too long ago that after I’m dead and gone, two of my friends could go through them and take what they want, after that, I don’t know what would happen to them…
I had a big collection of car and truck literature when I was a kid. When I moved out I kept the car brochures and my brother got the truck stuff. After he moved out my mother threw them away…without asking either of us. I had a fairly extensive assortment of medium and heavy duty truck stuff besides the usual Ford and Chevy pickup brochures. Fascinating reading…Kenworth, in particular, wasn’t big on brochures, but I had several photos of trucks in use, including one with a huge open dump box hauling sugar cane out of a field in Hawaii.
I used to read old IH truck & tractor brochures when I visited my grandparents’ farm on school holidays (say 6-7yo), probably the only reason why I would ever own an IH Scout.
That 1969 Chevy truck brochure really brings back memories. One of my most cherished bits of literature as a kid was the 1969 Chevy price book. It had every passenger car and light truck model and option. The oddest thing I remember was that you could get a three cylinder Detroit Diesel engine in a Step Van.
The 366 and 427 MD truck motors are a little different from any other Chevy big-block. They are a tall-deck engine, with the distance from the crankshaft centerline to the cylinder deck surface .40″ longer than a standard passenger and light truck big-block engine. This allowed for a slightly taller piston with a four ring design, three compression and one oil ring. The 366 and 427 were designed for low-speed use, making all their power under 3000 RPM. If you’ve ever driven one, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Contrary to popular belief, the 454 was NEVER offered in the medium duty truck line.