Wow, two tone and full wheelcovers! Showoff.
Every time I see a $60,000 Suburban hauling kids (which is about twenty times a day), I think of the Suburban of my youth.
We had a 1975 Suburban we bought new. My sister wasn’t born quite yet, and I was only 5. But I remember going to the dealer’s back lot and finding it with my dad, like it was yesterday.
They got a call that it had arrived, so we went to find it. It had been special ordered, and even as a small kid I recall thinking it was kinda oddly equipped. Three on the tree, AM radio, plaid vinyl bench seats (blue, though, not the green in the catalog), rubber floor instead of carpet, BUT power locks, front and rear A/C, and metallic charcoal silver paint.
I didn’t know anything about the engine; Dad recalls it was a 350 4 barrel. I DO recall the “way back” cargo area being dark blue painted metal, no carpet or other frippery anywhere! There was not a third row seat, so the cargo area seemed to go on forever to a five year old. It did have the “Rally wheels” shown here in a later catalog, but no whitewalls.
One of the most indelible memories of my youth involve the Suburban. My dad had to take a business trip to New Mexico. What better way to go, than to drive from the East Coast to New Mexico with a one year old, a six year old, and the dog? Yep, that’s what they did in November, 1976.
Here we all are about that time, me, Freddie the dog, and my sister. My parents put that crib in the back of the Suburban. We had the back seat folded down, and Freddie had a big dog crate. I had my dad’s heavy Army sleeping bag rolled out, not so much for sleeping but as my play mat. Seat belts? Who needs ’em! The Suburban just had lap belts anyway, even in the front seat.
We stopped at Carlsbad Caverns, which was a lot of fun. I keep thinking I’m going to make it back there, but it hasn’t happened yet.
And it snowed! Needless to say, we didn’t pack expecting to see snow in New Mexico. So we spent a lot of time in the motel room. Those sure are some groovy drapes.
My sister and I both got sick on this trip, a terrible stomach bug. The plaid vinyl seats and rubber floor really were a lifesaver. Just barf anywhere, kids, it’ll hose right out. Try that in your new Escalade!
Yes, it was a simpler time for sure. I was just glad to be back home, mowing the yard at age 6 or so. No safety shut off handle for the mower, of course. With no seat belts, air bags, or ABS anywhere around you, the mower was the least of the threats to your safety.
Heck, I still remember the TAG on this Suburban: JDV-292. How’s that for leaving an impression on a young mind?
I’m a little uncertain about how long we had the Suburban, but I think it was 1983 or so. We had a Volare wagon alongside it until the new 1979 240D. Then, it was the Suburban and the 240D for a while. We sold it to some neighbors who had four kids, the youngest being my age. His older brother drove it to high school, and then my friend drove it all through high school. By the time we graduated in 1988, it was pretty beat up.
The dealership where the Suburban came from, in the 1940’s I’m guessing.
The dealership where we bought it was bulldozed years ago, and moved out to the suburbs where they are still in business. They were an old-time downtown dealership, on three corners of an intersection: this showroom and new cars on one corner, used cars on another corner, and trucks on the third corner. Sears was on the fourth corner. Sears was bulldozed for an office building when I was in high school, which has since been bulldozed for midrise condos. Geez, this is making me feel old.
A new basic Suburban like the ’75 would be kinda fun, but no such luck. The cheapest 2018 Suburban is over $51,000 and has carpet and cloth seats. Though you can still get a front bench! They’ll even credit you back $250.00 for rejecting the front buckets.
My brother had a 1986 Suburban. By the time he owned it, it could be started without a key, the speedometer was dead, and the rear window mechanism had been long since dead. But it would always start, and it would always get you where you needed to go. He ran the thing into the ground doing odd jobs for some cash and towing his other vehicles around when they wouldn’t start. It was an incredibly capable machine. After seeing how he used his, I always felt as though the later models were too soft, and looked too fragile to be genuinely used as both a family car and a work truck. Looking at the modern Suburban, I guess I can reasonably conclude that nobody is using these things as work trucks anymore. That’s a shame. There was a certain utilitarian appeal to this generation of Suburban.
My sister and her family lived in Oklahoma for a few years. Before that, they had lived in Pennsylvania and Maryland and their cars reflected that. One the East Coast they’d had a Saab and a Plymouth K-car, after a year or two in Oklahoma, they had a Suburban and a Pontiac (IIRC). One summer she came home to Ohio with the family in this maxed out Cowboy Limousine.
This thing was loaded up with all of the toys. Power everything, 454 & autobox, dual a/c, 4WD and maybe even a sunroof. It was like riding in an aircraft carrier, but a very smooth one. Up until that time the biggest car I’d driven was a 1969 Cadillac Sedan DeVille, I’m not sure, but I think the ‘Burban was bigger.
It wasn’t too long that her husband’s job (he was a computer analyst) brought them back to the East Coast, but this time in Virginia. After a while, they shed their Okie cars; he got a 1986 Alfa Romeo GTV6 and I think my sister was driving another Saab.
FWIW, I wish I could buy a van or a truck like the one the OPs father purchased. I love my minivan, but detest that it has silver carpeting everywhere. It got dirty and stained and now it looks terrible. I know the Oldsmobile was supposed to be an upmarket vehicle, but it’s a VAN! People are going to put dirty, dusty, stuff in it from time to time. Why not be practical? Ugh.
Mmmmm…. Alfa GTV6…. If you tell me it was black it will put me over the edge.
My Metris is like this- 7 seats, plenty of cargo storage, plastic floor, decent tow rating. My wife and I hate children, though.
Nice story of childhood memories. I don’t have a connection to a Suburban but I see a Samsonite and an American Tourister. I am still using an American Tourister in that blue color today. My wife’s Samsonite got destroyed on its first trip.
The reason your suitcase lasted longer than your wife’s Samsonite: American Tourister used the gorilla test!
Alas, as you probably know, both brands are now owned by Samsonite International, as well as Hartmann, Tumi, and a few others. It’s also no longer an American company, but at least it’s still around!
Great story, well recounted! In the 1980’s GM introduced their venerable 6.2 Liter Diesel. The GMC/Chevy Suburban so equipped, when running in two-wheel drive mode achieved 30 MPG! Now, how’s that for economy with a vehicle weighing easily 5100 pounds? Sp, what did GM do? They dropped the engine and never put a Diesel into their suburbans after that time
Wow, my 2011 2500 4×4 Suburban gets 11 mpg pretty much all the time. I’ve said for years that i want to send it to this guy in Florida that puts Duramax diesels in them and have it converted.
They claimed 30 mpg but it was really 23mpg. I suppose I could have gotten 30 at a steady 55 with the windows shut and no a/c running, but this was when the speed limit was 65. My 1984 6.2 Suburban was equipped pretty much identically to the one in this story except for the diesel and the o/d equipped leaky tranny. I always kept 2 bottles of Dextron handy.
30mpg, with a tail wind and going downhill. 🙂
Seriously, we had friends with one of these Suburbans with the 6.2, and theirs got around 20.
Realistically, diesels got about a 30-35% better mileage than a gas engine, in the same vehicle.
While the 6.2L diesel had a better track record than the 6.5 that followed, I’d hardly call it venerable. I think the only people who may have considered it such were the diesel techs as GM dealers, as they always brought lots of work to the shop. That said, if you got a good 6.2L they did seem to run forever, which was a good thing because they took forever to get anywhere.
Further, a diesel engine was available in the following 92-99 generation as well. The 6.5L Turbos’ had much better performance, but they also had a terrible track record. For my money, I’d rather have a gasser.
For many years, I had a Suburban as a 2nd car/camping vehicle as I was serving as a Scoutmaster at the time. My first one was an incredibly rusty ’79 with the Silverado trim. That allowed for some creature comforts but it was still quite utilitarian. Great car from a mechanical standpoint-dead reliable but by the end was more Bondo than metal and could no longer pass PA inspection. It was like shooting a faithful dog when I traded her in.
I had a brief fling with a Grand Wagoneer which is worthy of a story in itself but traded it on an ’88 Diesel ‘Burban, also with the Silverado trim. You could see the creeping “luxury” but it was still the ’73+ generation so still heavy on utility. I must admit, I was tickled to have ‘economy’ I got, given how thirsty my prior 2 camp mobiles were. The diesel was utterly trouble free and would start quickly in even the coldest of winter weather-no complaints whatever though 0-60 time was nothing to write home about! Unfortunately, western PA salt allowed the tin worm to perform its magic on this one as well and it was time to bid it farewell.
My final Suburban was a ’95 with the ‘Vortec’ 350 gas engine also in Silverado trim. THIS generation no longer felt like a ‘work truck’ with its full deep carpet, dual air, etc. Economy wasn’t horrendous-12 city/15 hwy (18 if you nursed it) but it really didn’t have the charm of the last generation and it was not as robust mechanically. One thing GM did do better on this bunch was corrosion resistance. By ’06 it was still unperforated unlike my previous ones so SOMETHING good came of the design changes.
In the years since I hung up my Scoutmaster patch, I’ve had some smaller SUV’s, a couple Saabs and now drive a DeVille. I miss the old gunboats sometimes and I shudder when I price the newer Suburbans. I’d NEVER take a batch of dirty kids and their gear and go bashing about in the mud, snow, and woods with one of these as I could and did with the old ones.
Our family had a 1975 Suburban, bought used but in good shape, when I got my license in 1981. It was a great vehicle for a young man and his friends, a roving party perfect for those days gone by when the police merely dumped out our beer when they caught us out carousing on a Friday night. Its 350 engine, with a 4 barrel carburetor on top and an automatic transmission on the back, got perhaps 10 miles per gallon when driven conservatively, so we did have to divert some beer money to the gas tank, but it was worth it. With front and rear bench seats and a large cargo area, it was also great for more relaxed, horizontal activities that a young man might not be able to do at home.
It was not a great vehicle by modern standards. The fenders began rusting early, the transmission, never great, slipped for a while before finally giving out, and the rear window mechanism did not work well. My dad allowed me to make some “improvements” such as rebuilding the carburetor and installing a dual exhaust system, and I consider this vehicle to have been the start of my career as an amateur mechanic.
Though I dreamed of using it as a monster truck and took it on what I thought would be epic off-road adventures, it was, in reality a one-wheel drive vehicle, and, especially as the tires wore down, it would get stuck fairly easily in loose sand; its weight made freeing it quite a challenge. It would also get water in its distributor cap and stall out as a result of splashing through large puddles.
The old Suburban gave me a lot of great memories. My priorities and taste in vehicles has changed, so I can’t say that I miss it, but reading the author’s recollections gave me a welcome opportunity to reminisce about the old beast.
Fifteen years ago, I drove around a bunch of young boys in a summer camp in one of these. We beat the hell out of it, bounding up and down dirt roads in the High Sierras of California. I remember that it seemed like so old fashioned, even then. There was tons of real fake wood in the dashboard that looked like it came out of an old yacht. I recall that the steering wheel had tremendous play in it. Driving it was like trying to maneuver in Pole Position, I had joked. But the tape deck worked, and we had some tremendous adventures of fun and sun.
Great story!
It’s funny how we refer to new vehicles being available with “bench seats,” yet they’re nothing like the flat, one-piece affairs in the vehicles of our childhood. Instead, I think they give you a tiny “penalty seat,” wedged between the side bolster of two bucket seats!
10 times out of 10, I would take a 40/20/40 bench seat with two buckets and a flip-down console over a true one-piece bench. The versatility is well worth the tradeoff in center passenger comfort–not that there’s much comfort for the center passenger anyway with the transmission tunnel and cupholders sticking out. How often does one even haul a third (or sixth, in the case of crew cabs) passenger anyway?
And 10 times out of 10, I’d take two buckets and a console.
The center seat seems pretty pointless, and as you pointed out, there’s not much comfort for the center passenger in any configuration.
My opinion towards benches used to be: If it’s a full-width/full-size truck or SUV (78″ wide outside) with comfortable three-across seating in the back, you’d better have a 40/20/40 bench in front too, because otherwise you’re being wasteful.
But after my dad got an F-150 XLT Sport almost entirely for its center console-mounted shifter, my opinion softened. That console is absolutely cavernous–I can stow an entire 17″ laptop in there, no problem. And even better, there’s HVAC ducts to the rear passengers. And like you said, even when we did have the 40/20/40 bench in the ’06 F-150, we didn’t really use that center position much.
Availability also made my position softer by necessity. The only full-size SUV that offers a 40/20/40 front bench anymore (for full 9-passenger seating) is the Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon, and only on the lowest trim level. Pickup trucks, at least, all offer a cloth or leather bench up to the “lowest luxury” trim level (Ford Lariat, Chevy LTZ, Ram Laramie, GMC SLT). I’d still prefer the bench, but I’m not inherently opposed to the console anymore.
The only time I was really happy a friend of mine had chosen bench over console was when 8 of us went bar-hopping in his Mega Cab (with his younger brother DD’ing). 4 in front and 4 in back was quite cramped, but at least no one had to sit on anyone’s lap.
The 1975 Surburban__I had one in the identical colors as the first picture! Mine however, buying it for $150.00, didn’t look quite as nice…
The Sub, as it was known around the shop, had originally belonged to the electrical contractor’s brother that employed me (time frame was around 1986 in Lafayette, Louisiana). The Brother had bought it equipped to tow his big Airstream travel trailer, so 454/T400, dual a/c and presumably, a heavy-duty suspension/brakes towing package. It also was a deluxe trim package, extra foam padding on the seat, full complement of gauges, but still only the 1/2-ton chassis. Seems like it held an enormous amount of gasoline too, maybe 34 or 36 (?) gallons!
At some point, The Brother elected to have its engine rebuilt, and following installation, the mechanics managed to create a small engine fire and melted most of the wiring in the vicinity of the intake manifold and distributor (I can easily picture the sequence of events and ensuing mayhem…).
There was no real damage, certainly none to the paint on the hood or inner fenders, and the shop replaced/rewired it all back to function again. The Brother however, lost his confidence in the vehicle and sold it to my boss.
At Electrical & Pneumatic Services, Inc., it was pressed into service hauling crews, tools and materials to either land-based job sites, or to haul crews and their gear down to the docks that provide support for the offshore (Gulf of Mexico) oil/gas drilling and production operation platforms. For the duration of these latter trips, it could sit at the coastal docks or heli-pad parking lots for weeks at a time, constantly exposed to the salt-laden air__particularly if going out at Cameron, or Morgan City, LA, Sabine Pass, Galvaston, TX, or places further south where the docks are right on the Gulf, unlike Venice, LA or Intracoastal City, which are located further up the Mississippi & Vermilion rivers.
All that was to set the stage for what the cosmetic condition of The Sub was by the time I got it; hey, what did you expect for a Buck-Fifty?!?!
It was no beauty, that’s for sure, with large gaping holes rusted through the roof__though fortunately, no holes immediately over the driver & front seat passenger__and zero gloss left in the faded brown/tan paint, no doubt from being exposed to the salt air while sitting at the docks.
The rebuilt 454 engine only accumulated some 40,000 miles since being overhauled, so it ran plenty good and strong. My point for buying it was to tow my ’57 Austin-Healey to out of town autocross events!
I have quite a number of fond memories with The Sub, but ones that make me laugh the most now, are recalling the number of times I’d be stopped at a light and see/hear a couple guys in a car next to me looking/laughing at the condition of my ride; then the light would change to green and you’d hear the roar that Quadrajet would make as all four (4) barrels opened and I’d jettison that barge-like creature away from the line as if it was shot out of a cannon!
Depending on how nice of a car I’d just blown the doors off of, they’d usually look quite humble when we sat at the next stoplight.
Ultimately, after using it a few years, I traded it for an MGBGT (some dents, zero rust & not running). It was the end of the line for The Sub, but the engine/trans was swapped into a local friend’s derrick truck to live on.
I worked at a place in the 70s that had one, maybe a 77? Same colors you describe and the same blue plaid vinyl seats and rubber mats. They had removed the 2nd seat and used it like a van.
As I recall it was a 305/auto that had an incurable hesitation/surge issue on acceleration. A 4 bbl 350 and a stick would have improved it.
Some in-laws later had one from the mid 80s that was very nicely trimmed out. They bought it used from an older couple in Texas. That one ran for a long, long time.
A three on the tree Suburban in 1975; that was pretty rare by then. But your dad obviously knew what he wanted.
Nice reminiscences.
Nice story, like the time period family snaps.
I assume the silver Suburban in the snowy New Mexico pic is the one in the story. Given that black trim on the side and the blue plaid seats I’d wager it was a bottom of the line Custom Deluxe. Maybe a Scottsdale, if it had a full headliner, but if the ceiling was all bare steel it was for sure the nothing Custom nothing Deluxe about it model.
As a friend once said, the Custom Deluxe was a hose it out work truck.
IIRC those 350s with a 4bbl made about 165 ponies. Arf arf.
My own Custom Deluxe ’73 chebby C10 had that same blue plaid seat. I loved it! But I liked the green one more. I also seem to recall that the ’75s were the first year that got shoulder belts for the front seats instead of the lap only as standard, I was so jealous.
The snow scene is me, and the Suburban from the story, in NM. That would have been Thanksgiving Day 1976. I am about 95% sure it was a Scottsdale. I recall a white fiberboard headliner (hard to the touch, not cloth or vinyl).
The central Florida architect/engineering firm I worked at in the late ’70s had a few ’73+ 4WD Suburbans for surveyor duty. Equipped with 350/auto, these trucks were otherwise strippo models with dual rear doors instead of a tailgate and not even an AM radio. I put a fair amount of seat time in these beasts including some serious offroad work. They were mechanically reliable but somewhat clumsy because of their size. I missed having a stickshift for low-speed crawling because it was difficult to maintain a steady low speed. It only took a few years of hard use for rust to set in and the body hardware to become loose and rattly. I don’t miss these trucks.
Good solid vehicles, those Suburbans. My Uncle had two of them over the years and lamented the fact of not being able to get the mid 90’s version because they were too expensive.
I drove his 1991 Suburban and remember how slow it was off the start with the 4.10 tow-package.
Great vehicle.
I was watching an old Chevy ad on YouTube two weeks ago a1979 Chevy Cheyenne pulling 187 tons of Wood on trailers.That Was Impressive.God Bless Everyone.
’69 three door. oofa…
Great recollections — and I love the custom-ordered specs.
Back in 1985, I was 12 and my family took our first real vacation in our then-new Plymouth Voyager. The Voyager was plenty roomy for a family of four, but it was on that trip that I first paid attention to Suburbans… and found myself longing for one. One day, while driving on the Interstate, I began counting the number of Suburbans I saw (I didn’t have too much to occupy my time), and I remember getting near 100.
One thing that has gotten simpler over the years is traveling with a crib. Our kids were crib-aged about 6-10 years ago, and we traveled with one of those folding Pack-n-Plays. Not quite the easiest thing in the world to assemble, but with a few years’ practice, I could do it with my eyes closed. The thought of traveling with a full-size wooden crib is pretty amusing these days.
My dream Suburban back then was a blue-and-white 2-tone.
I’m the same age as you, and my folks bought a Suburban — a 1971 Plymouth Sport Suburban, that is — and they had no second thoughts about setting up a playpen in the “way back” for me and my sister. At five, I remember my mom aiming that giant wagon at armadillos on Texas highways and us watching them spin while looking out the back window.
Good post and glad you hung on to old photos.
This was a seventh generation Suburban which Chevy produced from 1973-1991. There was one change to the front fenders and several variations to the grill during that period. Interior trim options changed too but the truck was basically the same for eighteen year. No telling how much GM earned selling then but it had to be many billions.
We had a 1989 model. Bought used with low miles from a friend. It was rear ended with about 175,000 miles on it. I had planned to drive it at least to 200,000 which would have been no problem. Great memories as our family of four took many trips in it.
As many have noted fuel economy was terrible.
. . . And, there’s young Bill Mitchell’s ’38 Sixty Special door arches, making their way down the corporate ladder, from Cadillac to Chevrolet — and on a truck chassis, at that ?
Great write-up and cool old photos. During my youth, two of my closest friends had parents who owned this generation of Suburban. One was a 1/2 ton 2WD truck with a typical 350-4bbl. His dad kept it for many years, but eventually the body was literally falling apart. He did try a home body/paint job but it maybe lasted a year before the rust came back.
The other was a 3/4 ton 2WD 350-4bbl. It was an ex-Ontario Hydro truck that was only a few years old when bought but had a bad transmission. It ate about three junkyard transmission’s before they finally got a good one. The truck lasted almost 20 years, but was severely rust at the end of its life. It ended up being used as a rolling garbage dumpster as the owners moved to a rural area with a private road. So the ‘Burb would collect the garbage all week, then get driven to the dump.
I really liked these Subrubans, but they just weren’t well made and didn’t hold up well in Canadian climate. I looked at a couple ‘Burb’s from the early 90’s, but didn’t end up buying one. They were just too archaic by that time, and still seemed to have rust issues. In the end, I ended up buying a ’93 ‘Burb which was one of it not my best all round daily driver. The 92-99 ‘Burbs had pretty much all of the utility on the previous generation, but were far more refined, reliable and rust resistant. My ’93 2WD truck would usually knock down 18-20 MPG highway (US MPG) which I though was good of the time. Plus, it was excellent in the snow with the locking differential.
Searching around for more C/K trucks with plaid interiors, I dug up this gem: the Highlander package for the 2nd-gen C/K, with plaid seats in Blue, Gray, Orange, or Pea Green–er, I mean, Avacado. Millennials love avacado, right?
I grew up with a ’78 scottsdale 2wd, 350 auto. Am radio, power rear window, no options. My recollection is we paid $6500 new. within 4 years (!!!!) the fenders showed rust. We overloaded it regularly towing a too big travel trailer, and often a full 9 people (not in comfort really).
Looking back I cannot imagine we had only an AM radio (silence on trips) but our 72 chevy wagon before it had no radio at all!
Like the author, I spent time loose in the back with my matchbox cars and toys, on a blanket. Other than the rust it was a great truck, vapor locked in summer so we never shut it off if hot, and as it aged it left us on the roadside a few times. Replaced with the groundbreaking 88 chevy truck, which felt 100 years more modern. As a kid from the 80s, no one can say ‘they built them better’ to me. Despite road salt I easily get 15 years from my cars now, with rare breakdowns. We had a Plymouth Aspen that brokedown road side twice in its first year; and a friend’s Gremlin that never ran correctly or reliably even though it was less than 5 years. Can’t imagine that now.
“The cheapest 2018 Suburban is over $51,000” – which is around 43 thousand Euros; in comparison to new car prices in Europe, this is actually very cheap for such a large and versatile vehicle.
CC Effect! a long time friend just passed on to another owner a well used Sub almost identical to the leading photo, although showing much more wear/tear/misuse/abuse! It orginally started life w/ a 454. but now ran a 350. I can remember many times of hauling various constuction material/tools/firewood/etc. I think the funniest memory that I have is when he was helping a neighbor cut down and remove a large tree on a wooded property. A rope was attached to the tree and secured to the Sub to assist it in falling the right way. At the time, it was still 454 powered, and as the novice, I was instructed to keep slight tension on the rope. He also said that when the tree was cut through, he would tell me to go. Well, the tree was cut through, nothing happened for a few seconds, then I heard a loud crack, and seeing the tree leaning my way, I punched it! After bouncing across a couple of gullies and coming to a stop with the tree in the wanted position; they all laughed and said I hadn’t really needed to move so speedily!! 🙂
Amazing HVAC in these tanks. A group of us used a friend’s mother’s early 80s diesel Suburban for our high school senior trip to Daytona FL in 1985. PW,PL, tilt, cruise, 3 rows of vinyl bench seats, 2 tone paint, barn doors on the back and dog dish hubcaps on whitewall tires. The kid’s father ordered it that way, he liked relatively nice interiors and plain exteriors on his cars so neighbors wouldn’t think he was showing off. He also bought Olds 88s with nice upholstery and power options, but no vinyl top, and plain wheelcovers…keeping it low-key.
The a/c got so cold that condensation formed on the painted lower portion of the dashboard. Aside from blowing the engine in KY on the way home, it was a great trip.