It may not be quite old enough to be a Curbside Classic (consensus seems to put the bar at around 20 years), but as the parts-runner and tow vehicle for many honest-to-goodness CCs over the years – and having played a significant part in my own automotive evolution – I decided to give it its moment in the sun.
I started doing freelance consulting work back in 2000. In 2005, I graduated high school. And by 2006, I had a little storefront office just off Main Street and a small but growing list of new clients. My personal vehicle was an ’85 Regal with a recently swapped-in 307 and a decent case of frame rot (which will likely get its own article soon), and while it was getting the job done, it wasn’t quite a work truck.
So as the summer of 2007 arrived, I began shopping for a truck – my first actual vehicle purchase, the Regal having been handed down through the family prior to my owning it. Craigslist wasn’t yet on my radar (or much of anyone else’s around here), so I was reduced to hunting the old fashioned way, by burning through newsprint and shoe leather.
My requirements? It had to be GM. It had to be clean and straight. It had to have a V6 – the Buick had taught me all I needed to know about commuting and V8s. It had to be something made within the last dozen or so years, so it wouldn’t be a turn-off to the clients (most of whom were of far greater means than I and wouldn’t ever consider driving something old). And it had to be reasonably priced.
In the weeks that followed I looked at umpteen different rustbuckets and rattletraps. People, it seemed, tended to be unkind to their trucks, second only to road salt in their indifference and will for destruction.
It wasn’t until I stumbled onto the lot of a implement dealer that I’d find my future work truck. As part of their relationship with a tire dealer in Iowa, they had taken a bunch of Chevy pickups on consignment in addition to the usual straight trucks and other heavy rigs. They were all decent enough, but one in particular stood out.
One-owner, fleet maintained, no rust, 140K miles, 4.3, auto, all for $3800. It was a little more than I wanted to pay, but I had grown weary of the hunt – so I took it. Since they wouldn’t come down on the price at all, I got them to throw in some parts for my old Farmall… gotta get something more for my money!
Many, many stories followed. Through both victory and defeat, the truck always kept on fighting.
My mechanical experience was fairly slim upon buying the truck. Sure, I’d done tune-ups on the Buick, and watched my dad do just about every automotive task known to man over the years, but doing it yourself was a whole different ball of wax. In the 108,000 miles I’d rack up over the next five years, I had the pleasure (ha!) of doing everything from wheel bearings and ball joints, to fuel pumps and exhaust… some before they failed, some after. (And a couple after spectacular failure while going down the road. You learn quickly which parts can wait, and which ones aren’t messing around when they threaten to go.)
At 200K the motor developed a bottom-end knock. I couldn’t risk having it blow up at an inopportune moment, so I bought my first-ever crate motor. My dad and I installed it outdoors, in the middle of winter, since that was really the only choice at the time. You haven’t lived until you’ve flirted with frostbite while laying under a truck for hours, struggling to break loose bolts stuck in place by a decade of rust.
Eventually I began buying and fixing vehicles on my own, as both a hobby and a supplemental source of income. I bought a car dolly. The truck didn’t exactly like being a tow rig, but it toughed it out and did its thing. In 2011 we moved the office into a new building. Again, the truck served admirably as we hauled load after load out of the old downtown office.
All those loads took their toll. Finally last fall, at 245K miles, the slushbox said ‘uncle’ and let go (such are 4L60Es). I had a low-mile tranny I’d been saving for such an occasion, so in it went.
But the truck’s days in my fleet were numbered. Just days before its tranny died, I had scooped up this 2003 Silverado for $825… wouldn’t run, shot tires, expired tabs, owner was in a jam and “just wanted it gone”. New tires and a set of junkyard injectors solved most of its problems. It was already in line to take the 98’s place as my company daily driver; the incident merely hastened the transition.
Once the transmission swap was completed, the old truck was immediately demoted to backup status. It accumulated another 3000 miles before I finally decided to cut it loose last week… better to pass it on than let it rust, I figured.
With the bedliner, headache rack, and all the other goodies removed, my old faithful rig went up for sale. An old man from a neighboring town bought it within hours of my parking it in the front yard. He was impressed by its refreshed drivetrain and body condition… this many years and miles later and it’s still well above average.
Like many of the vehicles I’ve owned, it’s hard to say goodbye – but the limits of practicality prevent me from keeping them all.
So here’s to you, old Silverado… the truck that my business grew up with, that taught me what owning a truck was all about, the rock-solid daily driver that carried me through those feast-or-famine years. There will surely be many more like you as the years go by, but never will there be another quite the same.
Farewell, old friend!
I didn’t know that basic grill was still available in 1998. I thought they all got either the work truck grill (which I really like) or the deluxe (and to me, gaudy after 1993) package.
You never had to change intake gaskets on that 4.3?
Always liked the style of these trucks, they lend themselves to customization and look good jacked up or lowered.
As part of the parts gathering for my ’68 C-10, I came across one of the 5-speed manuals from a 60,000 mile 350-equipped truck (or so I was told) and bought it cheap. But upon further study it appears that tranny won’t stand up to the power of the new Gen III/IV 5.3/6.0 engines. Don’t remember if it’s the NV3500 or the Muncie/Getrag unit, whichever one is weaker…grrr.
I understand on the last-gen Silverados, only the 4.8 had a manual option, which I guess is an indicator of how much it can stand…
Anyway if I absolutely had to have something newer than my ’68…this generation C/K 1500 would be calling my name. Vortec 350/stick, thank you.
Yup it seems the “work truck” versions retained the sealed beam light setup. The Astro van work van had this also
It’s worth noting that, while the core support and lights are correct, the grille itself is not. The original looked like the one below; it and the left fender were both lost to a deer-related incident about a year after I bought it.
A-ha! Full disclosure…LOL!
These are the last GM trucks I have any desire for. I prefer the earlier dashboards with their weird two-piece radios — the later ones had chintzier, brittle instrument/door panels with that typical 90s & newer GM garbage plastic.
I drove a white ’95 3/4 ton with FI 350 for a couple years repossessing cars. This was a company truck and had 275K on its original never-rebuilt drive train. It had plenty of power and burying the speedometer was not hard to do, even when towing cars.
Some really good repo guys I worked with used a 1/2 ton SWB Chevy with the 4.3 V6! This truck actually had a sling lift in the back of it but somehow did the job. It was a dangerous setup but the truck managed to pull in hundreds and hundreds of cars.
The one thing that I absolutely detest about these trucks is that GM in their cost-cutting idiocy welded the doors to the cab like they did the S10s. The only way to remove the doors on these trucks is to pop out the hinge pin. This means that once you “oblong” the hinge pin hole & ruin the door hinge, you’re screwed. Imagine replacing a door due to damage only to find out there is absolutely zero adjustment — you hope the replacement door lines up.
So you end up with a bad door hinge? No problem! Just by the GM $ervice hinge kit (with actual bolts & backing plates like what should have been done originally), separate the door from the body by popping out the pins, drill out the spot welds from both the door and the cab (if you can find them), chisel off the old hinge remains, split/cut open the cab A-pillar to slide the service backing plates into the body, drill MORE holes for the new attaching bolts to pass through, (noting these holes will not line up with the holes drilled for the spot welds!), and put it all back together again. Don’t forget to close up and seal the hole you just made in the lower A-pillar and paint over all the bare metal you exposed when chiseling the old hinges off!
That’s my only beef with these things. I think they are very good-looking trucks…I actually prefer the Cheyenne/lower models with the single headlight setup. Many of the earlier models also had the cool reel-out hood light — ingenious. I guess it cost GM too much because the later ones had the regular seal-clubbing, ozone-depleting, fish-killing, global-warming, cancer-causing mercury switch hood lamp.
I hate seeing these come in the scrapyard — they’ll never build trucks this well again. Oh well.
My 96 still has that reel-out trouble light.
95 was the first year with the new interior including the driver air bag and they did use cheaper injection-molded plastics. They might as well not have bothered with an armrest on the door.
Like many of these trucks with heavy doors, mine could use a new set of bushings but hopefully won’t need the extensive work you describe here.
I agree on your last point – I only have anecdotal evidence but I do believe the GMT-400s are hard to beat and their numbers on the road, 13 years after they stopped production, is one indication.
You hit on so many things that are very, very familiar to me. This was the first of about six 88-98 Chevy full-size trucks I’d buy in the coming years, a few of which I still have.
My ’98 C3500 is still going strong at 225K, and is rarely detached from my 18′ flatbed trailer. That one was nearly scrapped before I bought it for $400. Didn’t run because of a bad fuel pump… previous owner had tried everything, up to and including *splicing plug wires together* (major WTF factor on many of his attempted repairs). New pump, new engine harness (easier than fixing his mess), new doors (rusty), one new fender (crunched), and it was like new again. Probably one of my luckiest low-buck finds – runs like a top, super clean cab (still has corners and rockers!), and was upgraded when new with extra heavy suspension bits. The perfect tow truck!
That generation of GM trucks has been good to me and mine, and likewise we to them. ’93 K2500 Suburban, ’94 K3500 regular cab dually, ’94 C3500 crew dually, ’94 C1500 Cheyenne, ’94 K1500 Blazer (2 door/350/5spd/fleet trim!), ’96 K1500 Z71 extended cab/shortbox, ’97 C1500 W/T… I really need to start a series!
“I really need to start a series!”
Yes! Please do. You write really well and I love those old trucks.
That 5-speed Blazer sounds interesting! — I thought the K-Blazers of this generation were very good looking vehicles. They are definitely rare birds.
The hinge issue is one of the reasons my business steers clear of GM vans. It may sound like a small issue but it can cost a lot of time and money to fix such issues, which inevitably come up in work vans.
The van hinges are a whole ‘nother story. Side fold-out door hinges (the doors behind the passenger’s door) tended to get sticky, up to the point where eventually the doors would become inoperable. Have had to deal with those, too. NO fun! And the aftermarket “improved” hinges aren’t cheap, either.
The door was the same in my S10. My mech put in bushing but it was too warped so he welded it. Worked great from then on.
> It may not be quite old enough to be a Curbside Classic (consensus seems to put the bar at around 20 years)…
Well, we just had an article on a 2000 Lincoln yesterday. My first thought was that the Lincoln was too new to be called a Curbside Classic, but as the tagline says, “Every car has a story”, and so it is with your pickup. 🙂 You certainly grow attached to a vehicle when you’ve spent so much time with a vehicle, and done so much to maintain it yourself.
I’m meaning to write-up something on my pickup as well. Being of 1994 vintage, it will be 20 years old soon.
It’s usually its 25 years before a car is a ‘classic’ vehicle, but it can vary. Usually rare cars are considered ‘classics’ sooner than high-production vehicles.
I say ‘cool older cars’ especially if you’ve a personal attachment, its fine to call them classic at 20.
from wikipedia:
A classic car is an older car; the exact definition varies around the world. The Classic Car Club of America maintains that a car must be between 30 and 49 years old to be a classic, while cars between 50 and 99 fall into a pre-antique class, and cars 100 years and older fall into the Antique Class. In the UK, ‘classic cars’ range from veteran (pre–First World War), to vintage (1919–1930), to post-vintage (1930s). Post–Second World War classic cars are not so precisely defined.
The Antique Automobile Club of America defines an antique car as 50 years or older. A Classic is defined as 20–49 years old
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_car
Guys, this is a non-issue. First, it’s not even titled as a Curbside Classic, but as a COAL (Cars of a Lifetime), which covers any year car the owner has owned. Secondly, this is Curbside Classic, and not the CCCA. Any age car qualifies….and we’ve had plenty of newer cars here, including new ones. If it’s got a story, it’s a CC.
And as we’ve all learned…EVERY car (truck…tractor…locomotive!) has a story.
Don’t forget the submarine!
Yes, I agree with you on that. I was just being ‘Larry Literal’.
Curbside Classics just tells stories of cool cars people care about, In this case classics means any vehicle! This is just a cool car website.
I like telling people when CSC covers cars they drive or love.
🙂
Vehicles have to be 40 years old to qualify for classic registration here so anything newer than 73 is just old. Nice ute though quite a popular model here too I see many Chevrolet pickups locally as they have always been available in NZ new from Bunce motors. GM gave up on Chevs decades ago but that guy just wouldnt, it woulda sold quicker at that price in Napier.
That’s my favorite era of GM pickup. They look like proper work vehicles. Although, your new work truck looks pretty good too, especially for the price! I have trouble finding inexpensive vehicles that aren’t rusted to hell.
These were great trucks, we had a number of 2500 pickups at work, and they were far away my favorite. Yes, there were problems with the hinges, and what “v” design GM engine didn’t need new intake manifold gaskets (!), but on the whole I miss them. They hauled and towed anything asked of them, V6 or V8, glad to see this COAL. They drove nice, you could see out of them, the transmissions didn’t break, and surprise, I could reach over the bed rails without getting a ladder even on the 7500 GVWR pickup! Classic or not, so what. This generation is certainly old enough that plenty of us have fond (I hope!) memories of these trucks. Soooooooo much more civil than the brutish F-250s that replaced them.
My mom’s fiancee has the exact same truck down to the white color and standard cab configuration. It’s a dependable truck and it only has 140,000 kilometers, so barely 100,000 miles. I have driven it a few times, yes it is gutless, yes the gears are too far apart, and yes, it suffers from typical GM interior cost cutting (buttons breaking/brittle plastics), but they have never had to do the intake gaskets as John (mom’s fiancee) swapped out the Dexcool right when he bought it off the lot. All in all, it’s been a good vehicle for them hauling light loads out to camp and moving, and using for short trips to Duluth and Minneapolis (we live in Thunder Bay, Ontario).
These were my all time favourite modern pickups hands down. I replaced my ’93 C1500 with a late model truck last year. My old ‘923 had nearly 250K miles on it’s original drivetrain, including the 4L60E. I like my new truck, it has nearly double the power of my old 350 while getting better fuel economy, it has a roomier cab, and better driving dynamics. But I don’t care for the more expensive parts, more complicated repairs and maintenance and the excessively large size with less payload. I seriously contemplated going south to find a mint low mile GMT-400, but in the end I decided as a daily driver to stick with a more modern vehicle.
In my opinion, the GMT-400’s were sized just perfect for a fullsize truck. They were slightly smaller than the ’73-87 generation, yet had much roomier cabs (especially for leg room), the cargo capacity was the same, improved aerodynamics, better fuel economy and far superior handling and driving dynamics. In my opinion, I always found these trucks head and shoulders above the Ford’s of this vintage, especially for driving dynamics and interior room. I preferred the 1988-95 TBI engine, due to there simplicity and ability to rack up ridiculous mileage under terrible conditions. I have seen more high mileage GMT 400’s than any other platform. I worked at GM when the Vortec engines came out in 1996, and they felt like rockets compared to other pickups. But they certainly have more issues than the simpler TBI engines (intake gaskets, injector nozzles, fuel pumps). In my opinion, the GMT-800’s were a big step backwards in quality compared to the GMT400’s.
It’s too bad in my area most of these trucks are well used super high with tons of miles and typically rusted. I do think as these trucks move from being “used cars” to the classic vintage that they will be the collectible trucks of this era.
I remember the welded door hinges on these, and could not believe what I was seeing when I first saw one of these in the early 90s. Other than that, most all of my experience with this platform is in Suburbans – Suburbans of this platform were EVERYWHERE, and are still plentiful.
A BIL owned both an 87 and a 95, and told me that the 87 was actually wider inside. I have come to have some respect for these trucks. Also, these seem to do better against rust than the newer ones, at least in my observations.
Great trucks. My father-in-law had an ’89 GMC half ton with the 350/auto combo. He bought it new and got ten years and over 300 000 km out of it with few problems. It still ran great when he traded it for a new ’99 F-150, and they gave him a good price for it because it was still a good truck with plenty of life left in it. Five years (and two F-150’s) later he went back to GM, buying a new Chevy crew cab with the Duramax engine. They’re still using it for their trucking business, along with a newer GMC crew cab, also with a Duramax unde the hood that they use for work and towing a fifth wheel to Florida every winter. They get some hard use, but they hold up very well and never leave them stranded.
I drove one of these a few times for a job that I had, it had 650,000kms on it with the original V8 engine. The transmission had been rebuilt or replaced once already and was on it’s way out again but it still ran well. We replaced it with a similar vintage truck that had a flatbed and retired the old one to backup truck status and around town trips.
Nice story, Keith! And that style was introduced in 88 (or was it 87?) so even if it’s a COAL I’d say it’s CC worthy anyway! Heck as of this year it’s now 4 generations old!
Looking forward to reading about the rest of them. Well, that is unless the order goes 95 C1500 in White, then a 96 C1500 in white, then a 93 C1500 in white…:-)
Thanks!
I might have to get to the rest as time goes by. And, as it happens, the other two C1500s were blue and green, respectively. We try to stick to white, but I’m too cheap to have an official fleet color 🙂
The Blazer is a bit of a unicorn; that one will probably be first on the list. And the ‘burban was kind of a hell-project that I slightly regretted taking on, and ended up swapping for a pair of CCs in the end, so there’s a story there too. We’ll see…
This could be considered a bit off-topic, but I’ve noticed that this generation of GM trucks (especially Tahoes and Suburbans and their GMC counterparts) have a distinctive “whine” at idle. Sounds a bit like an airplane, for lack of a better description. Anyone know the cause of this sound? Fuel pumps perhaps?
I believe it IS the fuel pump. And yes, it is LOUD. In any other car, you’d be replacing it right away. In these it seems to be somewhat normal.
If it’s coming from behind you, it’s fuel pump. Those suckers let you know when they’re running 🙂
If it’s coming from in front of you, though… might need further description.
Would not give two cents for a 88-95 GM pickup. Period. They are gross. There’s my two cents.
When I think of a truck, this is what I think of. This design is so timeless, so are the Surburban/Tahoe of this era. Something about a black Suburban in this generation is classic.
I’m trying to unload a 1990 as we speak…
Getting out of my 2012 Sierra and into my 1997 Sierra (regular cab, long bed, 350, 5 speed, SLE, 140K) is like slipping into comfortable house shoes at the end of a hard day. It just feels so much more agile, and is at an altitude easier to enter and exit.
Been checking the interweb for a low mileage one to trade down to, but alas…..
Man, thanks for the writeup. My absolute favorite style of Chevy pick up. The best dash style has to be the ’95 with single airbag.
Dime a dozen in Venezuela, GM even sold a special version for the oil company with a diamond steel plate reinforced cargo box. They used to go 110 mph easily.
Down here, slim chance to see one, much less a bare bone one like yours.
I must have missed something here. I had a 91 4.3/700r4. Wound up in a SUV because changing requirements mandated a back seat. It seems to me that you wound up in the same truck.
Was it just the need for change?
With the company trucks, it’s a balancing act to try and keep them just long enough to where you’ve gotten your money’s worth, but not so long that they’re worth more dead than alive.
This truck was an odd case, since I paid retail price for it. With subsequent trucks I’ve had a history of getting 2-3 years of service from them and breaking even (or even turning a slight profit) when I sell them.
On that ’03, for instance: I have about $1500 into it, and it’s currently worth around $3000. In another couple years, rust and miles will drop it down to around $2K, at which point I’ll be looking to lose it.
Since I’m always on the lookout for others, chances are good there’ll be another waiting to take its place by that time. Towing home wrecks and swapping body panels, motors, trannies, etc. to get them roadworthy again is a small price to pay for having trucks whose cost of ownership adds up to little more than the value of the fluids they consume.
If this were a big operation, my strategy wouldn’t work too well. But for a little shop like ours that only needs 3-4 rigs, it works great.
This is a very well written story about an everyday hero that does everyday tasks without a complaint. It is a man’s story about a man’s truck. Well done!
The truck is so simple looking and it doesn’t really bring attention to itself out in a world full of bling. It is even a simple color.
We fall in love with big dogs that can sleep outside and love kids, admire the boy who comes in second place and doesn’t brag about it, the feel of our worn out boxers and jeans soften by years of wear, the cheap smokes that do their job, and dependable trucks no one looks at twice.
Living well means knowing this, and your story proves you do.
the new GM/GMC line of pickups have gotten bloated and huge, I went to a GMC dealer to look and I for the life of me can’t figger out why the cab and the box are so HIGH off the ground, plus the bumpers and the grille look so foreign to me with the slanted headlite pods… bring back the size and compfort of this era truck GM!!!! oh yeah, visit 67-72chevytrcuks.com of rmore stuff