Just two years after Chevy abandoned the last big two-door wagon, they upped the ante by one door and built the only three-door wagon, from 1967 through 1972. I’d like to know just which GM bean counter was responsible for this decision? Hey, doors don’t grow on trees! At least they got one thing right: the only back door is on the curb side. I’m guessing they didn’t sell many of these in right-hand drive countries.
Admittedly, the additional third door was a welcome addition on the new 1967 Suburban, as it predecessor obviously lacked on.
As had all Chevy Suburbans going back to the very first one in 1935. That was just the formula, even though they were always designed to have three rows of seats. How did folks get into the back seats, especially the third one? That’s grandpa and grandma back there, with their dear little grandchild.
Getting to the rear-most seat required a maneuver Marines are taught in boot camp. More recently, it’s been taught in yoga classes. The right front seat flipped forward, and one crawled past it and beyond the reduced-width second seat to get to the back seat. People were just a lot more limber back then, even grandparents.
But as our diets got supersized, something had to change.
And change they did, starting in 1967, when the Suburban and Panel truck switched over to the 127″ long wheelbase from the shorter 115″ wb that they had previously used forever.
You learn something new everyday in this gig, hopefully, at least. I had always assumed that the Suburban and Panel shared the same basic body length with the long bed (8′) version of the pickups. Not so! Looks can be deceiving.
The Panel is described as being a 9′ panel. Really? It and the Suburban measured 215½” in overall length.
The 8′ bed pickup measures only 207¾” overall. I can chalk this up to today’s lesson in not assuming the obvious. This happens a lot, and that’s a good thing.
One of the advantages of moving to the longer chassis was that now a 3/4 ton C20 version was readily available. And now there was only one panel and Suburban body to build.
Chevy had made higher capacity 1 ton (C30 series) long-bed panel trucks, but they were an extra-long 10½ foot model.
These long-boy panels were sometimes converted into passenger-hauling jobs, like this one. Not sure how many seats are in there, but there’s a sliding glass window halfway back.
For folks wanting to tow a big(ger) trailer, the C20 Suburban was the ticket (this one is a C10).
And also new with this generation of Chevy trucks, the four wheel drive versions weren’t so tall anymore. This is a C20 4WD; the C10 version sat even a bit lower. It was the beginning of the era when 4WD became civilized and increasingly popular.
Unfortunately, some Hollywood vehicle casting gurus didn’t know about this, the result being this severely jacked up GMC Suburban in the Netflix series “Dark Wind”. Well, someone must have clued them in, as in series 2, it’s a lot closer to the ground.
Chevy offered a huge range of engines in these trucks, everything from the 250 six up through the big-block 396/402 V8s, although not in the first year or two. The new Turbo-Hydramatic was a welcome relief from the two-speed Powerglide.
And the longer body supposedly allowed true nine-passenger seating. But did it really? The middle seat is clearly narrower, to make room for passage to the third seat. Oh well, folks were skinnier back then. Anyway, this was the hauler of choice for really big families who still needed luggage room behind the third seat.
Or any other group needing to be hauled. These used to be fairly common in remote areas as school buses; even with a version with an aisle down the middle for the kiddies, and four rows of seats. Now it makes a convenient covered pickup truck. It had a yard of topsoil in it when I shot this, which is why it’s riding a bit low in the back.
I shot it again some years later, and this time it had its second seat installed. This truck gets worked hard, like my ’66 F100.
Related CC reading:
Vintage Photo: 1964 Chevrolet C30 “Super Suburban” – 10.5′ Long Body
Curbside Classic: 1966 Chevrolet Suburban – Finding The “Sport” In SUV
Curbside Classic Follow-Up: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban – The Other Neighborhood Landlord’s Old Truck
1987 Chevrolet Suburban 4×4 – America Falls In Love With the Big SUV – Me Too?
I am not sure when I first noticed that these had only 3 doors, but it was well after the last one was built. I don’t really recall seeing many of these when they were new, and the ones I did see tended to be commercial vehicles. The big family hauler market (for those who did not want a van) seemed to be owned by the International Travelall at the time. But then again, I grew up in Fort Wayne where there was a large International manufacturing presence.
GM went after the private/recreational user market with the 1973 trucks. GM tooled up to sell Suburbans, crew cabs, and dualies for trailering and campers. Previously GM bodged together single cab trucks with long beds and big single rear tires for RV users. As a racing fan, I noticed that suddenly the garages were flooded with GM dualies pulling fifth wheel trailers. There were a lot of rigs with bunks mounted in the back window.
In ’99 they built three door pickups.
Years and years ago I shared a house with couple of grad students in the college town where I lived. They were graduate students in pottery (those were the days…) and their vehicle was just like the Surburban featured here. Theirs was an industrial white (vs. the Forrest Service green here). It generally looked, inside, just like the one in your neighborhood; but that was fine because the truck mostly just hauled its two owners, their bloodhound, and usually a half ton or so of raw clay. I can still hear the sound that thing starting up on winter mornings. The lack of a functional muffler added to the charm.
It was a great truck.
I feel like the “square body” trucks were not all that well built. The previous 67-72 trucks were more spartan but the way the doors/tailgate close, the thickness of the sheetmetal, they just feel a lot more solid. And didnt seem to rust quite as quickly. At least thats my experience with several square bodies and my uncle’s restored 1972 4wd Chevy longbed
Three door Mitsubishi/Eagle wagon.
The Mini Clubman was another 3 door estate car, only on the right hand side making it a deathtrap in its largest market!
https://www.mini2.com/threads/clubman-door-fiasco.147207/
I never knew there was a 10-1/2′ panel van available. It screams out to become a conversion, though I’m not sure what best to convert it into. I don’t recall seeing even the standard-length panel of this generation.
Not sure I ever saw one of these 3-drs NOT in Forest Service green, either new-ish (meaning it could have rolled of the assembly line last week, but was already covered in dust and with FS crew inside) or later, purchased from auction. I think they all had either a six cylinder or maybe a small v-8? No a/c nor power anything, of course.
Most likely the 292 six, Chevy’s equivalent to Ford’s 300 truck six.
Correct me if i`m wrong, but didn`t International Harvester have a three door suburban type vehicle in the `60s and 70`s?
You’re thinking of the Travelall, which apparently did have two passenger-side doors for the short-lived ’58-60 generation. The rationale there was that the A-series pickup it was derived from had centrally-mounted fuel tank with a filler just behind the B-pillar, making an alteration to the tank/filler configuration infeasible.
My ’63 C Series Travelall is a four-door, and the B Series also had 4. The gas tank is a saddle, which sits in between the passenger frame rail and the rocker, with the filler neck on the front fender. This was a derivative/shared design with the Travelette, the 4-door crewcab pickup.
The Skoda 1201 kombi had a similar door layout.
Although not fully sprouted, the welded-up 4th door is clearly gestating in the featured green Chevrolet!
Sharing this same distinctive colour is a 1958 ‘FC’ Holden 3-door Wagonette, one of apparently 219 constructed in the ’58~’60 FC model-series. Low-roof Wagonettes emerged in the very similar ‘FE’ series of 1956, most typically for Ambulance duty.
Here’s the left hand or shall we say Curbside view of the above Wagonette, which were discontinued in 1960.
I have plenty of memories of these old Holdens; for 10 years our family car was Dad’s FC Standard Sedan in battleship grey, the miserably no-frills model which he bought new and retained for 10 years. It replaced a Lowlight Morris Minor and was itself traded for a ’69 Falcon 500 3.6 litre (221 cid) Wagon, a great unit which delivered him loyal service for 15 years. As you might tell, my father’s interest in trading up for the ‘latest and greatest’ in cars was, alas, zero.
I remember seeing these around, though they were a rare spot. At first I thought it was a one-off custom, but then I saw a second one whiuch hadn’t been rodded. This photo clearly show the ‘commercial’ rear end with quarter bumpers and the drop down spare tyre door from the ute/van, rather than the expected wagon rear.
Your dad wasn’t alone, Tim. I think that came from living through the Depression. For many people in fifties and sixties Australia any car at all was a luxury, so you kept it until it wore out, as you would an appliance or piece of furniture. Dad did a lot of country travelling in his work. He had a ’50 Morris Oxford, replaced that with a ’55; that was replaced by a used ’62 Falcon which always needed work, then a used ’67 Falcon he still drove 22 years later. I kept my first car for 25 years. I think he’d have approved that.
I only have the haziest memory of riding in this one that our family had in the early 60s, an FE panel van with a rear seat installed, another example of that generations thriftiness.
A cheap way of getting a wagon.
Note homemade looking side windows, although the rear portion looks factory.
And no indicators, blinkers cost extra back then as well you know !
I owned an antique Kaiser sedan and club members had Kaiser’s version of a station wagon with 3 doors and a hatchback . The 4th door was welded with the spare tire at that door. Very clever appeal to get some of the 1946-53 station wagon segment.
I briefly thought of International, but the only the Travelette was 3 door, al the Travelalls were 4 door. I occasionally rode the school bus Suburbans, these had no third door since they had a remote operated front door and steps. They were also replaced by Dodge Tradesman based busses in 1973 or 74 in my school district.
Both Travelalls (wagons) and Travelettes (crew cabs) had 3 doors in 1958-60, and 4 doors from 1961-on.
When I transferred downtown in 2000 I was surprised to discover the L.A.P.D. still had three 1967 Suburbans still in use, two were V8’s, the third had a 6 banger .
All three were that dark blue that when I ordered paint was called “1959 Ford Blue” .
-Nate
To be correct, this suburban is a 5 door not a 3 door as it is detailed in the specific details call them door.
Typically with wagons, the rear door setup is not included in door count, even if the rear passenger area is accessed through the rear. The justification given here is that the door configuration can vary so much that it’s easier to just not count them. Yet with hatchbacks, the rear hatch is included, even though it’s not typically used for passengers. Naming conventions can be weird.
I kick myself in the rear quite often for passing on a chance I had to get a 70′ 4×4 3 door “glass panel”. I call it that because I believe it was a panel which had Suburban glass. It was the long wheelbase with side glass but none in the rear doors, 2 that opened like regular doors vs a “tailgate”. My uncle had a 72′ with a tailgate that featured a power window in a Cheyenne package with the wide chrome and woodgrain metal trim that I absolutely loved. It was a 4 door and he had a matching K-5 Blazer with a removable hard top that I also adored. The one I had the chance to acquire was a very good example in that the body, glass, frame, and 4×4 including transfer case and axles were all in exceptionally great condition but there was no motor or transmission and the interior was stripped clean. No dash, no seats, no door panels, no headliner, no carpet, no nothing. I’m not a fan of either finding those things nor installing them. My first thought was that locating a transmission with a proper tail shaft length would be the first and biggest challenge, and then getting a proper dash and getting all the gauges and connections to get it all working correctly seemed like a nightmare in it’s own right. In hindsight, I really wish I hadn’t been such a weenie about it because no matter what I would have had to do to get it there, it would be finished by now and I’d be driving it.
The rationale I always heard on the 3 door Burb, was that the third door being on the curb side, allows for safer loading/unloading of passengers and cargo. We had a chance to buy a ’70 C10 Burb but the guy who offered it to us, kept changing his mind about what he wanted for it, and whether he was actually going to sell it…..
So Dad and I found a ’79 Chevy C10 Silverado Burb on the way home, and it was in better condition than the other Burb except for not having AC(but all the windows worked!). So that ’79 came home with us, and a few years later we bought a used ’84 Chevy Silverado Burb. Used both of them for trips and hauling, and as daily drivers when needed. Both good solid trucks…..