Here’s my buddy’s truck - 1973 after the rust was fixed. Ground Hawgs.
Here’s me 100 pounds lighter than I am today also with more hair but less money. Also remember we didn’t “buy” shorts - we “made” them so no off color jokes are allowed.
Here’s photo bucket back to be my friend.
I wonder if all those people that bought longbeds new back then thought about how much chaos they would cause in the market 40 years later
This was my 87 GMC. Yes it was a 2wd. Yes I lifted it 6" and those are 35s. Yes it was a mistake.
This was my dad's 76 GMC stepside. God I absolutely loved that truck. I swear sometimes I can still smell it. I have yet to see another one like it.
I had a 3/4 ton 73 Cheyenne Super that was a real beast. 454/400, with a 20 gallon tank. I never did learn what rear end ratio it had, but with what were probably 36 inch tires it would top out at about 90. Full throttle in second gear was about 65.
Didn't have a lot of range on a tank, but man was it fun to open up that big quadrajet! I'll never forget that sound!
This is my kid's truck. '79 that was a 350/350 combo. We did the bodywork together for him to use the truck in high school , then did a swap to a 200-4R overdrive transmission so it would actually go down the highway at a reasonable rpm. Fun stuff adapting the electronics in the trans to the early truck, but it worked.
He's now swapped the engine out for an LS 6.0 and done the big brake kit. It's a beast.
Chris_V said:This is my kid's truck. '79 that was a 350/350 combo. We did the bodywork together for him to use the truck in high school , then did a swap to a 200-4R overdrive transmission so it would actually go down the highway at a reasonable rpm. Fun stuff adapting the electronics in the trans to the early truck, but it worked.
He's now swapped the engine out for an LS 6.0 and done the big brake kit. It's a beast.
hit that thing with a big o' lowering stick and it'd be about perfect.
As for squarebody trucks i've always wanted a lowered 2wd k5 blazer
edizzle89 said:Chris_V said:This is my kid's truck. '79 that was a 350/350 combo. We did the bodywork together for him to use the truck in high school , then did a swap to a 200-4R overdrive transmission so it would actually go down the highway at a reasonable rpm. Fun stuff adapting the electronics in the trans to the early truck, but it worked.
He's now swapped the engine out for an LS 6.0 and done the big brake kit. It's a beast.
hit that thing with a big o' lowering stick and it'd be about perfect.
it's getting a 4 link and air ride to lower it very soon. 
I was going to do a flip kit for the rear and drop spindles/shorter springs in front for a 4"/6" lowering but he decided he wanted air for a better ride.
I've been following Lucky Costa's videos on Youtube. He has a 1967 Chevy truck, and he's put in an LS engine and a full suspension kit from QA1 (yes, it is the previous generation truck but I would guess a lot of what he's done is going to be similar for the 1973 - 1987 generation.) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsAaakmE0dAtG7AVFb7oUEA
I want a late 70's Chevy or GMC so bad. The problem with that is so does everyone else. Prices around here for anything 1973-87 are flat-out absurd, even for rusty piles.
Chris_V said:This is my kid's truck. '79 that was a 350/350 combo. We did the bodywork together for him to use the truck in high school , then did a swap to a 200-4R overdrive transmission so it would actually go down the highway at a reasonable rpm. Fun stuff adapting the electronics in the trans to the early truck, but it worked.
He's now swapped the engine out for an LS 6.0 and done the big brake kit. It's a beast.
How do you open the door? That thing is cool.
I think everyone has owned or ridden in one of these at some point, so the nostalgia level is high. My first vehicle in the late-1990's was a '77 Suburban, 2 wheel drive with the 350/350. It was rusty when I paid $550 for it, and _really_ rusty when I finally donated it to the Salvation Army a few years later.
Oddly, I got a parking ticket from the state of Delaware about a year after donating it. I guess whoever ended up with the truck after I donated it parked it illegally somewhere in DE and didn't pay the ticket...and somehow the cross-state DMV (I'd registered the truck in New York) didn't talk too well back then and Delaware thought the truck still belonged to me. I finally had to send the donation slip to DE to prove I shouldn't be responsible for the ticket.
Some day, I want another '77 GM 2WD truck. For now, my wife's '91 Suburban provides sufficient nostalgia.
Tyler H said:Chris_V said:This is my kid's truck. '79 that was a 350/350 combo. We did the bodywork together for him to use the truck in high school , then did a swap to a 200-4R overdrive transmission so it would actually go down the highway at a reasonable rpm. Fun stuff adapting the electronics in the trans to the early truck, but it worked.
He's now swapped the engine out for an LS 6.0 and done the big brake kit. It's a beast.
How do you open the door? That thing is cool.
key fob remote with buttons for each door. The mechanical handles are still on the inside so it's not powered to get out. With a mechanical pull under the hood if the battery goes dead to open the driver's door (or if you leave it running with the keys in it with the door shut and the window up. Not like that's ever happened...)
NickD said:Careful closing the hood on them!
LUBE THE HINGES!!!!!!!!!!!
These come up around here fairly often for reasonable money. My first vehicle was a 77 4x4 auto. I think I've had three others since. One of them had a mini spool. I eventually took it out because tires are expensive, but it would go EVERYWHERE. Never could get that truck stuck, and I tried. The floor was made up of a couple layers of rust and some self tapping screws and house carpet. Serious rolling tetanus mobile, but it was huge fun. If one was looking to buy I think I saw a few on local (So. UT) CL just recently. Not pretty, but cheap
Mine was a life long Southern Arizona resident. Sold in Phoenix in 1978. stayed there. Still has some factory paint on the frame rails in places. It cost twice the challenge budget and has needed every mechanical and electrical component replaced, but it's worth every damn cent to me. There's something very visceral about driving it. EVERYTHING has a feel. The mechanical clutch linkage is amazing, steering is light and slow, but the feedback is there telling me everything I need to know and the brake pedal has some dead space but modulating lockup is super easy because, well, you can feel it.
Locally, I could slap a $400 paint job on it and sell the critter for $9k. But I'm not. And I won't.
My first year of production GMT 400 (1988). Compared to the previous generations, it's not quite there yet with the cool factor, but I got it for the low, low price of free.
Compared to my first year of production squarebody (1973), it's a much better truck.
As the values of the square body trucks are pushing into the "I know what I got" range, rust free GMT 400s may gain appeal.
Edit: my post could be interpreted as a side by side comparison. I currently own the truck in the picture, the 73 was sold many years ago.
In reply to Floating Doc :
Having owned the square(73, 78 and 80), gmt400(93 and 89) and gmt800(06) I have to agree that the GMT400 is, by far, the better vehicle in every conceivable category. It rides better, drives better, has some semblance of ergonomics, better suspension, better frame better everything. I still say they are one of the best looking fleetsides when lowered with the right wheel package.
But classic stepsides are just cooler.
Edit: So, the leap forward in technology between those 3 chassis are like going from a connestoga wagon, to the Concorde to the NCC-1701D.
Bob the REAL oil guy. said:In reply to Floating Doc :
So, the leap forward in technology between those 3 chassis are like going from a connestoga wagon, to the Concorde to the NCC-1701D.
I drove my '61 Chevy pickup home a few weeks ago. I daily a '77.
O.
M.
G.
Have things improved since 1961.
I’ll still take solid front and rear axles on my trucks any day of the week. But then again, I have a use for cheap suspension lifts and good articulation, many don’t.
GMT 400s are already going up in value. There's a clapped out, 200,000 mile, 5 speed regular cab short bed 2WD W/T model near me, the guy is asking $3000 for.
Stepside GMT400's just look goofy, though. The way the tailights are the same as the fleetside beds, but tucked in on the narrow bed. Ugh.
I had forgotten all about this...I was just watching an old episode of CHiPs on Amazon Prime, and officer Jon Baker drove a late 1970s GMC. 
Anyone ever added A/C to one of these?
We've got an '81 4x4 Scottsdale in the family junk yard, that was going to be my "1st car," way back in the day, but never panned out. The truck hasn't moved in ~19 years, I haven't actually seen it in at least half that, so it's not like it's a project I'm going to get to anytime soon, if ever. However, I think it'd make a sweet farm truck "someday," I just want A/C, and for whatever reason, even though it was the only vehicle dad ever bought brand new, he bought it without A/C.
stuart in mn said:I had forgotten all about this...I was just watching an old episode of CHiPs on Amazon Prime, and officer Jon Baker drove a late 1970s GMC.
Don't forget about Rocky's and The fall guy's.
Now Im' really regretting selling mine.
bigdaddylee82 said:Anyone ever added A/C to one of these?
We've got an '81 4x4 Scottsdale in the family junk yard, that was going to be my "1st car," way back in the day, but never panned out. The truck hasn't moved in ~19 years, I haven't actually seen it in at least half that, so it's not like it's a project I'm going to get to anytime soon, if ever. However, I think it'd make a sweet farm truck "someday," I just want A/C, and for whatever reason, even though it was the only vehicle dad ever bought brand new, he bought it without A/C.
Go with Vintage Air or similar kits. Trying to retrofit GM factory a/c is not an easy task, plus the newer kits should cool better.
bigdaddylee82 said:Anyone ever added A/C to one of these?
We've got an '81 4x4 Scottsdale in the family junk yard, that was going to be my "1st car," way back in the day, but never panned out. The truck hasn't moved in ~19 years, I haven't actually seen it in at least half that, so it's not like it's a project I'm going to get to anytime soon, if ever. However, I think it'd make a sweet farm truck "someday," I just want A/C, and for whatever reason, even though it was the only vehicle dad ever bought brand new, he bought it without A/C.
Mine is currently in the process of having a vintage air setup installed. It should be ready next month, so we’ll see how it cools.
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