Last week, GM’s global design boss Ed Welburn celebrated Chevy’s 100th birthday with his pick of the ten most iconic Chevy designs ever. I would have come up with a rather different list, and somewhat surprisingly, no less than four of his picks were trucks. The 1935 Suburban is a handsome vehicle, but I think Welburn should have pretty much stayed with post war vehicles. Who could pick out a 1912 Chevy out of a bunch of other 1912 cars? (you and me not included, of course). Way too few folks are familiar with pre-war Chevys to make them iconic. The other three trucks on his list include at least one or more worthy of the status, but three?
I’d agree with his choice on the 1948 Advance Design trucks, my all-time favorite. The 1967 is also a very fine design, but I’d have to think hard about including it in the top ten Chevys. Maybe… But his pick of the 1989 C/K truck was a surprise; I just didn’t see it coming. I admit that it was a very clean design, and I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived, until I looked at its rock-hard and ultra-cheap dash. It was the last modern full size truck that made an effort to still have reasonable proportions. Well, it was designed in that down-sizing decade of the eighties. And it clearly echoes its grandfather next to it. Still…and his choice of the 2010 Camaro over either the ’69 or ’70 seals the deal: he’s nuts.
And I’m going to do a piece on my picks for the ten most iconic Chevys, so let’s talk trucks and keep our powder dry for the big list.
There is so much I want to say here about Chevy trucks.`The last two pics say more than I ever could.
The 1982 S-10, the progenitor of the most loved and most hated of small trucks. I see more boxy S-10 pickups and Blazers rolling around than I do Colorados or that “iconic” C/K.
One of the very first cars I drove was a 4th gen C/K, crew cab no less. I practically learned how to drive with it. I loved loved LOVED that thing on wintry Indiana roads. Actually, early on the indications were all there that I’d become a GM guy. My teenage dreams were the gen 3 Vette with the early digital dash and the F-bodies (I’m an 80s kid). I really didn’t care for my first car, a Mercury Sable. But life has a funny way of throwing you a curveball, and my “Christine” moment was to be with a Ford. Red, as fate would have it. I never looked back.
Except for that Crew Cab. I’d own one today if I needed a truck. 4th gen, b/c I suspect I could fix it. Man was that thing fun to drive.
I rate trucks using different criteria than cars, with a heavier emphasis on parts availability over good looks.
From GM, I relate most to the 3rd gen C/K-series pickups. They were everywhere when I was growing up. The utility companies, railroads and lots of industries used them as work trucks. Parts had to be dirt cheap and plenty available in the salvage yard because they went virtually unchanged for well over a decade.
I actually like the look of the earlier trucks better than the 4th gen C/K pictured as well. It seems like everything in the late 80’s started to look plastic, which says “cheaply made” to me.
Speaking of “cheaply made”, that gen 4 crew cab had leather seats that were NICE (this on a truck about 15 years old) and wood trim throughout the cabin. The cabin was red, including the leather and of course the plastics. For the life of me I now don’t remember if the wood was fake. It had to be… but if it was fake, it was not in a pretentious sort of way, like faux wood on a luxobarge… on the contrary, it was endearingly rugged. That’s my recollection of it – endearingly rugged.
I was in a few newer trucks and they do nothing for me. Talk about cheap plastics. All black and gray, no personality. Just like the cars themselves. That gen 4 had an identity… it was still Poison and Def Leppard… before the era of long hair and big guitars (and bigger egos) bowed out.
The C/K interiors look very good in blue, if that’s your thing. Brown was a close second, and even the standard-issue grey isn’t that objectionable. The 88-94 trucks had that nice cordoruy style seat pattern which gave it some contrasting.
I also agree with BigOldChryslers about rating trucks by a different criteria than cars. Interiors aren’t as much of a consideration, unless everything’s coming apart in your hand.
For me the “iconic” Chevy trucks are the 1967 to 1972 models and the 1973 to 1987 models. The 67 to 72s were so dang perfect in many respects and then the 73 to 87 models should get a nod for their ubiquitousness.
^^ Indeed.
I remember when my grandfather bought a new ’75 C10 to replace his well-worn ’49 Chevy pickup. I loved the ’49, with it’s single barrel dead simple setup — it was so reliable you could ignore it long enough to almost forget what it looked like under the hood. You couldn’t ask for a better farm/country road vehicle. But those ’73 to whenever they went to super cheapo plastic everything (late ’70s or mid 80s?) were pretty terrific, too — not as bullet-proof, but pretty good. Also the ’73 was the first full-size truck that drove and rode almost as well as most full-sized sedans.
I agree with you about that list of “iconic Chevies”. I could have chalked it up to individual taste were it not for the 2010 Camaro (!) and his repetition of the advertising myth of the ’35 Suburban. He’s either completely off his rocker or pushing a corporate agenda.
X2 on that.
It’s amazing to me, that such an ideal design as the ’67s, got such a short run. The 1973-87s, although by modern standards are clean and businesslike, were awkward and contrived next to the outgoing 1972s. And they introduced cheap plastic dashes, passenger-car touches (faux hidden wipers, faux steering-column locks) and general frailness compared to their predecessors.
For all that, their longevity alone makes them noteworthy.
It’s sad to see Welburn parroting the party line about the Suburban being the granddaddy of the SUV. Maybe so, but when I was growing up in the ’60s, the only Suburbans I ever saw were painted orange and were the property of the state Road Dept. The lineage simply isn’t that straightforward.
One should never put any credence in such lists, especially when they’re put forward by a company employee. They always slant it to fit their bias, and always smack of homerism–hence the 2010 Camaro comment. I remember several years ago when there was a vote for the most influential vehicle of the 20th Century, some hack from Chrysler came up with all sorts of unlikely Chrysler candidates for the honor–but not one non-Chrysler. The eventual winner–and I believe the correct one–was the Model T.
IN the 60s where I grew up we saw quite a few Jeep Wagoneers as well as the previous gen Willys Wagons. IH Travelalls and Scouts were not as ubiquitous, but they had their following. Those are the forerunners of the modern SUV, not the Suburban. It was rare to see a Suburban prior to the ’73 model, unless (as you pointed out) it was a RR vehicle. But even those were unusual, they mostly had crew cab pickups in NE PA. I’m not sure if they were 4x4s or if the convertible train wheel setup required the lift, or both.
Agreed. Willys, with the Brooks Stevens-designed Wagoneer, finally did what they tried with the first Jeepster: Make the Jeep, the four-wheel-drive vehicle, mainstream.
It started, in 1962, as a Suburban-style utility vehicle for parks departments and highway crews. With the Tuxedo Park style package, it moved into its niche – and AMC took the baton and ran with it, with their purchase of Jeep. The 1973 was exactly the same vehicle, only with innumerable family-car touches; and from 1974, it aimed for, and hit, the Country-Club market.
Long before the Subaru was even a novelty car in this country.
If I think back to my childhood and envision an Airstream trailer, my memory links it to a Jeep Wagoneer or an IH Travelall–the first generation with the rear styling that reminded you of a Country Squire wagon on steroids.
Somewhat off the subject–but what the hell–about ten years ago I was in Slidell, LA, and saw a Dodge 4-door pickup truck–but one from the ’60s-early ’70s generation. I just had to think, what is old is new again–there really is nothing new under the sun.
“but what the hell–about ten years ago I was in Slidell, LA, and saw a Dodge 4-door pickup truck–but one from the ’60s-early ’70s generation.”
They actually seem to have made a lot of those. They were near-ubiquitous in the Northern Ohio area in that time; seemingly, most were purchased by railroads or Highway Departments and sold as surplus after some years.
The styling (?) was hideous, with that cut-down door in the rear, with the two arcs on the door windows…front door, and again on the cut-down rear door made from a front…but obviously they were bought on the strength of Dodge’s reputation for ruggedness.
The Navy bought a lot of those old four-door Dodge pickups – we still see an old one now and then around here.
My dad had a ’60 Apache Stepside when I was growing up, and after having an ’89 for several years (he even continued to drive it after a tree fell on it and by all rights should have totaled it), now has an ’06 Z71–he’s always been of the opinion that a man should have a truck, preferably a Chevy. One of these days, I will find a nice Stepside and continue the tradition.
Your photo caption asks if the 88-98 C/K was the last reasonable size truck, and I’d mostly agree.
I would also point to the fact that 99% of new trucks sold today are 4×4, which amplifies the oversized look, particularly when coupled with all the oversized grilles, headlights, tailights, and fender flares.
It probably says something about my age that the ’48-54 Chevy trucks seem iconic to me. I think that’s because I knew two different families – both friends of my parents, but they didn’t know each other – who used a dark blue half-ton version as personal transportation, well ahead of later trends. Next on my list would be the 1967-72 trucks; I think this was the first series where GM had learned to put decent door hinges, handles, and latches on their trucks. The ex-Forest Service 1968 short narrow box 6-cylinder 4-speed truck I had was certainly solid after five or six years in the central Oregon backwoods. The 73-up generation was certainly long-lasting, and I liked my red ’76 Cheyenne short wide box truck; but these were definitely longer and higher than the previous generation. In general, though, I think that the seeming great size of contemporary big pickups is mostly caused by the fact that the great majority of them have longer cabs and/or long boxes. I don’t really think that my 2003 Chevy is all that much bigger than my 76 was, but admittedly there aren’t many of that configuration in the 2000-and-later trucks.
It was only around for a few years, but to me the sheer stoic size and utility of the early TopKick grills fills me with glee. It’s exactly what a truck looks like if you maximize function and drop form completely off the table. I want one of these grilles as a coffee table, actually.
You’re right, that would make a brilliant table!
Regarding reasonable size, I would say the ’97-’04 Fords were the last to come close, but I suppose that’s picking nits. I certainly agree that all the current models are too big. On my last (second-hand) truck purchase, I passed on a F-150 shortbed and bought a Ranger extended cab that cost more because I liked the Ranger’s size more.
I can agree with Welburn on all three of his truck choices. I have utmost respect for the red truck’s generation. It and the corresponding Fords still roam this area in large numbers. I find it very hard to argue with longevity.