Time has a way of sneaking up on you.
Can it have already been an entire generation since this handsome tu-toned beast rolled off the assembly line in Fort Wayne, Indiana? A cursory glance at the door jamb confirms it: “4/96”. Unbelievable.
I open the door to investigate further. A blue cloth interior? True, I haven’t seen that in a while.
Before climbing in, I glance back at the rear box side, and notice a dearth of gaudy “4×4” decals advertising its ability to get stuck further in a snowbank. That’s odd, too: I haven’t seen a 2-wheel-drive half-ton in some time.
I fire up the engine, with a key, which is something you insert into the steering col… never mind. As I detent the column shifter (and make a mental note that the lever appears to be some primitive mechanical linkage), and put into reverse, I am greeted with nary an electronic cavalcade of dingles and screens, only… a faint driveline clunk.
As I use my neck muscles to gaze over my shoulder to back out safely, then throw it into drive, distracted as I am by the lack of distractions, I note the benign neglect of this anachronism: no persistent chimes or buzzers to alert one to the antisocial act of not immediately buckling up.
I wave my smartphone (yes, even your humble scribe has lately succumbed) at the sea of black plastic knobs and dials, and am greeted with: nothing. It doesn’t know I have an Apple Albatross, and it doesn’t care.
Further along down the road, I see that my fuel gauge has dipped into red territory. Alarmingly, I am not notified with large red lights or sounds emanating from within the dash. As my windshield washer fluid sputters to a sad denouement, I again am cognizant of no warning that this fluid level has reached precipitous depths. How can this be?
I return from my harrowing journey, ruffled but unharmed by the lack of electronic aids to alert me of my impending vehicular doom.
Taking it all in now, indeed this must be a relic of the last century: a hulk of prehistoric progeny; a vision of a benighted age, when men could lean over the box sides and jawbone without spraining a shoulder muscle.
Yes, indeed, this thing is old. How did this happen so suddenly during its decade under my tutelage? Am I so out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.
Well spoken…said he who is driving to work in a chariot a year older!!!
My brother had, for many years, an ’88 Chevy with the same cab/bed combo. I miss half-ton trucks which didn’t have a blind spot when the driver looked forward.
These are one of my all time favourite pickups. I worked a GM dealership and these were our bread and butter, I have driven countless examples. At that time, GM pickups were by far the most popular trucks locally. These GMT-400s were generally great trucks. They were sized right and they had great driving manners. I’d love find a low mile rust free example to own.
This is a later model with the updated dash (came in 1995) and the much more powerful Vortec engines (came in 1996). The quality slipped a bit for these later ones and the Vortec engines were not as bulletproof as the TBIs, but they were way faster and got better fuel economy. Overall I think they were the best trucks of the time.
My Roadmaster had the ol’ ‘tibby’ 350… it was as rock-solid as you said. 274,000 km when I sold it, and didn’t leak a drop of oil.
The Vortec in this one has always had a bit of a idle surge… the spider injectors are known to clog up somewhat.
The GMT400s were easily the best overall truck in 1996. The Dodges were superior maybe in the coachwork, but fell down otherwise, and the Fords were still the old squarebodies (I like all of them, though).
I almost didn’t know if I should submit this to CC, since you still see lots of these on the road. But lordy, it’s a whole generation removed now.
Well said. I have a similar vintage Ford, my only truck so far, and it’s amazing what you DON’T need or miss when driving… do people really want to be assaulted by a barrage of warning lights and various beeps all the time? It reminds me of the din heard in a McDonalds kitchen, there are a lot of warning lights and buzzers, bells, beeps there too. Thankfullly, I don’t have to work at Mickey Ds and I don’t have to drive in one either.
My spouse recently acquired a 2018 Flex, which has a barrage of warnings and dingles, compared to her old 2011. It freaks her out, especially the reverse warnings.
It partly inspired me to write this up, struck as I was by the contrasts.
I just got a 2017 Flex and I think that design wise it’s great. Very roomy, comfy seats lots of load space and better fuel economy than my old Explorer. But is that thing loaded with electronic stuff! How long can all that stuff last? I bought and extended bumper to bumper warranty so I covered for the next seven years and 100,000 miles. That’s the best I can do, I’m just not going to worry about it. Electronic aids are great when they’re new, but think of how many laptops, tablets, and phones you’ve gone through in the last ten years.
My ’96 Mustang is about as simple as it’s going to get, even my stripper ’07 F150 has a couple of electronic things. They don’t build real simple machines anymore. By the way your truck looks great, and you’ve obviously maintained it well. Hold onto it.
The Flex is a wonderful vehicle: very utilitarian and space-efficient. So, naturally, Ford quit making them.
My spouse can load an incredible amount of cargo in it: it really is the spiritual successor to the station wagon.
They should’ve been 10x more popular than they were.
My father-in-law had an ‘89 GMC single cab with the 350/automatic that he bought new. It gave him great service for 10 years and when he traded it for a new F-150 in 1999 he got quite a good deal on it because it was still a good truck. He’s had a couple of newer GMC crew cabs (with the Duramax) since then, and they’re fine trucks, but I think the ‘89 is still his favourite of the bunch.
I don’t purport to speak for your FIL, but I think the purity of mission might be part of his fond remembrance.
The GMT400 trucks are still some of the best looking pickups of any time, in my eyes. Clean and modern (certainly so, in 1988), they have aged very well. I was admiring one recently while pumping gas, and I noted how low it was. The owner could easily reach over the side of the bed without having to deploy any fancy bed-side steps or anything.
Incidentally, by 2019 Kia Soul Base (yes, Base is really the trim name. I wanted a manual transmission, and that was the only way to get one) also has a distinct lack of chimes, dings, flashing lights, etc. Maybe my forced decision into the base model worked out just fine.
Incidentally x2, about an hour ago I was admiring a 1981-1985 Mercury Lynx parked in front of the house two doors down. It seems that someone just picked it up since it had a temporary tag in the window. Amazingly, here in Michigan, there was no obvious rust. As I sit her typing this I can still see it sitting at the curb. I would love to take it for a drive and relive my first car, that being a 1982 Escort.
Ah, the Man Step. What would we ever do without it?
To look at the style of this pickup, I see absolutely nothing that dates it. It is a beautiful clean piece of design. Big glass area, low waistline, totally functional, and none of the weird excrescences and appliques that seem to mar(k) modern designs.
Maybe that very cleanness IS what dates it.
Enormous generational changes in pickup trucks: 1960 and 1988. Both times, GM lead the pack. If there were revolutionary jumps in the design of pickups before that, I don’t know about ’em.
Far as I’m concerned, the GMT400 series pickups were all that were ever needed. They could go right back to them and I’d never miss the newer models. Yeah, the TBI engines were somewhat weak, as was the TH700R-4 and 8.5″ rear axle. But they didn’t all come with the 700 and the 8.5; all you needed to do was check the right boxes on the option list.
That looks like the 1995 I drove for 10 years and 200,000 miles. I wish I had it back.
That looks like the 1995 I drove for 10 years and 200,000 miles. I wish I had it back.
I have a 93 K1500 with 135,000 miles on it that is my daily driver. Overall I really like it. It suffers from the usual clear-coat failure on the roof and hood but is otherwise very clean.
This year has a very early ABS to the rear wheels only. The main complaint with this is a low mushy brake pedal. I’ve only had to make a couple of hard stops and though it did seem to work, stopping straight without locking, I didn’t like the rubbery sensation when I stood on the pedal.
It’s my first experience with the 350 tbi and it runs very smoothly but has it’s faults. It’s only rated at 210HP due to a very mild camshaft and restrictive heads. No other Chevy intake manifolds interchange with this one. I would like to improve the performance to tow a small trailer but it seems that replacing the engine is easier than trying to get more power out of this version of the 350.
It’s the largest vehicle I’ve ever owned and I have learned to be extra careful when maneuvering in parking lots or backing up. The bed sides are higher than any truck I’ve owned and underhood service requires some gymnastics. I would hate to own something as large as the current gigantic-transformer behemoths.
I agree that the exterior design of the 1996 GMC Sierra has aged very well.
The interior of this particular truck is in immaculate condition, and those blue cloth seats are a welcome change to what we see these days. My parents owned a 1998 Oldsmobile Bravada, and the steering wheel on that vehicle was identical to the steering wheel on Ryan’s truck.
However, what struck me the most about these photos was the absence of the (now former) GM logo on the seat belt buckles. Aside from Saturn and Geo, I figured that all GM seat belt buckles had the corporate logo on them in 1996. I know that my parents’ 1993 Cadillac DeVille did have them. The ’98 Bravada did not have them, but said fact is not too surprising since GM was desperate to remake Oldsmobile’s image at the time (so I was thinking that most of the other GM brands had seat belt buckles with the corporate logo until roughly 2000).
I think the metal GM-logo buckles went away with the 1995 refresh. This was a year (or so) of corporate-wide changes to instrument panels and other interior components.
My family’s 1992 C3500 dually used the new seatbelt buckle design, and perusing Google Images appears to show that all GMT400s had them starting with the first-year models in 1988. They were possibly the first GM vehicles to make the changeover.
Now that I think of it: you’re right. My Dad’s ’94 C1500 had them as well. I was thinking of my ’92 Roadmaster, which still had the old-style buckles (god bless ’em).
As the owner of a current generation 4Runner (relive 2003 new, today, at your Toyota dealer!), I applaud this. It is refreshing to step into a vehicle with a shallow learning curve–everything just works intuitively.
These post-refresh GMT 400 Sierras are some of the best looking pickups to ever rule the road. The front end is so clean tasteful and unpretentious. I wouldn’t mind that blue velour in my Toyota.
We had a ’93 C1500 with a blue cloth bench seat, but factory ordered, as all the lot were already gray back then. But, if you wanted bordello red, you could still order it. Tan was also available.
There is still a 2000 K2500 in the family fleet, last year of the GMT400, and it is still going strong with the 5.7/4L80E combo.
That is a strong combo, and the 5.7 Vortec is a “strong-enough” motor to work on the 3/4 tons.
Actually purchased one of these recently has a family hauler, 96 K1500 Suburban with a 5.7. Its got the bordello red interior and just about all the options, rear heat/AC, block heater, limited slip diff etc. But no leather, I don’t like leather and all the trucks with it have a trashed drivers seat. Ours, the driver seat just looks a little worn.
Drivetrain has been great, but I’m not impressed with GM’s build quality or design quality. Driver and passenger doors have sagged quite a bit and the interior has quite a few shakes and rattles.
The 02 Honda CR-V its replacing has 280k miles (vs 130k on this truck) and the interior/doors are still in very useable shape (worn from use and abuse) but still very tight.
I’m still happy with the purchase, but sagging doors are not something I’m happy to be dealing with.
Door bushings were a noted issue on this generation. He’s not paying me, but you can check out Vice Grip Garage on youtube for a ‘farmer’s fix’ for those doors.
Door sag? Really?
Every body shop in America can fix that, especially if you catch it early enough that the latch in the door doesn’t get goofy wear.
Every auto parts store in America sells D-I-Y pins-and-bushings kits for those with a greater sense of adventure.
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NDP6755164?partTypeName=Door+Hinge+Pin+and+Bushing+Kit&impressionRank=1&keywordInput=door+hinge
$10.29 + tax each.
I bought new a 1997 (build date 10/96) GMC single cab LWB, 350 with the 5 speed manual. It has almost 160,000 on it now. The window sticker is in the right door pocket.
I’ll part with it when I die.