[all photos by the author]
The Prius had given me great service over the past 3 years. It was fun to play with all the whizbangery, and 50MPG is nice to get. But it was giving me some warning signs (and occasionally, warning lights) of impending major expenses, and I decided to get rid of it while it was still worth something. I wanted to replace it with something completely opposite to a Prius, and I found this 2002 Chevrolet Silverado.
First, a brief model history. The GMT400 trucks were replaced for 1999 with a new truck, called “Silverado” in the higher trim versions, but with a designation of GMT800. This generation lasted through 2006, although some “fleet special” trucks were sold in the 2007 model year using the name “Silverado Classic”. There was a mid-cycle refresh for 2003, but GM did some de-contenting, most notably reverting to rear drum brakes from the rear discs that were standard equipment on the 1999-2002 models. I think that makes the 2002 model the one to have from this generation.
With a wad of cash in my hand, I went looking for a truck. I wanted to own something cheap, simple, and durable. I don’t know if I found this truck or it found me, but it pushed all the right buttons and levers for me. It had actually languished on several online sales venues for a month. What the seller told me was that he felt that nobody wanted a regular cab, RWD truck that was almost totally stripped out. But I did! Aside from the simplicity, one thing drew me in more than anything else:
As I had been looking at trucks for a bit, I’d noted that most trucks of this era were being sold with at or above 200,000 miles. Here’s hoping this one has another 105k of life in it! (side note of interest: these trucks also have a factory engine hour meter, and some math suggested it had not spent thousands of hours idling.)
The seller told me that he had purchased it near his family’s home in New Mexico, solely for the purpose of loading the bed and a U-Haul trailer full of personal belongings and driving it to his new home in Las Vegas. Not long after, he decided it was unsuitable for his needs, bought a car, and offered it up for sale.
As for the first owner? Your uncle. Also, my uncle.
With a little digging and research, I determined that this truck was used at the Mora Fish Hatchery in Mora, New Mexico. In its past life, it had a role in the restoration and recovery of the threatened Gila trout, a fish found only in the high desert and mountain watersheds of the American Southwest. Such a noble calling!
The government likes its trucks plain, and this one is no exception. As far as I can tell, this truck has precisely three factory options: 4L60E automatic transmission, cruise control (?!) and the Z85 “increased capacity chassis” package, which consists of the thickest front anti-sway bar I’ve ever seen and heavy-duty shock absorbers, sadly long since replaced. Once Uncle Sam got it in the driveway, he laid on his back and added a 2″ receiver hitch, trailer wiring, and a trailer brake controller. That’s all, nothing else. Rubber floor covering, manual windows, locks, and mirrors, and a somewhat beat-up vinyl bench seat.
I have to assume the USFWS isn’t in a hurry, because they only wanted the minimum number of cylinders, and that number is SIX. Here it is in all its glory, taking up very little space in an engine bay designed to hold 8.1 liters of V-8 fury:
It’s pretty banged up, as a work truck should be. The only panels that don’t have dents are the driver side door and the front fenders. There’s this particularly nasty gash on the passenger side:
And the bed looks like a truck bed should.
I’m sure our Northern readers will cringe at the missing paint. No worries here, for this is The Land That Rust Forgot™!
So what’s it like? I’ve only driven it a few hundred miles so far, and the honeymoon definitely is not over, but I love it! It’s just so honest and sincere. It brings me back to my first car, a Colonnade Malibu. The trim level and options set are about the same. Once again I have to take off my seat belt and lay over on my side to unlock the passenger door! In one regard, the truck is fancier than the Malibu was – whereas the Malibu only had an AM radio, the truck is all fancy and also includes FM radio! The truck has overdrive, though, and it gets 55 more horsepower from 88 fewer cubic inches. The fuel economy is about the same (the EPA says 14/17 for the truck) and interestingly, so is the curb weight, right around 4000 pounds. I think I’ll enjoy this one for a while, and when I no longer do, somebody always needs a beater work truck.
I like this truck, it’s one of the most handsome designs in truck-dom of the last three decades, in my own opinion. And the design works well in white basic form.
Easy to see out of, relatively economical for a truck, easy to get fixed on every other corner should the need arise, and sure to hold its value at this point, in short, what’s not to like? You can even advertise the seats as “leather” should you decide to sell it, as do many others.
Now you just need to get some stuff so that bed is filled 24/7. 🙂
Thanks for sharing, that’s quite the pivot!
“Genuine GM-Tex upholstery,” perhaps?
Great looking truck! Base model RCLB built for work, from before truck design butched up to the point of self-parody.
I love these sorts of things, even with the V6 – it should have enough power to take care of anything the truck is expected to do.
The City of Houston is constantly auctioning these off but they are uuuuused up to the point where they typically barely have a drivers’ seat anymore. Usually the catalytic converter has been crudely hacked away too.
How much can something like this carry? I know it’s a bit under-built for all but the absolute lightest slide-in campers, but it could still be fitted with a nice topper for some primitive fair-weather boondocking.
Previous generation C1500 had 5600 and 6100lb GVWR. With a curb weight just under 4000lb, a surprising amount of cargo can go in that eight foot bed. This one cant be much different.
GVWR is 6400lbs on this one. With a curb weight of ~4000 lbs, I could literally haul a ton in the bed. Right after I got it, I helped a buddy by carrying 1000lbs of calibrated weights. I could certainly feel its presence, but the truck moved just fine.
Since older 6-cylinder trucks made due just fine with ~100hp, 200 ought to be plenty. The old ones were geared low to do that, so they were highway screamers. With 200hp and overdrive, this one loafs down the highway.
My ’93 C1500 had the 160hp TBI V-6 and optional 3.42 gears, 3.08 standard, and 4L60E. It worked just fine, even medium (3000lb) towing over mountain passes.
A reflection of the pickup boom, if ever there was one.
The errand truck for the small company I last worked for was a 2500 standard cab of this vintage with an unsplit vinyl bench whose back didn’t latch. At a major intersection, an ambulance used its lights but not its siren to cross in front of me, so I stopped, but the minivan behind me didn’t ’til too late. I braced against the seatback at the brake screech and then bang–the back window was all around me, and I was sure the truck was wrecked. There was a tiny dent in the bumper. The head restraints had smashed the window. Halfway home, I had to pull over and cry out the glass dust in one eye.
The cop filed the report with the vehicles reversed, which screwed up the boss’s insurance claim. A bunch of calls and a visit to him failed, but a call to Internal Affairs got it fixed in an hour. Then they find out the other car’s insurance was bogus. At least her radiator was smashed.
I’m curious as to what the suspected problems were with the Prius?
I’m not surprised it took a while to sell, regular cabs just aren’t desired by the daily driver crowd while the V6 limits the appeal to those looking for a cheap truck to work hard. The lack of 4wd doesn’t help either.
All the better for you though as it should have a lot of hard working years left in it. Should the need for repairs happen the parts are cheap and plentiful and everything is pretty simple.
The average vehicle travels an average of 33 mph and that number is often used in determining the service intervals on a fleet vehicle that idles more than just at stop lights and the drive through line. So 2,850 hrs would be expected with that mileage.
Hours meters are pretty common in pickups now. When I picked up my current, ex state owned, F-250 the low hrs for the miles definitely was a selling point, due its previous vocation and the manual transmission. It was assigned to EYC Central region where I thought it was highly likely that supervisors might like to hang out in the air conditioned cab instead of being out in the sun and heat. The math however said it averaged ~50mph which made me happy. https://ecology.wa.gov/Waste-Toxics/Solid-waste-litter/Litter/Ecology-Youth-Corps
Scout, there was a one-time illumination of the brake actuator warning light. That means failure is pending. It’s a $1300 part, available only from Toyota. Used ones are a total crapshoot, and they aren’t rebuildable.
Your suggestion about the hour meter is spot on. I don’t remember the exact figure, but it is under 2900 hours.
Count me as another who likes your truck. I think it may be just a clutch pedal away for truck perfection for me.
I still remember ogling over the first one of these I ever saw – at a weekend cub scout campout one of the kids and his dad drove up in one of these, so new that none of the rest of us had seen one yet. He was a dentist and bought it on a whim, metallic burgundy in a high-trim, high-equipment version.
You are in a great climate – these tended to rust faster than the prior generation.
I really like this generation of Chevrolet truck. The gargantuan size of modern trucks hadn’t started yet, making them useful work vehicles.
With such a simple power train it has many years of life left in it.
I actually prefer rear drum brakes on these. The parking brake mechanism is simple and familiar, wheel cylinders are easier and cheaper than calipers to replace, and in all my years of owning light trucks, I have never felt that my rear drums were functionally inferior to disk brakes. Most of us don’t carry heavy loads continuously, so the rear brakes don’t normally work hard anyway. Just an old farm boy cheapskate!
“…when the all-new GMT400 trucks were introduced for 1988, “Silverado” became the model name Chevrolet used for full-size trucks.”
Not so. Cheyenne, Scottsdale and Silverado were still the trim levels, with the mid 1990’s Cheyenne sub model W/T [work truck] below that. I had one of those, Cheyenne emblem, but with black rubber floor and the rear bumper, spare and radio all optional. My current 2000 K2500 has no model or trim identification except 2500. At the parts stores I have to say “NOT a Silverado”, or they give me the wrong GMT800 part.
Oops! Duly noted.
This is a pretty common mistake with the GMT400s as GMC rebranded its truck line as Sierras in 1988, but Chevrolet held off until the 1999 intro of the GMT800s to follow suit with the Silverado name.
Count me in as one of those who as a kid in the ’90s and ’00s thought every Chevy pickup was Silverado. I blame the “Like a Rock” commercials that were all over the airwaves at the time.
The GMC version of my truck was called a Sierra Classic, meaning the old style.
And…you can open the hood and do most of your work in the engine room without a ladder.
Love the truck. I have always had one of these around…my 2003 Tundra regular cab is much like this. With 240k and still in great shape. My son has it in now and I miss it. I have considered a used municipal truck like this until he gets done needing it. I might as well get one….he loves it as much as I, and is smart enough to keep it.
Nice ‘n simple. Some friends of ours just bought a similar rig, but in 4WD, as a third vehicle and really like it. Another has one very much like yours: white, short cab, 2WD, V6, beat to holy hell. He likes his too.
I’ve spent a bit of time behind the wheel of this generation as field vehicles, but they were an 8.1 V8 3500 (single axle) and a diesel GMC Sierra 2500. I liked the diesel and the almost-classy GMC vibe, it was quiet and effortless and pleasant and had quality black velour seating fabric.
The 8.1 was more basic and bought for others to do big-boy work, but I primarily used it as transportation and with a bed full of field gear which didn’t require an 8.1 liter V8 to move. Mixed feelings about it. The tweed burlap seats had no thigh support and were uncomfortable, the engine might have been able to tow a small house just off idle, but unladen it felt like a sodden recalcitrant low-revving lump that somehow couldn’t keep up with a Frontier down the onramp. 8.1 liters to produce 320hp, no wonder. It returned 14mpg empty. The interior plastics and switchgear were the worst I’ve personally ever seen in a vehicle, and that includes a $10K Versa. It’s safe to say I’m not judging it by the appropriate metrics. Good work truck, bad daily driver.
As time has gone on, I’ve appreciated the clean, no-nonsense looks of this truck. I still see a lot of them on the road, so GM must have done something right with these.
The only good rust is no rust! Here in Michigan, a local body shop keeps plenty busy repairing rockers and cab corners on these and their successors. My aunt recently sold my late uncle’s ’99 that was far more banged up than yours; it was still going. Looks like a good buy.
Congratulations.
Looks like a good one.
May I suggest the first accessory upgrade?
A crankshaft position sensor, and the tools to change it in the glove box.
We had the GMC version of this in a surveying company – 4.3 V6, auto, and that was it. What a great truck. Everyone loved using it and it stood up to lots of abuse (but no heavy loads). I cannot recall hom many miles it had but it was a lot. When we sold the company the truck went with it and the new owners son managed to total it pretty quickly.
That bed doesn’t look any worse than my 2002 F150’s bed. My truck started life with a glass company but is pretty low mileage for its age. In contrast to your ex G ride mine is almost sybaritic with leather seats and power windows, mirrors and locks but I think it did double duty as the boss’s weekend toy.
I special ordered a 2000 Silverado 2wd black shortbed stepside (sportside in Chevy lingo by that time)….It had the LS package with power seats, windows, locks, etc.
I ordered it with the 4.3 V6 which was rated at 200 HP, along with the 5 speed manual and 3.08 rear axle ratio…..I did alot of highway driving and put 146,000 miles on it in 5 years before hydroplaning in heavy rain one day and totalling it hitting a tree.
I was considering ordering a new one to replace it, but by then it was 2004 and Chevy had replaced the front clip on the Silverados with the squared off style similar to what was on the Avalanche SUV.
I preferred the simpler front end on the ’99-’02 Silverados.
GMC did not do a radical mid cycle refresh like Chevy did and kept the ’99 style front ends on their trucks through 2006 and I was considering ordering a Sportside from GMC but ended up buying a new 2005 Impala off the lot and put 251,000 miles on that instead.
Several Silverados in this same config (or maybe with the 4.8L V8) were the backbone of the Parks & Rec fleet where I worked one summer, some with Tommy Gates for loading mowers. They were always preferred over the narrow Rangers and S-10s if you had to take a crew of 3 to a weed-trimming job. The head groundskeeper of each park got to ride around in a 4WD F-150, still a base model regular cab.
Love the truck! You’ll get lots of miles out of it. My Father In Law went to buy a new truck in 2002 and wanted the most basic one he could find. He ended up with one just like this but it was an extended cab and had gray cloth seats. Otherwise pretty much equipped like yours. He was rather unusual in that he always owned both a car and a truck and his taste in cars always was for a very well equipped luxury car but his trucks were always basic. At the time of his passing in 2007, we inherited the Silverado which by then had barely covered 12,000 miles. When we sold it in 2016, it had just a hair under 201,000 miles on it. Other than routine maintenance, we replaced the heater switch, intake manifold gasket and fuel pump. All well after the 150,000 mile mark. It was still running great when we sold it. I’ve seen it still running around as of a year ago.
Nice truck. I bought (new) a 2004 Titan total base 4×2 pickup, extended cab. No single cab was available. I did add a receiver hitch, spray in bedliner and rubber floor mats. It did come with carpeted floor mats and splash guards, the only two options. I picked up a set of factory alloys with tires that were take offs for $200 to replace the steel wheels and skinny tires.
It came with full carpeting and headliner, front bumper was painted body color, rear painted silver. Manual windows, mirrors and locks, a long reach to the door lock lever located in the inside release handle for sure! Does have tilt, AC, cruise control, 4 wheel disc, ABS, EBD, full instrumentation and a brake controlled traction system built in (no on-off switch). Also has radio with single disc CD player. It can carry 6 people although the front center passenger only gets a lap belt. It really doesn’t look like a total stripper from the outside with the base steelies gone.
Later base model Titans looked the part, they came with rubber floor coverings, black plastic grills, no cruise, simplified instrument panel with only speedo, fuel gauge and idiot lights, I think tilt was also removed, not sure about that. Its been a good truck but I’ve only put about a thousand miles a year on it, about 17k miles. I would have preferred manual trans, but the same 5 speed auto and 305 HP 5.6 V8 was the only power train available regardless of trim level, which to me was another plus to the amount of content it offered for a low base price.
Compared to the 1970 C10 stripper it replaced with Armstrong steering, 3 on tree, no radio, 200 (gross) HP 307 V8 and manual drum brakes, it was a huge upgrade. Hard to believe its been 16 years since I bought it, replaced the battery at age 12, otherwise its been trouble free, l plan on keeping it as long as I can still drive.
Got it for 5k under sticker because base doesn’t sell.
“the honeymoon definitely is not over, but I love it!”
Drop-kicked a Prius, picked-up a real vehicle? I bet you love it!
Was so pleased to see this Silverado, I finally subscribed to this website. I own this truck. My 2000 is white, and plain as an old Biscayne. No cruise or heavy duty suspension for me, but I do have a grey “cloth” interior. My grandfather bought it new, I held it in contempt for its stripper status. When I inherited it 7 years ago, it sported 60k miles. It now has 140k, and I want to drive it forever. Never knew it had rear disks till you stated such. Had to go look to verify! Time was needed to learn how do drive it to my satisfaction. That transmission is dedicated to the mission of forcing a 350 V8 to run under 2000 rpm’s, where the 6 is gutless. Now, the tow/haul button is pressed every time we start. Wish it could default to that. Also, unless on the freeway, we cruise on “3” rather than “D”. Finally, accelerating from stop in “1” , then manually upshifting to 2 and leaving it there provided a satisfying around town drive. The truck wants to rev. Hope you love yours as I do mine! Regards.