1972 GMC Sierra grande secret door?

[Drewbee]

Can anyone tell me what this little door is? It’s by my feet on the drivers side. It’s opened and closed by a little knob right under the dash and it looks factory but I can’t say I’ve seen anything like that in others trucks so it’s got me curious.

[Drewbee]

Sorry the picture rotated.

[rockyrivermark]

Air vent.
One of those old cool features
Mark

[Drewbee]

Hmm I thought it might be but couldn’t easily tell how the air comes through. Yeah I still love the floor foot switch for the low and high beam headlights. I don’t know why they haven’t kept that feature for newer trucks.

[truckster]

It brings in air from the cowl area when you open it up.

[Barnfind46]

Funny how the things I grew up with have been gone from modern cars so long that I forget that a lot of grown people may have never seen them. Most of the kids today have never seen windows that crank up. I suppose at some point people will not understand cars with real metal keys. Crap now I feel old!

[4carbcorvair]

Both of my boys, 16 and 12 are usually the only ones in their class that have experienced vehicles with crank windows, vents, vent windows, no air bags or ABS. Have watched VHS tapes listened to records and have actually used a rotary telephone. LOL

[Myoldtruck]

Dont forget you have to manually turn off head lights when you get out of the truck. Damm I forgot to turn them off today, battery on tender for a hour tonight.

[100%Chevy]

My wife and I were driving down the road when she asked"What's this for?".
I said "Pull it.!"
She won't ride in it anymore!
A lot of dirt and dust came out!
Mike.

[rpmerf]

If you have AC, the one on the passenger's side gets used for recirculation. Vacuum opens the vent on the kickpanel, and closes a door in the cowl area so the HVAC fan pulls from the kick panel rather than the cowl area. Really interesting to see it all in action.

[Quikshft]

Originally Posted by 100%Chevy

My wife and I were driving down the road when she asked"What's this for?".
I said "Pull it.!"
She won't ride in it anymore!
A lot of dirt and dust came out!
Mike.

The first time I opened mine I had a swirling tornado of leaves and other debris inside my cab. But, I wanted the duct cleared out so I could use it on a hot day.

[Sawlog]

I use mine a lot, I have a ball valve on one of my heater hoses that I en in the winter. Don't need to turn the blower on, enough heat comes out anyway. I open the vent when my 7 year old son starts telling me it's too hot in here. Lol
He calls our 69 a older day truck. He was just asking me the other day why it doesn't have airbags.
I tried to explain to him that was I was a kid we didn't have car seats or use seatbelts. We could lay on the floor board of we wanted too. He looked at me like I was nuts! Kids crack me up, love there innocent questions.

[dell72]

I thought the OP was kidding at first. We take for granted what was once common knowledge is now totally foreign to younger generations. I guess when you're a gearhead your kids are exposed to older cars and become familiar with features where as others discover these uniquities later in life. Good question by the OP

[Drewbee]

Ha yeah I’d like to say I’m a youngin at 36. 😀 Guess you can still teach a middle age dog new tricks? This one does have a/c which kinda surprised me too as I realize most people bought these trucks to work so a/c was kind of a luxury then. However I bet if GM built this same truck today with a 5.3 with radio and a/c for 20k theyd probably sell quicker than they can build.

[Coley]

Originally Posted by 100%Chevy

My wife and I were driving down the road when she asked"What's this for?".
I said "Pull it.!"
She won't ride in it anymore!
A lot of dirt and dust came out!
Mike.

...I thought you were going to say your finger, lol.

Coley

[cypressbog]

Originally Posted by Barnfind46

Most of the kids today have never seen windows that crank up.

Originally Posted by 4carbcorvair

Both of my boys, 16 and 12 are usually the only ones in their class that have experienced vehicles with crank windows

You can still buy a brand new vehicle that has roll up windows. A base model Jeep Wrangler comes with roll up windows.

[firedemon]

first time I open mine the cab filled with bees driving down the road bout 30 of them I am allergic stopped in the middle of the road and got out cars honking it was fun heart rate way up

[burnin oil]

Dont feel bad guys. My 72 has been a daily driver since I bought it about 5 years ago. 2 years ago I took it to Texas and it was late fall in the low 60s. After 2 months it dropped down to 8 degrees and I was freezing! My right foot was numb and I could feel the cold air by the heater vent under the center dash. I was shoving rags in every hole on the firewall including around the clutch linkage. A couple days later I realized that the kick vent was open and the air was blowing over my legs, hitting the heater, then bouncing back onto the gas pedal area. I gave myself the Darwin award! Sadly 3/4s of my vehicles have been trucks from the mid 70s back. It happens to the best of us.

[burnin oil]

Originally Posted by firedemon

first time I open mine the cab filled with bees driving down the road bout 30 of them I am allergic stopped in the middle of the road and got out cars honking it was fun heart rate way up

That reminds me of two stories.
First one. About 25 years ago my dad bought a 62 chevy 1 ton flat bed for a farm truck. We were driving it home with the windows down in mid July. My dad looked at me and said pop the glove box and see whats inside. Well there was a freshly molted rattle snake skin in there flapping in the wind. I almost jumped out of the truck door at 45MPH.
Second. My neighbors buddy asked him to help him go repo an RV. The old couple were really nice and handed them the keys so they take off down the road with my neighbor following the RV. About 30 minutes later the RV started swerving. A field mouse was living in the duct work and came running out the defroster vent closely followed by a snake. They went across the dash, back down the vent and popped back up on the other side again. apperantly this went on for several minutes before the poor guy could get the RV off the road.

[outfield]

I just heard a real 911 caller; her battery went dead and she could not open her door, from the inside! The 911 operator repeated what she said, emphasizing "you are locked in the car?" Then the operated asked "do you see a knob sticking up on the door?". She said "Yes". Operator said "Pull the knob up and open the door".

Funny stuff!

[burnin oil]

I had a coworker walk up on a girl in a parking lot that was crying because she was locked out of her car. The batteries in the remote had died. He kindly took her keys and unlocked it the old fashioned way. The girl was amazed that the key could do that and always wondered what that round thing next to the handle was. Times have changed.