73-87 Development/Concept Photos

[hewittca]

Introduction

Hi everyone. I typically spend most of my time over on the 67-72 board, but recently I came across some photos and information that I think you would enjoy over here on the 73-87 board. I spent a good amount of time searching for and documenting development and concept photos for the first and second generation C10's, and in my search I also came across some photos for the 73-87 trucks. These photos depict the development of what was supposed to be the new-for-1972 third generation C10, however, production got pushed back to '73 as we now know. Speculation over on the 67-72 board was that the truck looked too similar to the newly released '72 Dodge D100, so Chevrolet went back to the drawing board to redesign the truck we ended up with in '73. I hope you enjoy this look into the development of these trucks.

Disclaimer

Of course, I must state that these are property of GM and I have been given permission to share these with you in a public forum format. PLEASE don't do anything with these photos that would result in requested removal by GM. This essentially means that these photos are for "reference" only and may not be used in any profitable way.

-January 1969
In early '69, GM was testing clay models of what was supposed to be the next generation C10 released in 1972. From these images, you can see the early "squarebody" design is quite a bit different than the production version.



-March-May 1969
Here you can see that GM was experimenting with several different side profile designs. The first nose design is very simple, but the design shown in the last photo here is much more similar to what ended up in production












-June 1969
Experimenting with more design proposals, but still quite a bit different than the production version for '73. Note that the plates on these read "72 Chevrolet Pickup".









-August 1969
In this final set of photos, you can see that even in mid '69 they were still planning on releasing the next generation in '72. The 67-72 truck shown here is a '71 grill update proposal for what was supposed to be the last year of production for this bodystyle. The next generation truck is very similar to the production version '73 except for the prominent lower body lines seen on this proposal.






I am still gathering information and photos on this generation and as I acquire it I will add to this thread. I hope you all enjoyed these photos and if you are interested in seeing the photos for the first two generations, check my signature for the links. That's it for now!

[Nick_R_23]

Very interesting! That concept really reminds me of the LUV pickup. I wonder if this design influenced it?

[bigblock73]

Those are cool, thanks for sharing. Here are some more recent clay model pics I received from GM a few years ago.

http://73-87.com/7387info/Clay%20Models.htm

[GM72K10]

Thanks for Sharing!

[S10Fan]

Looks like a Dodge truck of that era.

[rusty76]

Cool to see the mind set of GM

[Flying Hamster]

Somehow, Dodge got a hold of those first few designs pictured...

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by S10Fan

Looks like a Dodge truck of that era.

Originally Posted by Flying Hamster

Somehow, Dodge got a hold of those first few designs pictured...

Blasphemers.

The 73 GM CK and the 72 Dodge WD trucks are really similar. It doesn't take much to make one into the other does it.

[lilpoindexter]

Cool pics...but i'm glad GM kept going until the final iteration of the design.

[mongocanfly]

That's scary how much that looks like a dodge...im sure glad they went back to the drawing board

[friscobob]

I see some S10 in there too. Wish Chevy had kept the pick up low and retained the all coil spring suspension.
Bob

[cheepin]

The first versions remind me of the 67-72 El Camino.

[moregrip]

whoa!! thanks for the share!

[LT7A]

That's pretty fascinating, thanks for compiling those. It's weird to look at those photos of trucks that have similarities to the shape that we know so well, but they're not quite "right". I'm glad they kept going until they got to the integrated design that has looked good for 40 plus years.

[cryowagon]

Thanks for posting these hewittca! It'd be neat to see some later square body development photos. There had to be hundreds of update ideas for these trucks over the 19 years they were produced. Probably a proposed new body style or two before the GMT 400's were conceived. I bet Keith Seymour has seen things that would blow the average GM truck fans mind!

[hewittca]

Development, Part 2

I tried to find some photos on the development of the midcylce refresh that GM did on these trucks in 1981, but unfortunately the GM Heritage Center did not have anything from this time period. The only thing they were able to find were some extra photos on the development of the original design for '73. Some of these have been shared before on 73-87.com, and some are new. These pick up after the last photo from Part 1 posted above.

-November 1969
By this time, GM was focusing on the later design proposal for the next generation C10 after abandoning the early design. Up to this point, the third generation C10 was labeled as a '72, but GM pushed back the release and subsequent concepts were labeled as a '73 model. The first concept drawing shares similarities with the clay model from August '69 with some variations. The second drawing appears to mostly be a styling exercise as it does not share any similarities with the working model at the time. It is an interesting design, however, and I think it draws on styling ques from the first generation C10.




-December 1969
By the end of '69, GM had mostly settled on the overall design of the '73 truck, and was sorting out several smaller design elements. You will notice here that the interesting lower body line from the earlier concept is gone in favor of a more subtle body line. They were also prototyping a more curved windshield design and a split grill treatment.





-January 1970
This clay model is the same one from the last photo in Dec '69 with a few more details modeled out, and even a proposed SS option! Note the Ford in the studio for comparison.




-February 1970
At this point, GM decided to go with a more traditional grill and give up on the split grill design for the Chevrolet. The interesting thing to note here is the hood/cowl design which did not make it to production.



-March 1970
Although GM gave up on the split grill for the Chevrolet, it was still being proposed for the GMC. We now know it wouldn't make it to production, but it was an interesting variation that would have made the GMC more distinct from the Chevy. I also think it would have made a more logical evolution of the GMC to follow the grill design of the 67-72 GMC, but who am I to make these decisions. Also notice the "Upfront" license plates. Throughout this entire photo set, you will notice references to the "Upfront 70's". It appears this may have been some sort of inspirational design vision or proposed advertisement direction, but I could not find any outside reference to this.





-July 1970
This clay model outside for presentation is very close to the final production design. You will notice several differences like the body line around the wheel openings, different marker light position, and the extra lights below the rear window.





-October 1970
These last photos draw on the Upfront 70's vision with some proposed paint schemes. Notice the interesting double side trim in the first photo.




At this point, that's all I have for the development of the 73-87 pickups. I will, however, continue to search for anything on the '81 refresh since that is an important element to the development of these trucks.

[nekkidhillbilly]

some look like fords and some look like dodges

[84chevyguyid]

Thats some cool history! Thanks for sharing those!

[Keith Seymore]

Thanks again for posting.

It's interesting to me to see how early some of the pieces got solidified: by 1970 the headlight bezels are pretty close to what went into production. Also - it looks like we are getting some early glimpses of what would become the rally wheel (with the square slots).

I remember the changeover from the front end refresh in '81, from the assembly plant perspective. (I remember, too, when TBI was introduced. I thought "man - I will be glad when this is over!").

K

[truckin 79]

If you look there is a Ford Truck in a couple of those photos so they must have been copying some of the body lines and that is probably some of those renditions look Ford like. Cool thread and am some glad they settled on a good design instead of some of those earlier versions.

[Damien]

The "Curved Design" name makes a little more sense no after seeing the development photos.

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by Damien

The "Curved Design" name makes a little more sense no after seeing the development photos.

That's true, even if they did square up a few of the early prototype curves. There's a good post here by Enceladus with some information behind the "Rounded Line" moniker that was supposedly used internally by GM during development. Based on the dates from all the photos in this post, I do believe the 1968 wind tunnel photos in that post were actually from later on, maybe '71 or '72, but other than that, the thread itself is worth reading and contains some nuanced discussion about where the Rounded Line vs Squarebody names came from and if either was ever officially used.

[Axle]

Thats pretty cool. You can see some elements in those photos that surfaced in later vehicle designs.

[Oldriginal86]

If they had kept the '72 hood line from the concept truck it would have cured the kink we all live with now. Maybe it was more difficult to manufacture. But it would have possibly eliminated the guillotine effect. This a great thread!

[Hiluxxulih]

Neat post , the production of a vehicle is mind boggling with having to make presses and dies for all the production processes .