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hewittca · 09-20-2016, 03:45 PM

Part 4, GMC Development/Concept Photos

In this photo set, I have something you will enjoy if you are a fan of the GMCs. In the original design photos from Part 1, you may have noticed that there was a two year gap in development photos for the Chevrolet starting after the formal presentation of the preliminary production ready '67 design in the auditorium in November 1964 (shown here again for reference).

There were several reasons for the lack of design progression on the Chevrolet pickup during '65 and '66. For one, they had already finalized the preproduction ready design for which tooling was to begin. During the tooling phase, however, the design studio was not taking it easy. They were in the process of designing the three main variants of the base pickups: GMCs, suburbans, and blazers. I will add photo sets for each of these, starting with the GMCs. Since the GMC is structurally based on the Chevrolet, the GMC design is focused exclusively on trim, grill, and paint design as you would expect.

-January 1965
We pick right back up in the auditorium with the first GMC specific design photos after the initial presentation of the Chevrolet design two months prior. You will note that these grill proposals are done on a suburban clay model, most likely to utilize one clay model for two design purposes (overall suburban shape and GMC front end treatments). The most obvious thing to note is that this initial grill design for the GMC is almost identical to the production grill to be used in '67.

-February 1965
The GMC grill is back in the studio for refinements, most likely after positive reception during the presentation one month earlier.

-April 1965
The grill is essentially in its production ready design at this point and out on the patio for display. They are also experimenting with several tailgate designs. In the last photo, note the fender exit exhaust and customized truck drawing on the wall!

-June 1965
Here is a unique cab top trim and paint option proposal for the GMC. Also notice that they were experimenting with integrated bumpers after the traditional bumper design shown two months earlier.

-September 1965
At this point, they had recycled the Chevrolet clay model to experiment with trim options for the GMC. Note the Roadster tops shown on the wall behind the truck are for the independent platform Blazer that was being developed at the same time.

-March 1967
We jump ahead over one year to early '67. During this time, tooling for the Chevrolet pickup variants has been completed and production has started on all models. The designers are now experimenting with updates for the '68 model year. Note the production '67 Chevrolet that has been modified to propose new paint, trim, and possible grill design. This modified Chevrolet was included in the GMC archive.

-June 1967
These pictures are of the production ready updates for the '68 GMC. Note there are still no marker lights on this design.

-July 1967
These photos show the proposed grill updates to accompany the new hood design for '69. Note the unique hood update proposed for GMC in the second photo and the tailgate update, both of which did not make it to production.

-August 1967
It appears that the first grill proposal and second hood design from the previous month were preferred, and here they are starting to model it.

-October 1967
Here they are experimenting with tailgate updates again. Also, notice that at the beginning of the month they were still working with the new grill update, however, by midmonth they also introduced a modified version of the 67/68 grill to fit the new hood design for '69. By the last photo, you can see that they have abandoned the new grill update and have gone with the modified 67/68 grill in this production ready design.

-July 1969
You will notice a two year gap between the last photos and this final photo showing the production ready update to the '71 GMC. For GMC, 69/70 shared the same grill, hence the lack of grill proposals during this time.

The '72 shared this modest grill update with the '71, so there was no further development on the design of the 67-72 GMCs. If you read Part 1, you know that by early '69 GM was already claying the next generation C10 slated to be a '72 model, so yearly updates to the current generation began to wind down, especially for the GMC. What I found most interesting from these GMC development photos was that they abandoned nearly all significant year to year updates despite putting quite a bit of effort into development, specifically for the proposed grill update for '69. I don't know what the reasoning was for this, but I speculate that they were just running out of time and money based off of the comments made by Harry Bradley in his interview.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of the development of the 67-72 GM trucks!

09-20-2016, 03:45 PM	#65
hewittca Registered User Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Mocksville, NC Posts: 1,726	67-72 Development/Concept Photos Galore! Part 4, GMC Development/Concept Photos In this photo set, I have something you will enjoy if you are a fan of the GMCs. In the original design photos from Part 1, you may have noticed that there was a two year gap in development photos for the Chevrolet starting after the formal presentation of the preliminary production ready '67 design in the auditorium in November 1964 (shown here again for reference). There were several reasons for the lack of design progression on the Chevrolet pickup during '65 and '66. For one, they had already finalized the preproduction ready design for which tooling was to begin. During the tooling phase, however, the design studio was not taking it easy. They were in the process of designing the three main variants of the base pickups: GMCs, suburbans, and blazers. I will add photo sets for each of these, starting with the GMCs. Since the GMC is structurally based on the Chevrolet, the GMC design is focused exclusively on trim, grill, and paint design as you would expect. -January 1965 We pick right back up in the auditorium with the first GMC specific design photos after the initial presentation of the Chevrolet design two months prior. You will note that these grill proposals are done on a suburban clay model, most likely to utilize one clay model for two design purposes (overall suburban shape and GMC front end treatments). The most obvious thing to note is that this initial grill design for the GMC is almost identical to the production grill to be used in '67. -February 1965 The GMC grill is back in the studio for refinements, most likely after positive reception during the presentation one month earlier. -April 1965 The grill is essentially in its production ready design at this point and out on the patio for display. They are also experimenting with several tailgate designs. In the last photo, note the fender exit exhaust and customized truck drawing on the wall! -June 1965 Here is a unique cab top trim and paint option proposal for the GMC. Also notice that they were experimenting with integrated bumpers after the traditional bumper design shown two months earlier. -September 1965 At this point, they had recycled the Chevrolet clay model to experiment with trim options for the GMC. Note the Roadster tops shown on the wall behind the truck are for the independent platform Blazer that was being developed at the same time. -March 1967 We jump ahead over one year to early '67. During this time, tooling for the Chevrolet pickup variants has been completed and production has started on all models. The designers are now experimenting with updates for the '68 model year. Note the production '67 Chevrolet that has been modified to propose new paint, trim, and possible grill design. This modified Chevrolet was included in the GMC archive. -June 1967 These pictures are of the production ready updates for the '68 GMC. Note there are still no marker lights on this design. -July 1967 These photos show the proposed grill updates to accompany the new hood design for '69. Note the unique hood update proposed for GMC in the second photo and the tailgate update, both of which did not make it to production. -August 1967 It appears that the first grill proposal and second hood design from the previous month were preferred, and here they are starting to model it. -October 1967 Here they are experimenting with tailgate updates again. Also, notice that at the beginning of the month they were still working with the new grill update, however, by midmonth they also introduced a modified version of the 67/68 grill to fit the new hood design for '69. By the last photo, you can see that they have abandoned the new grill update and have gone with the modified 67/68 grill in this production ready design. -July 1969 You will notice a two year gap between the last photos and this final photo showing the production ready update to the '71 GMC. For GMC, 69/70 shared the same grill, hence the lack of grill proposals during this time. The '72 shared this modest grill update with the '71, so there was no further development on the design of the 67-72 GMCs. If you read Part 1, you know that by early '69 GM was already claying the next generation C10 slated to be a '72 model, so yearly updates to the current generation began to wind down, especially for the GMC. What I found most interesting from these GMC development photos was that they abandoned nearly all significant year to year updates despite putting quite a bit of effort into development, specifically for the proposed grill update for '69. I don't know what the reasoning was for this, but I speculate that they were just running out of time and money based off of the comments made by Harry Bradley in his interview. I hope you enjoyed this installment of the development of the 67-72 GM trucks! __________________ Builds: Green Gus the 68 C10 ; Sullii the 72 1500 - Instagram: @dr.hewitt - C10 Concept/Development Photos: Master Thread Last edited by hewittca; 09-22-2016 at 10:20 AM.