60-66 Development/ Concept Photos!

[hewittca]

Introduction

Hi everyone. I typically don't post over here since I have a '68 C10, but I do believe I have something to share with you that you will enjoy. If you've been over to the 67-72 board, you may have seen my post containing a stash of development and concept photos that I uncovered for the design of the 67-72 trucks (if not, here's the link). Well, as I dug deeper into the archives with the help of the GM Heritage Center, I also came across the development/concept photos for the 60-66 C series trucks. As with the 67-72 thread, I wanted to share these with everyone since I don't think they have ever been published before. I have organized them by month/year and have added some commentary based on information I've gathered and my own observations.

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.

Contents

Part 1: 60-66 Chevrolet Truck Development/Concept Photos
Part 2: 60-66 GMC Development/Concept Photos
Part 3: 60-66 Suburbans & Panels

Part 1, 60-66 Chevrolet Truck Development/Concept Photos

-November 1957
The earliest clay model photos I have found are dated back to early '57. As you can see here, the basic shape of the first generation C series trucks was already established. The most interesting thing to note here are the early front end designs they were experimenting with. I noticed the second front end treatment shares similar details to what went into production on the Impala. Clearly there was collaboration between the divisions within GM.







-May 1958
Six months later it appears they were narrowing in on what would become the design for the production '60. the main difference to note here is the cab/windshield design.








-April/May 1959
There is a one year gap between the previous photos and this set, most likely because they had arrived at the overall final production design as you can see in the last photo from May '58 and they were just doing minor revisions and tooling for the production design. It appears in this set of photos they were still experimenting with a few different grill designs and paint options, but at this point we are very close to start of production.






-October 1959
By this point, the first '60 C series trucks were rolling off the production line while GM was experimenting with trim and paint option updates for the '61 model year.







-January 1960
From this pair of early '60 photos, you can see that GM was toying with the idea of updating the hood.




-April/May 1960
In this next set of photos, it appears they had settled on a design for the updated '62 hood and were experimenting with several grill proposals. They also had a production '61 C10 for comparison in the first three photos.









-August/September 1960
GM was still experimenting with grill designs in September '60 for the refreshed '62 model year.




-May 1961
By this time, GM was going back to clay models for another proposed refresh of the 60-66 C10, this one most likely for the '64 model year. As we know now, this refresh would not make it to production, but I do not know why. Also, note the very futuristic truck concept drawings on the walls.





-July 1961
By July, the proposed refresh model was completed. You will notice some differences between this version and the clay model in the previous set of photos. As we know again, this refresh would never make it to production. The stepside shown was a production model '62, most likely for comparison.









-December 1961
This appears to be a production ready '63 with the proposed grill update.









-April/May 1962
In April '62 they were experimenting with grill updates for the '64 model year. By May '62, they settled on the updated grill for '64 and were experimenting with new molding packages. Note the strange trim proposal here. Also note that the only surviving feature of the proposed refresh shown in the clay model of July '61 is the new windshield design.






-April-June 1963 (next generation C10)
By April '63, GM had already put into clay the proposed design of the next generation C10 to be released as a '67. I'm not positive, but this possibly played a role in abandoning the refresh of the current generation shown in the clay model of July '61. I will only share a few photos here. If you want to see the rest of the development of the 67-72 truck, see my thread here.





-September-November 1963
With the development of the 67-72 trucks in full swing, the 60-66 trucks were relegated to minor updates for the remainder of its production run. These photos show a proposed grill update for the '65 model year.








I quite like this proposed grill for '65, but as we know it would not make it to production and GM would ride out the '64 grill design through to the end of production for this generation C10. That being the case, there are no more development photos for the 60-66 trucks. I hope you have enjoyed these photos and seeing some of the designs that didn't make it to production!

[wjjeeper]

Very cool!!

[curvedglass]

I have been looking for concept pictures for the last two years. This is AWESOME!

Those last few pics that show the first cut at the 67's - does anyone else see an Olds cutlass influence!

[62stepside longbox]

Thanks so much for posting these, some extremely cool and funky designs here that would look pretty cool on our trucks. I saw at least 3 or 4 concept grilles that I think would look great on my truck, probably still one or two kicking around in some gm executives collection that he'll try to sell for $100000 lol

[Mathew21]

Awesome pictures, Thanks for sharing.

[Keith Seymore]

Thanks again for posting all those.

I have mentioned this before, but my dad made the die to mass produce that '64 grille.

K

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Thanks again for posting all those.

I have mentioned this before, but my dad made the die to mass produce that '64 grille.

K

Wow, that is awesome! That also brings up another question I've always had. How did they make a die to mass produce the body panels? And how did they make the original that the die is based off of? Were they hand sculpted? If so, how did they ensure symmetrical parts (left/right fenders, etc.) were truly symmetrical??

[TJ's Chevy]

Man that was neat! There are a couple concepts that would have been neat to be in production, but man....some of them were just Weird. haha Thanks for posting!

[cv65]

made my day,thanks for posting

[factorystock]

Thanks again for posting all these developmental photos, all your efforts are appreciated! As a student of history, you can never learn enough! Glad to see GM went with the right look in the final analysis. Interesting to see how early new designs are set into place after the introduction of the last series, until the square door ('73-'87 or '91 some models) came upon the scene.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by hewittca

Wow, that is awesome! That also brings up another question I've always had. How did they make a die to mass produce the body panels? And how did they make the original that the die is based off of? Were they hand sculpted? If so, how did they ensure symmetrical parts (left/right fenders, etc.) were truly symmetrical??

Back then they used mechanical drawings (on paper), with sections cut through the cross section at various intervals. Then they would physically machine the dies based on that information.

The data came off the clay sculpture by using a "bridge" (like a beam over the car) as a reference and picking the xyz coordinates of specific points or features.

After you have a master you can reproduce it into new dies (or mirror them to create a symmetrically opposite part) using a "Keller" machine.

Today we do it all with math data (3D data generated from computer software). The math can be used to make the physical part directly, through 3D printing or CNC machining, or to make the die/mold/tool.

K

[Ol Blue K20]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together and post it here.

[The Rocknrod]

Wow - Those are very cool! I see a Nova front end here:

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Wow - Those are very cool! I see a Nova front end here:

Looks like a Rambler to me...

K

[forestb]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Looks like a Rambler to me...

K

I thought it looked like a falcon.
I am glad they chose the ones they did

[1963c-10]

Originally Posted by forestb

I thought it looked like a falcon.
I am glad they chose the ones they did

I was thinking that also....especially that one concept 63 grill.

[The Rocknrod]

Originally Posted by forestb

I thought it looked like a falcon.
I am glad they chose the ones they did

Your right.

[Hetzer]

Extremely interesting, thanks so much for posting!

[forestb]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Looks like a Rambler to me...

K

Is that a short panel truck in the background?

[DPowers]

Wow- cool pics

[PGSigns]

Great photos. Thanks for posting them. If you look close you can see little bits of the designs of other trucks and cars through out the 60's. I really enjoyed going through them.
Jimmy

[C/10 King]

WOW, Trippy!!!

[jayoldschool]

Thanks so much, I'm glad you took me up on the request! Great work.

[yelmer]

Thanks for posting

[DPowers]

Can these pics be put in the FAQs Section?