GMC history

[HO455]

I stumbled across this gem on the interweb and found it to be quite interesting. After a couple of searches I was surprised to find it no one had shared it here.

https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/doc...TORY_MAR09.pdf

According to this it appears that GMC could claim to be the first user of the "Power Wagon" and "Super Duty" name plates.

[68bowtie]

I reference the site often, but I’ve never come across that document. Very cool!

[factorystock]

Thanks for posting link HO455! Very informative reading, however, really sad to read what happened to the heavy truck line starting in the 80's, till they were no longer a contender in the industry.

[Bob B.]

That was written by Don Meyer, a longtime GMC engineer. I talked to him a few times over the years, there wasn't much he didn't know about the history of GM Truck And Coach. Sadly he passed away a couple of years ago.

[special-K]

Thanks for sharing. I don't recall if I ever read the whole thing before, but read a lot of this somewhere other than the GM Heritage website. It's quite a journey from the beginnings of the US truck market to the sad state it is in now. I may be wrong, but I don't believe a single US manufacturer remains. GMC was first and near to last. International was the last. VW owns Navistar as of last year

[C10 - C90 Bill]

The biggest disappointment was when they sold their Heavy Truck line back around late '88.

I'm wondering if they ever regretted that.

[Bob B.]

PACCAR (Kenworth and Peterbilt) along with Autocar and Oshkosh are still 100% U.S. owned. As for GM leaving the heavy truck market, I think there were a couple of reasons they did. First, the Astro 95 and Brigadier were getting old (the General not so much, and they just introduced a set back axle aero version). The heavy truck market was becoming very competitive and it was becoming hard to make a good profit. The trucks themselves were very labor-intensive to assemble and that hurt the margins as well. GM figured it would have required significant upgrades to the trucks and the Pontiac assembly plant to remain competitive, and even if they did all that they were still looking at very little profit. The Volvo deal was a good way out.

Funny thing about the old Brigadier, even as late as 1987 it was still a strong seller, so much so that Volvo wanted to keep it in the product line after the Astro 95 and General were dropped. The Pontiac truck plant was kept open to produce the C series medium duty (they had been moved to Pontiac when Pontiac East was converted to built the 1988 GMT 400 pickups in 1987) and the Brigadier. The Brigadier was dropped and Pontiac closed when the C series mediums were moved to Janesville, WI.. Some say that a few Brigadiers were built after Pontiac closed at one of the White plants, either in Virginia or Ogden Utah, maybe as late as 1990.

[LT7A]

I had to look up the Brigadier name and then as soon as I saw that giant, rectangular, sharp cornered the grill, I knew I had seen them before. But this one popped up as an early model. There's not much I wouldn't do to buy a truck like this. I'd figure out what to haul with it later.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

That truck is actually a J-Model 9500. It is about a '76 or '77. The Brigadier wasn't out till '78. It was designed to take a larger radiator.

I agree and I am actually looking for one myself, in my general area. Although I am looking for an H-Model which is a Single Axle. The J is the Tandem.

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by C10 - C90 Bill

That truck is actually a J-Model 9500. It is about a '76 or '77. The Brigadier wasn't out till '78. It was designed to take a larger radiator.

I agree and I am actually looking for one myself, in my general area. Although I am looking for an H-Model which is a Single Axle. The J is the Tandem.

I don't pretend to know anything about these trucks. I had to look up Brigadier - sounded familiar, but didn't know what it was until I saw that big rectangle grill. This site relates them though and the information is a little contradictory. I guess whoever put it together sees the 9500 as a precursor to the Brigadiers which also apparently use the 9500 designation. Whatever the case, these rigs are not part of my knowledge base, but I know a cool truck when I see one! Good luck with your hunt.

https://members.tripod.com/evmcc_48306/brig.htm

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by LT7A

I don't pretend to know anything about these trucks. I had to look up Brigadier - sounded familiar, but didn't know what it was until I saw that big rectangle grill. This site relates them though and the information is a little contradictory. I guess whoever put it together sees the 9500 as a precursor to the Brigadiers which also apparently use the 9500 designation. Whatever the case, these rigs are not part of my knowledge base, but I know a cool truck when I see one! Good luck with your hunt.

https://members.tripod.com/evmcc_48306/brig.htm

Yeah, the site isn't that accurate. He is calling the Long Nose an "H" when an "H" is actually a Single Axle. He got it half right though, a Long Nose is an "MH".

But my site name isn't that accurate either, lol. There is no such thing as a plain old C-90 Chevy. C-80 in the earlier years, but they were actually CH, CJ or CMH.

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by C10 - C90 Bill

That truck is actually a J-Model 9500. It is about a '76 or '77. The Brigadier wasn't out till '78. It was designed to take a larger radiator.

Classic styling began to disappear when large radiators were the main characteristic of the vehicle. IMO, the 4 headlight 9500 was a much better looking truck than the Brigadier.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by factorystock

Classic styling began to disappear when large radiators were the main characteristic of the vehicle. IMO, the 4 headlight 9500 was a much better looking truck than the Brigadier.

Sure do agree. They got it right the first time, lol.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Which brings us to another question for Bob. If the Brig was so important to have the larger radiator, why did they switch to the Low Slope Brigs in the later years? I know that aero was important, but what happened to the importance of the radiator?

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by C10 - C90 Bill

Which brings us to another question for Bob. If the Brig was so important to have the larger radiator, why did they switch to the Low Slope Brigs in the later years? I know that aero was important, but what happened to the importance of the radiator?

It's confusing! The Brigadier (and Bruin if you are a Chevy man!) came out in 1978 with the high tilt hood in the 9500 series. However, the original H/J steel butterfly hood was available on Brigadier 9500's all the way up until 1980 but only with the 6-71 Detroit engine. The 7500's used the butterfly hood until 1980 as well with small diesel (6V-53 or 3208) and 427 gasoline engines, however the Brigadier hood was an option with the diesels. Even had the Brigadier emblems though technically the truck wasn't a Brigadier. So, you could have a 1978 steel hood 9500 with a 6-71 that was a Brigadier but didn't have the emblems, or a 1978 7500 with a 6V-53 that wasn't a Brigadier but did have Brigadier hood and emblems. Make sense? Only to General Motors.....

The aerodynamic sloped hood came out sometime in the early 80's on the 8000's (replacing the 7500) and 9500's with certain lower horsepower high efficiency diesels like the Cummins Formula 300 and L10 Cummins, and the Detroit 'Squeezer' 6V-92TA's as they didn't need larger radiators. The original tall hood was still used with other higher horsepower diesels. Used to see quite a few 9500's with the sloped hood and a Dragfoiler on the cab, pretty aerodynamic for the 80's.

Now, if only someone would explain what these 2 Brigadiers were:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sVAhiwVpF0...BBC_Proto1.jpg

[special-K]

Prototypes or foreign models?

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Bob B.

That was written by Don Meyer, a longtime GMC engineer. I talked to him a few times over the years, there wasn't much he didn't know about the history of GM Truck And Coach. Sadly he passed away a couple of years ago.

Have read this twice now it seems as it was written by Mr Meyer for a presentation possibly with a slide show. If that were true I'm sure those slides have been lost by now, but what if, in some dark closet, at General Motors???

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by special-K

Prototypes or foreign models?

My guess is they were prototypes. I think they were probably done by GMC because after WhiteGMC took over the Brigadier the background on the hood emblems went from red to blue. Those truck have red emblems.

[factorystock]

IMO, one of the most interesting models in GMC history was on the lighter - medium end. The 3000 series ( '60-'62 GMC or Chevy C 40) was heavier than a 1 ton but lighter than a 1 1/2 ton, making it a 1 1/4 ton. They had the same 5-10 lug system used in 1 1/2 tons. It disappeared between '63-'67. It reappeared between '68-72 as HD 3500 or HD C 30. In '73, disappeared again for good. GM gave up on this weight class, today it is dominated by Ford and Dodge. Hard to beat the curves of the 60's.

[special-K]

I had a 157" '60 C40 for a while. It had a contractor dump body (low sides). It was the 10-30 sheet metal with bigger truck running gear.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

They had a GVW of 14,000 too. They would make a great Rollback.

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by factorystock

IMO, one of the most interesting models in GMC history was on the lighter - medium end. The 3000 series ( '60-'62 GMC or Chevy C 40) was heavier than a 1 ton but lighter than a 1 1/2 ton, making it a 1 1/4 ton. They had the same 5-10 lug system used in 1 1/2 tons. It disappeared between '63-'67. It reappeared between '68-72 as HD 3500 or HD C 30. In '73, disappeared again for good. GM gave up on this weight class, today it is dominated by Ford and Dodge. Hard to beat the curves of the 60's.

Yes, somewhere I have a '62 GMC Stake/Flatbed brochure and those models are listed. The 1991-2002 3500HD cab and chassis models were similar, and also used 5 front/10 stud rear hubs but with 19.5" tubeless wheels.

[Old Doug]

I was in Oklahoma working i saw a GM semi it had a 80s style pickup cab with a long hood . It was being used in the patch because it was pulling a 4 axle that was wide 10' or so . It had tall rubber bigger than a normal road truck. It looked like some thing that some one had put together not a factory rig. I cant remember ever seeing a truck with a long hood and that style cab.

[factorystock]

GMC pickups pre '70 were always known as being different than Chevy pickups. Many claim they were a bit better, had heavier duty engines and suspensions than Chevy, and some say they were the upper end of pickups, like the Cadillac over the Chevy. After around '70, essentially, they were the same pickup, just a different nameplate. Why even have a GMC nameplate if both pickup lines became one after '70? Why even have both GMC and Chevy large truck nameplates if they also became one? So, IMO, after '70 why not all pickups be Chevys and all large trucks be GMC's? Why did GM put up with all the infighting between brands and dealerships trying to undercut the other guy and concentrate on one thing and one thing only?