Starting with the 1973 model year, Synthetic engine introduce Chevrolet and GMC truck lines “Rounded Line”and sales of the pickup versions continued throughout 1987. Nice example of these vans can be sold for a large amountbut scrapyard teaches us that not all collectibles are worth saving and repairing. This is the reinforcement of that lesson, thanks to the GMC C2500 first year Camper Special with high-zoom Sierra Grande trim, found in a self-service patio just outside of Denver, Colorado.
I’m not GM truck expert, but I know enough to stay away What is the war about? this pickup truck. Let’s say it’s a third-generation, rear-wheel drive C-Series that weighs three-quarters of a ton with really interesting badges. Yes, I bought this badge for my garage wall and it’s totally worth it $4.23.
GM has launched Camper’s special package in the late 1960s, when detachable camping pickups became common, and in 1973 it included heavy duty springs and a harness built to plug into the connectors of those camping truck. It also includes the badge looks like woodbut someone pried these out of this truck before I could buy them.
This could also be a single owner truck, as it is still original guarantee inner paperwork. Here we see that it was bought new in August 21973 (it happened to be the day that George Brett has his first hit in the majors) by a resident of Compton, California. It’s correct, that Compton.
Building cards tell us that this Camper Special was born in Fremont Assembly plant in Californiabecame joint venture GM-Toyota NUMMI in 1984 and now Tesla factory. I think most of the 1973 C/K pickups sold new in Colorado will come from Pontiac Society in Michigan.
There was a time, not many years ago, when a genuine 454-inch (that’s 7.4 liters for those of you sweating under the oppressive weight of the French Empire System of Measurements) big displacement Chevrolet engine would have been drawn and purchased within hours of touching rows of yards like this. Today, engine replacements can get more power with less weight from any number of sponsor vehicles. If this motor was the original 454, it was rated at 240 horsepower and 355 pound-feet (down from 270 hp in 1972 due to emissions-related changes). This truck had a three-speed automatic transmission, like most Detroit pickups that were optional in its day.
The interior is mostly gone, but the Sierra Grande has the best upholstery and appointments of all GMC pickup truck and this would be a very luxurious truck by 1973 standards (by 2022 standards it would be considered uncomfortably cramped and noisy, with every new truck reviewer on planet is using synonym pages to find unique creative ways to describe petrochemical-derived cab materials that are not petrochemical-derived).
There’s some rust, but it’s not a dump truck. You’d think a high-displacement Sierra Grande Camper Special that ships in this condition would be worth the cost of basic restoration, even without all-wheel drive, but it’s here (not far away). a very solid ’66 Mustang that couldn’t even fetch $550 at auction).
this is a Chevrolet commercial, but all the features you see therein apply equally to nearly identical GMC partners.
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