1972 GMC 2500 6.2 Diesel

[dagnabbitt]

I found this truck for sale online, it was listed as "72 Chevy", which I think is partly why it had not sold by the time I saw it (it was on for 14 days)... most people would search "1972"; "Chev"; "Chevrolet"; or "GMC", which is what the truck actually is. In Canada we have a buy and sell site called kijiji which is surprisingly cumbersome to use and only a maniac like me would search for 67-72 trucks using 99 separate search combinations just so I could see everything.

Anyway I found it, and I was immediately struck by how ugly it is, and just recently I was complaining about how the younger generation wanted to stick these godawful wheels on everything. But it looked very interesting, and I missed owning a diesel.

As I wrote in this thread I did end up making a trip to look at it, and I bought it. The driveability of the truck surprised me, it handles and shifts and stops like a somewhat modern truck and probably would do even better with more appropriate tires. The engine is supposedly recently rebuilt - I am going to research that with the shop that did it - and it has a tilt column that looks "factory". I have never had a 6.2 before, and I have to say: I like it. It is mated to a 700r4 trans and boy is it nice to drive on the highway with the low revs, my other trucks scream at 70 miles an hour. I have yet to fill the fuel tank so I cannot guess at mileage but it is pretty great.

When the money changed hands the young man who sold it to me looked a little distraught. He watched me load it and waited for me to drive away with it before he himself left where we met. I could tell he really loved the truck, and it was special to him. That's when I started to look at it a little differently. I now can see what he liked about the look of this truck, it certainly has character, and whoever built it really tried to do a good job: I could fool most people (not you, reading this, of course) that the diesel came with the truck in 1972.

As to the wheels and the overall paint scheme... on the way back home one kid almost ran me off the road leaning over his girlfriend with a thumbs up to make sure I knew he liked it.

I have written to the Canadian GM Heritage site for more info on the truck since the original emblems are removed and there is no SPID. The build sheet is on the way, should have it this week. In the meantime I am driving it and will soon get it on a hoist to take a closer look at it. For now, the wheels stay!