Originality questions - 70 GMC Sierra Grande

[don t. - 72gmc]

Recently I had my truck appraised for insurance purposes. The appraiser owns a 72 Cheyenne, older resto, so he was very familiar with our year trucks. He showed up, was all business. Went out to my barn and he was all smiles from there. I was debating on starting a total resto this winter, but he talked me out of it. His pro opinion was to leave the body/interior as is, but replace "safty" items and clean up the engine bay.

So I start searching the web and noticed my grill does not look like the other 70 GMC's I've found. Here are some pics of my truck.... http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/c...ct=1784&cat=12

Notice the flat black around the grill, down the center. All other grilles I've found are all chrome.

Any ideas?

TIA.....don t. .....

[special-K]

That is the 71/72 grille.Either the grille isn't original or the truck is an early '71 titled as a '70,i.I'd think.Does it have drum or disc front brakes?If the seat's original,is it houndstooth or vinyl?Is the throttle pedal attached to the floor or floating above?Is the throttle linkage a rod or cable?
That's a nice original.I'd have to think twice about restoring that,too.Although it would be an "easy" resto.

[RenoKeene]

Special K is right. My 70 grill is all chrome and the 71-72's were painted black.
I'll try to attach a pic of my blue 70 and my 72 camper special.

[don t. - 72gmc]

To be honest, I aint even ran the VIN down to see what I've got. I do know the VIN on truck matched the title(grin).
4 drum brakes.
Seat seems to be original, vinyl.
Got no clue about the pedal. I wanna say its floating above but I don't really remember.

This winters plans are to rebiuld the engine, tranny and entire brake system.

Thanks.....don t. .....

[srvivor71]

Unless LMC is wrong, your grill looks like a match to what they say is supposed to be on a 70. According to them, all chrome was only on the 67. See http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cb/full.aspx?Page=66

[RenoKeene]

Check out classicparts.com, They show a 67 with black GMC in the middle, the 68-70 says "chrome with finely painted black trim" but if you look closely at the picture the dark areas are reflective shadows. Note the difference between the 68-70 and the 71-72. I also read on Wikipedia under Chevrolet C/K that the black GMC was dumped in 68 and the Black paint was a style change starting in 71. I have the LMC catalog and think somebody screwed-up, but......

[don t. - 72gmc]

IIRC....67-68 GMC grilles have GMC embossed in the center of the grille, on the middle horizontal bar......IIRC

It does look like my grill tho.

Have fun.....don t. .....

[71swb4x4]

LMC is wrong. The grille with the black paint is the 71 and 72 style grille.

Here is how I believe it is:
67 has GMC embossed on it.
68-70 had an all chrome grille.
71-72 has the black paint in the middle, top and bottom.
69-72 has the top bar that makes the grille look a little "taller" and matches it up to the 69-72 style hood.

[special-K]

^x2 ...67-70 is the same grille,EXCEPT...in '67 GMC was stamped in the center.

Well,front drum brakes say 1970.Your throttle pedal probably is the longer type that is mounted to the floor and "pops" into a socket on the lever from the linkage which will be a rod under the hood.In '71 it would be a shorter pedal that doesn't touch the floor,is fastened to the lever with a clip on pin,and linkage under the hood will be a cable.
I believe your grille may have been replaced.Unless that black accent was redone,it looks too fresh for original from 40 years ago.I repainted my '72 in '01 and it doesn't look quite as crisp.The chrome looks awful good for original,too.That's my best guess.

[VA72C10]

Looks great and as mentioned most likely a 70 with a new grille. Keep us updated as you get it on the road

[don t. - 72gmc]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Looks great and as mentioned most likely a 70 with a new grille. Keep us updated as you get it on the road

Thanks to all that have helped. I do appreciate it. Im really gonna haffta run down some numbers. Looks like I'll have something to do today(grin).

FWIW....
..I've had this truck for 3yrs(+/-). Only thing I've done to it was HEI.
..While I do not know for sure, I do not think the 3rd owner (im the 4th) did any paint/body work, but anything is possible.

Thanks again, have fun....don t. ...

[special-K]

Those mirrors aren't factory and,unless the original mirror holes are still there,body work and paint would have been done.it may not be 100% original.I'd love to see it in person to help figure it out.I'm sure it's a '70.A damn nice one.

[71swb4x4]

Originally Posted by special-K

Those mirrors aren't factory and,unless the original mirror holes are still there,body work and paint would have been done.it may not be 100% original.I'd love to see it in person to help figure it out.I'm sure it's a '70.A damn nice one.

The original mirrors are on it, as well as some west coast jr/sr type mirrors. It has two mirrors on each door.

[don t. - 72gmc]

Originally Posted by 71swb4x4

The original mirrors are on it,

Yep. What I think are the original bases and arm are on both sides.
The chrome mirror is screwed into the arm, and is a wide angle (convex)
mirror. Im almost certain the fish-eye mirror aint original.

Special-K...Im setting up my home pc, finaly got hi-speed internet. I will be dumping tons of pics to photobucket as soon as I can. When im done, I'll PM ya.

Have fun....don t. ....

[special-K]

Cool...
In those pictures I wondered if there were both sets of mirrors.Couldn't really tell with my reading glasses.This is insignificant,but we all know the hubcaps aren't original,right?It should have the chrome caps.I imagine the originals were not being run on it and at some point someone decided to dress it up and found those.

[don t. - 72gmc]

1st attempt at a pic. Lets see if this works.
Side view...

Have fun...don t. ....

[VA72C10]

Nice!

[factorystock]

Nice clean truck! Set up for hauling a camper across the country with big mirrors and oversize rear tires, many 3/4 tons carried their spare tire on front bumper too ( maybe the original grill was damaged by this?) Couple of questions, is there an emblem on the outside of glove box? Does the SPID (service parts indentification) decal inside of glove box list option PO3 "Chrome Hupcaps". Is the wheel base 133" 8 1/2' bed or wheel base 127" 8' bed?

[RenoKeene]

don t. - Very cool truck....gotta love a Big Block!
Does the SPID list the wheels as (R68) 7.50-16.0-8 PR HIGH?

[factorystock]

Found some info. Sounds like additional items to the Super Custom trim level.

[don t. - 72gmc]

Sorry this took so long.
Here is the spid....

Here is the glove box door...

Any maybe this will work.
49 pics in the album... http://s1208.photobucket.com/albums/...20GMC/?start=0

Thanks for your help, kind words.
.....don t. ....

[RCbowtie69]

cool

[factorystock]

My earlier assessment was correct, it is a very nice clean truck! Thanks for the additional photos. I believe your appraiser gave you good advise. This truck does not need to be restored, the original quality of exterior and interior have held up very well. Just maintain it, with the exception finding the correct '70 grill. It is very well optioned and the medium gold metallic looks great. The wheels should be painted white and probably had chrome hubcaps according to literature. Originally these trucks either had 2 piece 16" wheels or 1 piece 16.5" wheels, if there are 16" one piece wheels on it, they were changed out at some point.

[don t. - 72gmc]

Originally Posted by factorystock

Originally these trucks either had 2 piece 16" wheels or 1 piece 16.5" wheels, if there are 16" one piece wheels on it, they were changed out at some point.

The guy I bought it from gave me what he called split-rim dualie wheels, I have no idea what size. I also got 2 rear wheel well extensions. The w-well extensions are nothing more than 1/8" (+/-) thick curved black colored sheet metal. There are holes in the rear wheel wells to match the holes in the extensions. I do know the 2nd owner put a 5th wheel hitch in the bed for a travel trailer.

Interior...has normal carpet wear. Seat has 2 slits in the upper back where a pass through board was attached via brackets when the original owner had a camper on it.

Exterior...Paint is all there, albeit a bit faded. Is there something a non-bodyman like me can do to make it shine a bit more. Normal Turtle wax does help, but I know I do not wanna rub through the finish w/an agressive rub compound.

Thanks guys.....don t. ....

[factorystock]

I would never use rubbing coupond, too harsh. I would start out with Meguairs professional "Fine-Cut Cleaner" to remove haze and oxidation. This product comes in beige plastic bottle and is found at most auto parts stores.It is easy to use and on label it says" removes defects without scouring the finish". Then go on to their other products such as a polish cleaner and then finish with a wax. This will bring back the gloss to the original factory paint.