60-66 Development/ Concept Photos!

[71PICKEMUP]

So Very Cool!!! Thank you for sharing with us.
I couldn't help but notice in pics 19317 and 19320, the windshield looks like those in the '61 and '62 fullsize GM cars.

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by 71PICKEMUP

So Very Cool!!! Thank you for sharing with us.
I couldn't help but notice in pics 19317 and 19320, the windshield looks like those in the '61 and '62 fullsize GM cars.

You're right, it definitely does! The headlights on the second concept are also similar to those in the pic you posted.

[idreama300]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing

[Captainfab]

Very cool and interesting pics. Thanks for sharing them with us.

[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

[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.

[forestb]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Looks like a Rambler to me...

K

Is that a short panel truck in the background?

[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!

[factorystock]

IMO, most GM pickups got there initial exterior designs from existing car lines, very evident in the 47-54 era as well as the '55-59 era and '67-'72 era. The '60-'66 is an interesting design cycle. '60-'61 clearly shows left over late 50's styling with wrap around windshield and dual headlights. '62-'63 get the modernization treatment with the single headlights and sloped hood, better. This brings us to my favorite era '64-'66, almost nothing of this design period can be traced to any car line, purely a truck design, something GM did again in '73-'80 era also, almost nothing from that design cycle can be traced to any car line either.

[thunder71]

Great info, glad you found these to share and get them out from hiding...some good ideas on some of the grilles.

[hewittca]

Part 2, 60-66 GMC Development/Concept Photos

For those diehard GMC fans among us, I have an update for you! After some additional searching with the help of the GM Heritage Center, I now have the 60-66 GMC development photos that coincide with the Chevrolet. If you read the original post in this thread, you may have noticed that there was a one year gap between the presentation of the preproduction ready '60 Chevrolet in May 1958 (shown below for reference) and the next photo displaying the final touches on the production ready Chevrolet.



During this time is when they developed the GMC variant of the 60-66 pickups. Since the GMC was based on the overall architecture of the Chevrolet, all the development photos illustrate that the designers were focused on grill, trim, and paint proposals for the GMC.

-July 1958
We pick up two months after the presentation of the Chevrolet architecture and design pictured above from May '58 with the first proposed nose design for the GMC. The first photo is a nose proposal for the larger trucks, but they carried that through to the pickup. Note the sketch on the wall in the second picture. They never mocked up this nose proposal, but to me it was one of the most interesting and toughest designs. I cropped it in the last photo so you could see it better.





-August-October 1958
By this point, they toned down the initial grill proposal from above and brought it more in line with the Chevrolet design with a rectangular opening and grill insert.






-December 1958
Here we see the mockup of the final production ready noses for the introductory '60 model year. They even broke out the color photography for these! Note the last photo of the strange red mockup. The badge on the hood reads Conqueror. I have no idea what this was supposed to be







-July/August 1960
With the presentation of the new hood design for the '62 Chevrolet in May '60, the designers got to work on the updated GMC nose. Here are the first few grill proposal mockups.













-November 1960
The finalized front end design is shown here on the final mockup.











-November 1961
We jump ahead one year in development after the effort put into the refreshed '62 nose design. Here, the designers are experimenting with updated grill proposals for the '63 model year. As we now know, GM decided not to use either of these proposals and just stuck with the GMC grill insert from the previous years.






-November 1962
Flash forward another year to the next grill proposal and several rather attractive trim options for what was badged as a "Custom" trim package. It's interesting to note that they are still using a '62/'63 mockup truck to propose this Custom grill/trim update even though this would have been the time of year for '64 update proposals. It is possible that they were going to introduce this trim package during the '63 model year.












-January 1963
These final two photos represent what would be a '63 model year GMC based on the windshield design. As you can see, they completely abandoned the grill and trim options they explored in late '62. Again, this would have been the time that they would propose updates for the '64 model year, but this truck does not have the new for '64 windshield design that was already approved and seen on all the Chevrolet mockups starting in early '62.





The end of development for the 60-66 GMCs correlates with the end for the Chevrolets as well. GM decided to ride out the overall design of these pickups for the '64-'66 model years while they developed the next generation pickups. If you've seen my 67-72 GMC development photos post, you saw that GM experimented quite a bit on the front end and trim treatments for the GMCs, yet ultimately always decided to abandon any significant updates to the design. I found it quite intriguing that the same observation is true for the 60-66 GMCs. If the decision was always to restrict retooling costs and keep the GMC the same, then why bother spending several months on design proposals for the GMC each year? From these photos, it appears to me that GM used the GMC to experiment with more extravagant designs but always reverted back to a more conservative production design. In the end, the GMC was still an excellent design.

[hewittca]

Part 3, Suburbans and Panels

This photo set can be found here on the 60-66 Suburbans board.

[Classic v6 GMC's]

Really like the pics of the GMC's!!!
Thank you for posting.

[sodly]

Great work!

[oem4me]

Thanks again for posting, hewittca. Of all the threads EVER posted on this 60-66 board, I think this one is among the best. It's both interesting and important.
Funny to think that any of the design proposals shown here could have been put into production, literally changing the face of what we know and love today.
Something tells me that if GM had implemented some of those ideas, I might never had fallen for this era truck.
It's great to see what was on the drawing board at the time ... what could have been ... I'm just glad those guys at the top made the decisions they did!

[aerotruk63]

Defiantly FAQ material. Great research.

[Palf70Step]

Very neat stuff. Thanks for the pictures.

[66Submarine]

Excellent thread! Thanks for getting all this together.

[jonzcustomshop]

Originally Posted by oem4me

Thanks again for posting, hewittca. Of all the threads EVER posted on this 60-66 board, I think this one is among the best. It's both interesting and important.
Funny to think that any of the design proposals shown here could have been put into production, literally changing the face of what we know and love today.
Something tells me that if GM had implemented some of those ideas, I might never had fallen for this era truck.
It's great to see what was on the drawing board at the time ... what could have been ... I'm just glad those guys at the top made the decisions they did!

totally agree!


have you found any photos of the 50-80 series trucks? other than those few gmc's?

[old cruiser]

thanks for posting them they are awesome

[chevy_mike]

This is really a awesome piece of history. Thanks for getting all of this info and the rights to post them.

[Free Candy Inside]

I love some of the prototype grills. Almost like to attempt to make one. Is that allowed? Lol