Question About 69's and 70's

[JHickson6]

My question about Chevy and GMC trucks is how do you tell 69's and 70's apart. I can identify 67's beacuse they have the sloped hood and no sidemarkers. 68 beacuse it has the sloped hood and sidemarkers. 71 and 72 chevy's have the mesh grille but as in all previous years to and including 71 have the rear view mirror attached to the headliner and the 72's are glued on to the windshield. How do you tell apart the 69/70 Chevy's and the 69/70 GMC's?

Thanks

JHickson6

[too many]

I dont remember for sure, but I think one year had an all black plastic grill and one was painted silver on the front edges of the plastic. Unforunately I dont remember which was which? and most of the silver paint is worn off after 30+ years!

or am I just dreaming ?? Anyone else remember????

[too many]

Ooooops ! that was for Chevys. dont have any clue on GMCs

[cali_surfer]

69 and 70 chevys have a metal band going across the grille shell. 69's had eggcrate style inner grilles, while 70's had a different style inner grille, like blocks of louvered rectangles for lack of a better term. The bodies remained the same though.

[Dan69 step]

J,
The only real difference that I know or have seen that comes to mind is that a true 69 grille was in the color and style of the grille. A true 69's grille was silver/gray,6 rows mesh/fin cross hatch design, (someone correct me on that if it is wrong, I've had 5 beers and am too tired to go look at my truck now). Original 70's had twelve group's of four short horizontal fins arranged with six stacks of fins spaced out above the center bar and six below it. The texture of the background changed and was a black and silver. Gm did not reproduce many originals, and a plain black insert was the standard.The gray material used for a true 69 was different also, seemed to have the gray color molded throughout, not just painted . All repros now I believe are the 70 style painted to match the year. Hope I haven't confused you.

[colohusker]

The only way I can tell them apart is the grille insert. A 69's looks like solid bars, kind of like this...

_________________________
_________________________
_________________________

whereas the 70's has breaks in them like this...

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

If there are other differences, I'm sure someone will let us know.

Scott

[Chevyman69]

From what I have seen the 70's have there slats or whatever( the horizontal pieces in the mesh) highlighted in silver and the silver highlights are broken up like in the post above. The 69's are just a grey color with a little different pattern. It is hard to tell though most trucks now have a repo in them and they can be whatever the owner chooses. The doorpanels are different too though. 70 and 71 are the same with a woodgrain strip in them whereas 69 never had that on the more expensive models anyways.

[ChevLoRay]

Somebody correct me, if I am wrong, but the replacement inner grilles for the '69-70's, is the '69 style, not the '70.

I've heard and people have posted pix of both to show the differences between the two. My opinion (!) is that the only difference is the way they were painted, to create the differences that have been cited.

IF a '70 has its' original grille, AND you're aware that there are differences, AND you know what a '69 grille looks like, you can see the difference. Those differences are more pronounced in the brochures, than they are when you get an eyeball on them.

I prefer to refer to the VIN on my '69.

I believe that one more difference was the placement of that VIN.

[johnnyp]

I started a rather length discussion on this topic a couple of months back - check this post for all the ugly details.

[HEAVY CHEVY]

I see everyone is talking about the grills are different but what about the side markers?
Every 69 that I've seen the side markers are reflectors as the 70 side markers are lighted.

[Longhorn Man]

68 and 69 had optional side marker lights...in 70 they were standard.

[Solver]

here's the pic I use to explain differences

[MOTHERTRUCKERS]

67-8 grill trim,69-70 outer grill, 69inner grill,70 inner grill,71-2 outer and inner grill are still available from G.M. if anybody wants the real deal.

[Longhorn Man]

a '70 inner is still avalable??? I have always bee told they stopped making them in the 70's, and a 69 grill is an authorized G.M. replacement.

[Gee_Emm]

I have only seen the 69 inners being reprod, if you get a inner from GM you get a 69 no matter if you order a 69 or 70. As for the GMC's looking at the lugs will narrow it down a bit.

[Southpa]

GMC changed badges over that period. 1969 were called 910, 920 etc. 1970 they started 1500, 2500 etc.

[Longhorn Man]

I'll have to say your both wrong on the GMC's....
THe 70 still had 6 lug, and my '69 owners manual (right in front of me) says 1500 - 3500.

[Southpa]

My mistake, don't know what I was thinking. They called the 67's 910 , 920 etc.

[Longhorn Man]

Sorry guys, i just re-read what I wote last night up there...didn't mean to sound so rude.

[Gee_Emm]

The 910 920's is a Canadian thing. When I said about looking at the lugs for GMC's I meant it to tell 67-70's apart from 71-72's