55-59 Development/Concept Photos

[hewittca]

Introduction

After popular demand, I have decided to dive further into the development of GM trucks and uncover what I could for the Task Force trucks. I originally only planned on researching the 67-72 trucks (since that's what I have) but my interest in the history of GM trucks and enthusiasm by those on the board after sharing my findings has lead me to look further back to earlier generations. If you've read through my C10 development posts, you probably noticed quite a lot of design proposals were thrown around before GM settled on the final designs. Even year to year changes saw several front end and trim proposals. Unfortunately, you will notice the exact opposite here. For reasons I can only speculate, there is almost a complete lack of proposed alternate designs. Regardless, the photos below do show early pre-production versions of these trucks with a few subtle variations that a keen eye will spot. I hope you enjoy these!

Disclaimer

Of course, I must state that these are property of GM and I have been given permission to share these with you in a public forum format. PLEASE don't do anything with these photos that would result in requested removal by GM. This essentially means that these photos are for "reference" only and may not be used in any profitable way.

Contents

Part 1: Chevrolet Development
Part 2: GMC Development
Part 3: Promotional Photography

Part 1: Chevrolet Development

-Early 1955
Since the Advanced Design trucks were produced through the first part of 1955, the Task Force trucks were still in pre-production form in early '55. These photos show the first production ready version of the all new Chevrolet 3100.









Also new for Chevrolet was the first solution to a fleetside bed, which GM called the Cameo Carrier. It was basically a reskinned stepside bed. Initially, it was supposed to be a unibody construction as shown in the first photo. The engineers, however, decided it would be better to keep the cab and bed separate due to chassis flex concerns.









-Mid 1956
Since the '55 model year wasn't released until near mid '55, the '56 model year was virtually identical to the '55. By mid '56, however, Chevrolet was finalizing the grill and other updates for the '57 model year.





-Mid 1957
By this time, GM decided the Task Force trucks needed a midcycle refresh, so they introduced a new front end design heavily influenced by the passenger cars.






Interestingly, GM decided to carry the Cameo Carrier through the '58 model year even though they also introduced their first full width bed called the fleetside. Of course, the fleetside was preferred over the Cameo and sales suffered, resulting in the end of the Cameo Carrier. The fleetside shown here is painted in a proposed gold scheme to celebrate GM's 50th anniversary.





-Mid 1958
The final production year of the Task Force trucks was virtually unchanged from the '58 model year. By this time GM was already deep into development of the 60-66 C10s, so design for the '59 were limited to modest paint scheme proposals as seen here.








To continue this story through time, you can follow the production of the 60-66 C10 here. I will also update this thread soon with progression of the 55-59 GMC trucks called the Blue Chip Series. Stay tuned!

[Foot Stomper]

Thank you for your efforts in posting this History! What a valuable resource!
I look forward to see your report on the Blue Chip series.

[hewittca]

Part 2: GMC Development

Since the GMC is based on the same architecture as the Chevrolet, all GMC design proposals are limited to variations in grill, light, trim, paint and other aesthetic treatments. Interestingly, there were nearly twice as many GMC photos that I could find compared to the Chevrolets, several of which included some interesting design proposals.

-Early 1955
By the start of 1955, the overall design of the Task Force/Blue Chip trucks was complete, and GM was finalizing grill/trim treatments for the GMC. Shown here are the pre-production '55 grills and tailgates for the GMC.









GM also tested a proposed 100 Series Deluxe version of the GMC. In the photos below, you will notice this is the same truck from the color photo above, but with some custom touches.









-Late 1955
The '56 model year pickups showed little change from the '55 pickups, as seen here in these pre-production '56 GMCs. The biggest change for '56 was the introduction of GMCs version of the Cameo Carrier.








An interesting oddity among the photos I found was this truck. The caption stated that it had fleet trim, Chevrolet hood, and fleet grill, but no other information.



-Mid 1956
As with the Chevrolet, the GMC also received a revised grill for the '57 model year as seen here. GMC also built a concept version of the Cameo called the Palomino pickup.







-Mid 1957
In parallel with the Chevrolet, the GMC also received an extensive redesign of the front sheetmetal and styling treatments. These first few photos show the fleet grill/headlight option that GMC offered.







The standard pickups received the quad headlight setup that was also found on the Chevrolets.










Of course, GMC also had their version of the full width bed that they introduced in '58 as the wideside




-Mid 1958
By this time, GM design was focused on the 60-66 model, so the final year of the Blue Chip Series saw little development.













The development of the GMC line of trucks can be continued here with the design of the 60-66 trucks. The next update to this thread will include promotional photography taken by GM throughout the production years for the Task Force and Blue Chip Series.

[Daze57]

v v nice thank you very much -----great history pictures!!!

[Foot Stomper]

Fantastic report! Thanks!
I found this picture amazing!!! Obviously Chevrolet instruments but has a GMC logo!

How cool to have a centered steering wheel!

[MARTINSR]

Damn I dig these photos! Thanks for posting.

Brian

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by Foot Stomper

Fantastic report! Thanks!
I found this picture amazing!!! Obviously Chevrolet instruments but has a GMC logo!

How cool to have a centered steering wheel!

That's interesting to see. I don't know too much about these earlier trucks so I didn't even notice that!

[hewittca]

Part 3: Promotional Photography

Along with the developmental photos, GM of course took many promotional photographs of these trucks in action for use in advertisements and brochures. Many of these photos are the original raw versions of scenes you may recognize from various advertisements.

-1955 model year








-1956 model year





-1957 model year









-1958 model year





-1959 model year

[58CameoAZ]

WAY COOL PICS!!!!!! I Noticed on the GMC Pics Part2,in the 4th & 5th Pic Look at the stepside Bumper, No Bolts, its a Smoothed Bumper? Interesting.

Thank you VERY MUCH for sharing, Fun to Look at!

Allen

[Henry50]

Wow! Incredible pics. Thank you for posting them.
Will you be doing the 47-54 trucks also?

[Russell Ashley]

Great pictures. As much as we love our trucks now, it's hard to imagine anyone buying a new TF and immediately start abusing it by using it like it was designed to be used, actually hauling stuff, LOL.
Did anyone else notice that the GMC Fleet models didn't have bed steps? Hard to imagine those being an option but I guess price was the factor in that decision.
I'm glad that they decided to separate the bed from the cab on the early Cameo design considerations. Somehow that one piece body looks out of proportion to me.

[DPete]

Thanks for sharing, enjoyed them very much

[OrrieG]

I think one of the 4wd stills on the rocks is from the 1957 Pikes Peak expedition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCuO9fi7Ouw

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by Henry50

Wow! Incredible pics. Thank you for posting them.
Will you be doing the 47-54 trucks also?

Yes I do, I actually have all the photos already and am working on organizing them right now.

Originally Posted by OrrieG

I think one of the 4wd stills on the rocks is from the 1957 Pikes Peak expedition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCuO9fi7Ouw

That video was awesome! Thanks for posting it. I'd love to have a simple 4 wheel drive truck like that.

[drivea55]

this should be pinned!

awesome information, I really like the 57 gmc's look wow!

[Henry50]

Originally Posted by hewittca

Yes I do, I actually have all the photos already and am working on organizing them right now.

Oh man, I can't wait.
Thank you again. Absolutely amazing pics.

[1958Warrior]

Thought it was odd too that the fleets did not have the side steps.

I ran across this pic some time ago and saved it of a 1958 Concept/Prototype thought I'd share it

[rrenner]

Very cool, thanks for posting!

[Katrina/10]

Thanks for posting all those great pictures, it's really cool to see what these trucks looked like when new.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by 1958Warrior

Thought it was odd too that the fleets did not have the side steps.

I ran across this pic some time ago and saved it of a 1958 Concept/Prototype thought I'd share it

Attachment 1615770

Man that baby had some wild lines!

Brian

[_Ogre]

interesting: chevy didn't have fleet trim until 58 and while i've seen quite a few chevy fleet trim trucks they all had steps, none of the gmc fleet trim trucks have steps. they look surprizingly good sans steps
redefines the term 'stepside bed'

not sure what yr this is, it may be a prototype fleet trim



no steps on this 58/59 gmc



also note the kick vent grill delete for the gmc fleet trim package

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by 1958Warrior

Thought it was odd too that the fleets did not have the side steps.

I ran across this pic some time ago and saved it of a 1958 Concept/Prototype thought I'd share it

Attachment 1615770

i believe that concept was ''daytona''

[_Ogre]

and check out this spare mount and mirror extension

[Henry50]

Here's another daytona,

[1project2many]

Thank you so much for posting these pictures! They are awesome. Neat to see some of the photos with post-production vehicles in the background awaiting delivery.

and check out this spare mount and mirror extension

Hmm... No notch for the wheel. Did someone in Marketing decide they needed a shot of the bedside spare, with no bedside spare truck available?

That Cameo concept reminds me of the tri-five El Caminos that folks sometimes build.


The boltless rear bumper is painted while the front is chrome. Possibly fiberglass? It also appears to have larger tires?
Funny the "do not shoot" notation on the longbed drawing that appears to have wrong proportions.

Also, I think the centered wheel is not centered. I believe it's RH drive based on the only outside mirror being on the RH door. I think looking centered is an illusion as the dash appears to have a bulge for gauges on the RH side.