GM Semis

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by factorystock

Maybe a "special order" engine in GMC's during the 70's.

Possible it was some kind of SEO on GMC's. 6-71T's were built for other make trucks in the 70's though. Seem to remember seeing some International S series trucks with 6-71T's in the late 70's.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Bob B.

I think only the Pontiac Tempest version had the transaxle/IFS, the Olds F85 and Buick Special had a regular rear axle with coil springs.

Yeah, didn't see turbos on cars for some time after that one!

That body was used for a lot of firsts. I get them confused between makes. There is one with a transaxle rolled up on it's side, for decades, at this abandoned property not far from me. I thought I remembered it was an Olds. I remembered wrong

Now for a crowned jewel of a GMC. It leaves me struck in total awe.

[KQQL IT]

Cracker box with biscuits on

[sodly]

Put a bunch of miles on this 1981 C70 back in the day. 8.2 Detroit turbo and a 5 speed Allison automatic. Not exactly a powerhouse, lol. Doesn't look this nice anymore, unfortunately. Trying to decide what to do with it.

[special-K]

Handsome tandem

I think this one is a '66

[KQQL IT]

Factory stock
Not so stock
And a great hay hauler

[Winchrig]

Here’s two I got a few years ago. A 1965 gmc 5000 (not sure) with a toro flo diesel and a 1964 gmc b7000 twin stick winch truck. Both have been in the family for a long time.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

The '65 is most likely a 5000. They didn't put a Toro-Flow in a 6500.

Cool trucks.

What does the 7000 have for an Engine?

[special-K]

Is that straight pipes on the Toroflow? What does that sound like?

And welcome to the board! You have a couple cool GMCs

[Winchrig]

The 7000 has a Detroit 6-71 and the toro flo is not straight piped.

[Winchrig]

My cousin was dragging the 7000 around and it accidentally pull started and hit the loader, it sheared a piece right off the pipe bumper and wrecked the passenger side fender and hood.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by Winchrig

My cousin was dragging the 7000 around and it accidentally pull started and hit the loader, it sheared a piece right off the pipe bumper and wrecked the passenger side fender and hood.

Reminds me of my friend's '69 Mack R-700. He bent the front bumper and got the loader out to try to straighten it. Out of a strange co-incidence, he left the truck parked in Reverse. The 8V-71 fired up and started moving backwards. Luckily the trailer brakes were still holding and it finally stalled out. He would have had a lot more trouble than a bent bumper!!

[Winchrig]

Wow, he got pretty lucky. I will post a video of the toro flo next time I get it going.

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by special-K

Is that straight pipes on the Toroflow? What does that sound like?

And welcome to the board! You have a couple cool GMCs

I have seen Toroflow trucks with dual stacks but horizontal mufflers under the frame. C series and tilts. Must have been an option.

[special-K]

I wondered if that's what it had. I don't think I'd want to show off a Toroflo by running straight pipes.

These stories of self-starting diesels are interesting.

[Winchrig]

That’s what this one has, the horizontal mufflers in the frame.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

I would love to hear one with Straight Pipes, lol.

Speaking of loud, my 478 had what I believe were factory type straight thru's. Duals, of course. One day the pipe broke open before one of the mufflers. I can just imagine it with straights, lol.

[special-K]

I'd like to hear it, but wouldn't want to be running it that way very long

I'd like to see a picture of that Toroflow emblem up close. That's a rare item right there

Has this one been shown yet?

[C10 - C90 Bill]

That truck sure is a beauty. A '64 and if it has a 409, it would be a C-80.

Here are some pictures of Emblems from Jolly's site, including the Toro Flow:

http://6066gmcguy.com/emblem.html

My '67 7500 with the 6V-53 still had the Toro Flow Emblems on the butterfly hood. It was what it once had before it got converted.

[factorystock]

Great looking '64 tractor, thanks for sharing special-K. IMO, these Chevies look best when they are correctly painted, especially the front end, as this one is. Hard to say if it's an 80 or a 60H model, these trucks require close photos of the emblems to tell. The Toro Flo is quite an engine, GM attempt to get a diesel to the medium duty market without a premium price tag.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

As much as I like the Toro Flow, it did not have the best record. Most owners had complaints about them, right down to some saying they should never have been converted from the gas engine. Same with my '67. As nice as the truck was, by the time I got it, it was long gone. I sure didn't mind the 6V-53 that replaced it though.

[Bob B.]

You could make a pretty good case that GMC intended the V-6 to be either gas or diesel almost from the beginning. From what I understand, the V-6 family was intended to replace all the GMC built straight 6 gasoline engines along with the Pontiac and Oldsmobile V-8's that GMC was using the late 50's. Concurrently there was another program to develop a 4 cycle mid-range diesel engine, and at some point it merged into the V-6 program. The result was the Toro-Flow. Very true the Toro-Flow had problems (particularly the early versions) but so did most of the other big bore, short stroke mid-range diesels of the era, like the Cummins V-6 and '555' V-8. We could have a pretty good discussion about what was wrong (and right!) with the Toro-Flow. I may have mentioned in the past that I volunteer at a railroad museum, and we have a functioning D478 Toro-Flow in a bus. I'll post more about my experiences and what I have learned over the years about these oddball diesels in the next few days.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

The thing that puzzles me about a Diesel in a '60 or newer GMC Conventional is their choice. The Detroit was the engine of choice in a GMC. Yet, the only way to get a Detroit in these trucks was to buy a Chevrolet (offered later on in the years of the '60-'66 trucks) In my opinion, they should have offered a 4-Cylinder Detroit in them from the beginning.

When I was driving my '62 6500 with the 478 Gas, there was a Chevy C-50 or C-60 in our same neighborhood at the same time. It was about a '65. It made me feel I had the lesser of the two, lol.

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by C10 - C90 Bill

The thing that puzzles me about a Diesel in a '60 or newer GMC Conventional is their choice. The Detroit was the engine of choice in a GMC. Yet, the only way to get a Detroit in these trucks was to buy a Chevrolet (offered later on in the years of the '60-'66 trucks) In my opinion, they should have offered a 4-Cylinder Detroit in them from the beginning.

When I was driving my '62 6500 with the 478 Gas, there was a Chevy C-50 or C-60 in our same neighborhood at the same time. It was about a '65. It made me feel I had the lesser of the two, lol.

That's a good point! In 1962 Chevy introduced their first diesels and they were all powered by 53 Series Detroits, both 4 and V-6's. The 53's didn't show up in GMC trucks until the 1965 DB5900, a one-year oddball version of the Chevy E80 that was replaced in 1966 by the HV/JV 7500. The 4-53 was also offered in the GMC 4000 series conventional in 1966 only. So while GMC always had the larger 71 Series Detroits, in the mid-range trucks they certainly seemed to favor the Toro-Flows. Only reason I can come up with was the the Toro-Flow was a Truck And Coach Division 'internal' product. Chevy had no allegence to either the Toro-Flow or Detroit, they were both produced by other GM divisions. Good for Chevy, I think the 53 Series were the best mid-range diesels of the era.

[special-K]

I'm not sure the exact year on this one. Mid '20s I think. Maybe first year