55-59 Development/Concept Photos

[1project2many]

A few more tidbits. GMC trucks with deluxe cabs all appear to have chrome outer ring on the taillights while Chevrolet opted for completely painted tails. Oh, and the "no bumper bolts" truck has tailgate chains and tail light housings painted body color.

For reasons I can only speculate, there is almost a complete lack of proposed alternate designs.

I have thought about this for many years. The 55-57 was a three year design and the 58-59 was a two year design. That's a lot of work to put into building a vehicle and little time to get the investment back. And it's not typical of GM. They usually run a truck line for many years. After WWII I'm sure GM was excited to get something new on the road but the truck divisions really seemed to be sticking with a reliable, dependable vehicle. Left over thinking from war production? Smart marketing, proving the new trucks could be counted on for dependability and consistency? Dodge and Ford trucks weren't all that exciting during this time, either. The Cameo was a huge experiment in itself being a truck designed to look good first and do work second. And although it didn't fail, it wasn't a huge success. But I wonder if it allowed GM to see they could sell trucks that were more than just pack mules. 60-61 was the beginning of a really adventurous time for GM and as you say, by the late '50s there was plenty of time and $$ being directed at the new vhicles. It seems as though the 55-59 trucks were simply built to carry GM into the future.

[ChuckDriver]

Very cool pictures and info, thanks for posting!!

[1project2many]

BTTT for a thread with very cool pictures.

[Johns327]

Coolest thread ever. Great information and background data.

[Patrat]

Thanks for the pictures, very interesting, I am in the thinking/planning stage of building and am seriously wanting to do the unibody thing. On a custom chassis, so flex will not be an issue.

[G&R's57GMC]

Originally Posted by Patrat

Thanks for the pictures, very interesting, I am in the thinking/planning stage of building and am seriously wanting to do the unibody thing. On a custom chassis, so flex will not be an issue.

Check out NoLimit for a super stiff chassis . Rob designed it for autocross , it's stiff with Wide Ride IFS, R&P steering disc brakes, Anti sway bar , Fat Bar rear suspension , ETC.

[_Ogre]

i just noticed the black paint or trim at glass level, makes the glass look continuous
this would look very nice on a yellow truk with tinted windows

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

i just noticed the black paint or trim at glass level, makes the glass look continuous
this would look very nice on a yellow truk with tinted windows

That's a thing now. If you look at some of the new Chevys and Nissans and such they are blacked out at the A pillar and rear pillar to create a "floating roof".

K

[_Ogre]

i just ordered some black tape to see if i like the look
truk was a custom cab way back when, i welded all the holes up for the trim
otherwise it'd look a lot better blacked out with the chrome

[_Ogre]

this thread is to cool to die

[factorystock]

I've noticed in the '55-'59 run, and also the '47-'55 run, we don't see that approx 3 years worth of alternate design photos that we have in the '60-'66, '67-'73 and '73-80, which makes me believe they didn't waste their time on obvious nonsense and when straight to the best design and put out the new product in less than 2 years. Truck styling closely resembled the car styling at GM, except for the pickup box, so what they had planned for the car lines they we concurrently doing the same for truck lines behind closed doors.