67-72 C/K/T-40's-90's!

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Beautiful MH.

8V-71?

[special-K]

I don't know but that would be my guess. I never heard it or saw the owner with it when I was looking

[70c10-08]

The 1,000,000th vehicle built at Pontiac East Assembly in 1984

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by 70c10-08

The 1,000,000th vehicle built at Pontiac East Assembly in 1984

It wasn't too long after that GM moved the medium duty trucks back to Pontiac Truck And Coach and changed over Pontiac East to build the new GMT-400 light duty trucks. Pontiac East was built in the early 70's specifically as a medium duty truck plant.

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by Bob B.

Pontiac East was built in the early 70's specifically as a medium duty truck plant.

Yep, construction began spring of '70, assuming ready for the '73 models.

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by factorystock

Yep, construction began spring of '70, assuming ready for the '73 models.

Yes, I don't think any 72's were built there. Seems that before 1973, the medium duty C series trucks were built at a lot of other plants. Flint and Fremont for sure.

Great picture, thanks for posting.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Bob,

What can you tell us about the 4-53 in these Medium Duty trucks. I believe the only year was '79. Wondering why it was such a short production option.

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by C10 - C90 Bill

Bob,

What can you tell us about the 4-53 in these Medium Duty trucks. I believe the only year was '79. Wondering why it was such a short production option.

Saw a few of those noisy things back in the day! The 4-53T was available in the medium duty C series starting in early 1978, first diesels in these trucks since the 478 Turbium (Toroflow) in 1974. The 4-53T was replaced by the Detroit 8.2L in early 1980, so they were around about 2 years total. My guess was the 4-53T was a stop-gap to get a diesel in the C series mediums while the 8.2L was under development. The medium duty diesel market was starting to grow in the late 70's. 1980 also saw the introduction of the Cat 3208 and Cummins VT-225 powered TopKick and Kodiak, which were heavier duty mediums.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Appreciate the info. They should have kept the 4-53 as the 8.2 wasn't that good of an engine, the way I understand it anyway. This kind of reminds me of my John Deere. John Deere wanted a Diesel for it's 30 Series Tractor in '59 and put in the 2-53 Detroit till early '60, while they were developing a new diesel for it's New Generation Tractors, a well kept secret, that were out later on in the year of 1960.

Interesting on the Toro-Flow. I've seen them as late as about 1970, but never knew they put one in a '74. The 3208 was a good engine, but I never liked them in a GM. They were pretty popular in Fords and when they were first out, we would call them "Ford Throw-Aways". Word had it that they weren't worth rebuilding after they wore out.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Which reminds me, I could had bought a real nice '79 GMC 7500 Single Axle Dump, Low Miles with Air Brakes to boot for $4000 some years back, but passed on it because it had a 3208. I was expecting a 4-53, lol.

Edit:

Correction. I was expecting a 6V-53.

[Bob B.]

Seen a few '73 and '74 C series mediums with gas V-6 and Toroflow power. The Cat 3208 was a modernized version of the older 1140/1150/1160 V-8 diesels. My understanding was Cat built the 1100 series V-8's for Ford, they were designed to interchange with the SD gasoline engines. They were also painted 'Ford Blue' too! We had a few TopKicks with 3208's, and I really liked them. Little tough to work on though.

[factorystock]

Little bit of Ford-Cat literature.

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by factorystock

Little bit of Ford-Cat literature.

Those 'Ford Blue' Caterpillar diesels always busted me up. Their blue Detroit Diesels as well!

Detroits supplied to International Harvester were sometimes painted 'Farmall Red'.

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by Bob B.

Those 'Ford Blue' Caterpillar diesels always busted me up. Their blue Detroit Diesels as well!

And Cummins too?

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by factorystock

And Cummins too?

Ha, look at that!

[special-K]

He don't need no steenkin' diesel. He got 'im a big bad Chivvy four two seven gas job

[special-K]

And GM, since they made their own diesel, wasn't concerned with matching their gas engine color.

Here's a nice one

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Another question for Bob or anyone else who would know. Somewhere around the late'70's to mid '80's you could get a GMC 7500 with a 6V-53 Detroit and a Road Ranger Trans, but only in a Tandem Axle truck for some reason. It seems like the Single Axle trucks could only get a 5-Speed and 2-Speed Rear at best. Wondering why this was and could you Special Order a Single Axle with a Road Ranger back then?

[Bob B.]

Originally Posted by C10 - C90 Bill

Another question for Bob or anyone else who would know. Somewhere around the late'70's to mid '80's you could get a GMC 7500 with a 6V-53 Detroit and a Road Ranger Trans, but only in a Tandem Axle truck for some reason. It seems like the Single Axle trucks could only get a 5-Speed and 2-Speed Rear at best. Wondering why this was and could you Special Order a Single Axle with a Road Ranger back then?

You got me. The 6V-53 was available in the Brigadier 7500's up until about 1984 or so, but the vast majority I remember seeing were Cat 3208 powered. I don't have anything on transmission availability for the 6V-53. You need to find a Data Book from the early 80's, it would say.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by Bob B.

You got me. The 6V-53 was available in the Brigadier 7500's up until about 1984 or so, but the vast majority I remember seeing were Cat 3208 powered. I don't have anything on transmission availability for the 6V-53. You need to find a Data Book from the early 80's, it would say.

Not real sure where I saw it. Could be in my GMC aftermarket book, but it listed a Road Ranger in Tandem Axles only for some reason. The main reason I became aware of it is that a city I was well aware of bought a whole fleet of them. As much as I would like to find 9500 with a Detroit and an RR, I wouldn't mind a 7500 with one, but in Single Axle only. Wondering how far special orders went. You may remember that I drove a special order 9500. It had a 637 V-8 Gas with a 10-Speed RR. It was a '71 and still to this day, I've never seen or heard of another.

[Bob B.]

You never know, some fleet may have put in a large special order for 6V-53 7500 tandems with the small Road Ranger 10 or 13 speed and GMC decided to make it an R.P.O..

I remember you talking about a truck with a 637 gasser and a 10 speed. From all I have ever heard about the 637, that sounds like the ideal combination. Yet, most were built with 5 speeds. I wonder how the 637 would have been with a 5X4.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Bob, I have located some 637's online with 2 sticks. A town in NY had some. The 637 and the 10-Speed RR was a good combination. With a full load (30,000) it would die on some hills like a Detroit and require a lot of shifting, which I didn't mind, but was pretty impressive none-the-less. I always wished they gave me a Detroit though, lol.

[Mike80D]

Here are a couple we use around the farm. The 72, 366, 5+2 has been there since it was new. The white 70 350, 4+2 is handy for hauling out of the field, but it has made several trips to the elevator. Just have to be extra mindful in the curves!

[special-K]

I love seeing that you work these trucks. I see a few in use on farms around here, grain bodies. I think that's just great.

I don't know if I've showed these yet. But I keep finding them on Purplewave.com. I hope one can wait for me before they all get cycled out. One day I hope to raise crop on the family place up home in the mountains. Not a lot of land, but could offer my services around the county, just to enjoy putting one to use. I guess I could do that here for now

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Heavy Mediums are cool trucks.