The whole wood grain vs. cheyenne vs. cheyenne super thing..

[jocko]

I understand that lower belt molding was an option -

Was it standard on Cheyenne and Cheyenne Super?

Was black vs woodgrain optional - or was it driven by the Cheyenne vs Cheyenne Super selection? (i.e. based on the 72 sales literature, I'd expect the Cheyenne to have WOODgrain belt molding and the Cheyenne Super to have the black belt molding (yes, I think this is odd because interiors of Supers included the woodgrain dash and glove box cover).

Which brings me to my next question - wood grain on the door panels...

Were these associated with Cheyenne vs. Cheyenne Super - or driven by the belt molding you got? My understanding was always that BOTH Cheyenne and Cheyenne Super got woodgrain door panels.

I've seen tons of supers with wood grain belt moldings (i.e. counter to the original sales literature) and almost none with the black belt molding.

Almost all Cheyennes I've seen have the woodgrain belt molding (lines up with the sales literature)

As for interior door panels - an old red/white cheyenne I had, many many years ago - had woodgrain door panels, woodgrain belt moldings, and the standard black instrument panel color as you'd expect on a Cheyenne (non-Super).

That was a long time ago and a very original truck (and not very old at the time...) and it seemed to fall in line with all I could read in the original sales literature.

So, throw me a bone here and splain it to me - wood grain belt moldings vs. black belt moldings vs. door panels vs. cheyenne vs cheyenne super.... simple right?

HERE's why I'm really asking - I'm looking at regular old cheyenne - and it's matching what I'd expect from the factory - wood grain lower belt moldings, woodgrain door inserts, and black instrument cluster with body color painted glove box door. Yet, when I look at it - the wood grain on the doors just looks "out of place" with the dark olive dash and black instrument cluster of a plain ol Cheyenne.

Thanks for the help!
jocko

[71 super]

Both super and cheyenne got wood belt molding standard- if you have one with black it has A) be replaced or B) not real what ever. The custom and the deluxe got black. All cheyenne and super got wood door panels, cheyenne had black dash cluster, super got wood on cluster and glove box. Super also got bright tailgate handle if fleetside and houndstooth if bench.

[jocko]

thanks - that is what I have seen. I realize now what was confusing me about the original sales lit - if you read the last paragraph under the cheyenne super trim description, I misread the "moldings with black paint" comment to mean the lower moldings - it clearly states upper moldings. Duh.

So, that begs another question - the Super description makes it sound like the "just" Cheyenne did not come with the upper body side moldings since it says "all the Cheyenne stuff PLUS upper body side moldings". Yet the Cheyenne shown in the right pic clearly has upper body moldings.

Oh well, I guess these brochures weren't exactly written by rocket scientists... I've seen a very few Cheyennes without the upper body molding, but 99% had them just like in the right Cheyenne pic.

Thoughts?

[72 Super]

Some factory Cheyenne's did not come with the upper moldings. Also the factory Cheyenne and Cheyenne Super stepsides did Not recieve the upper moldings either.

[jocko]

were upper mildings an option one had to select in order to ge them on a "plain" Cheyenne? Seems like they almost all had them, yet I've never noticed an upper molding option on a SPID in a Cheyenne either... But sales lit seems to imply it was only standard on a Super. Then again, I only use that kinda stuff as a reference, and not a very reliable one either.

[stomper]

My factory '71 Cheyenne only has lower woodgrain trim. No upper.

[jocko]

Thanks Stomper - that is absolutely what I'd expect on a Cheyenne. But see many with the upper molding also.
just wondering - could someone WITH the upper molding present on a Cheyenne check their SPID and see if maybe there is an actual RPO code for upper body molding on a Cheyenne (non-Super)?
Gracias.

[Bill72]

I thought that the upper molding was referred to as belt molding and the lower was called what it is, lower molding on the SPID. I'll be interested to see if that's correct.

[FirstOwner69]

I'm no expert on the 71s and 72s, but below is a link to a document on the gm heritage center website that should answer these questions. It's a 77 page PDF document. The options pages are about 10 through 20. The pages are a bit mixed up so things are not in alphabetical order. It appears that the upper molding was only standard on the Supers, but optional on all trim levels when the lower molding was ordered. Also required with the deluxe 2-tone paint.
http://gmheritagecenter.com/gm-herit...olet-Truck.pdf

[Zoomin]

Here's the SPID from my 71 Cheyenne. It shows belt molding as an option.

[chipflyer]

Belt molding (B85) is the upper molding. This label shows the upper belt and the lower wide molding.

[special-K]

Belt moulding was only standard on Cheyenne Supers. Belt moulding came as part of the deluxe two-tone option on anything. The lower moulding came as part of the deluxe two-tone as well in Customs since they came with no trim standard.

[jocko]

thanks all - that clears it up with me - turns out the 'ol sales brochure was correct! Hmm!

Excellent, learn something new every day on here.

[too much stuff]

If it helps, i had a 71 custom deluxe with lower woodgrain. Not sure if it was changed or not at some point.

[sameyrasmea72]

Originally Posted by too much stuff

If it helps, i had a 71 custom deluxe with lower woodgrain. Not sure if it was changed or not at some point.

Yeah, that just messes up everything. But we too have had several original paint deluxe's that have had WG.

Was your truck a highlander by chance?

[jocko]

so, it seems that this would be the case:

A Cheyenne Super would have both upper and lower moldings and NO callout for them on the SPIDs (because they are part of the Super pkg)

A Cheyenne with upper molding should have the "belt" trim called out on the SPID (because only the lower molding was standard with the Cheyenne pkg)

A Custom OR Custom Deluxe with ANY molding should have the molding called out on the SPID - Lower, upper, or both (i.e. like Chipflyers)

Thanks for all the pics that folks posted!

So, I notice that LMC sells "BLACK" lower moldings in addition to woodgrain. Because I Had always misread my 72 sales brochure and thought the black paint on belt trim was referring to the LOWER molding - when in fact it's referring to the Upper ("belt") molding, now I'm curious about this:
Could one get/order/was there such a thing as BLACK (vice woodgrain) LOWER body moldings in 72? (or 71 for that matter). I'm starting to think only woodgrain was available from factory and that the black ones i've seen were aftermarket option only?!?!?!?

Thanks for the great info. Cool thread. Who asked such a great question in the first place???

[Sillyoldman]

My '71 has upper with lower WG moldings. My seat has cloth inserts. It's a Custom Deluxe.

[71 super]

The black were used on the lower option trucks customs and deluxes (the previous statement is a litle misleading as some deluxes had more options than supers for what it is worth). I believe that in late 72 some custom deluxe trucks used the wood trim as well, especially if they were a option code "c" highlander. I bought a bed out of Tenn. that had black lower trim but also had the woodgrained tailgate band. Another wrench in the option set is that some trucks with the tailgate band came with a lower trim piece. The skinny trim "should " not be there but- the 1970 canadian built truck has the tailgate band and the skinny lower tailgate. The truck from tenn had the band with trim under it as well.

[turp mcspray]

Here is the spid from a 72, 2wd, non cst(cheyenne) blazer. It is a loaded up jainer. Lower mouldings are black.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by jocko

so, it seems that this would be the case:

A Cheyenne Super would have both upper and lower moldings and NO callout for them on the SPIDs (because they are part of the Super pkg)

A Cheyenne with upper molding should have the "belt" trim called out on the SPID (because only the lower molding was standard with the Cheyenne pkg)

A Custom OR Custom Deluxe with ANY molding should have the molding called out on the SPID - Lower, upper, or both (i.e. like Chipflyers)

Thanks for all the pics that folks posted!

So, I notice that LMC sells "BLACK" lower moldings in addition to woodgrain. Because I Had always misread my 72 sales brochure and thought the black paint on belt trim was referring to the LOWER molding - when in fact it's referring to the Upper ("belt") molding, now I'm curious about this:
Could one get/order/was there such a thing as BLACK (vice woodgrain) LOWER body moldings in 72? (or 71 for that matter). I'm starting to think only woodgrain was available from factory and that the black ones i've seen were aftermarket option only?!?!?!?

Thanks for the great info. Cool thread. Who asked such a great question in the first place???

Only Customs came with no side trim. If lower trim was ordered it was black accent. Custom Deluxes came with lower trim/black accent,Cheyenne came with lower trim/woodgrain,and Cheyenne Super came with lower/woodgrain & upper...all standard. There does seem to be an exception to the rule with some Custom Deluxes getting woodgrain and I believe those may have all been Highlanders. I had an all original paint & trim '72 Highlander with woodgrain.

[leh72super1500]

Originally Posted by 71 super

The black were used on the lower option trucks customs and deluxes (the previous statement is a litle misleading as some deluxes had more options than supers for what it is worth). I believe that in late 72 some custom deluxe trucks used the wood trim as well, especially if they were a option code "c" highlander. I bought a bed out of Tenn. that had black lower trim but also had the woodgrained tailgate band. Another wrench in the option set is that some trucks with the tailgate band came with a lower trim piece. The skinny trim "should " not be there but- the 1970 canadian built truck has the tailgate band and the skinny lower tailgate. The truck from tenn had the band with trim under it as well.

Amazing that the number of Custom Deluxe's with lower wood grain reported in this thread. I have a May 1972 GMC Canadian Built Super Custom (same as Custom Deluxe) with lower wood grain and tailgate band (no lower "skinny" trim on TG). It is not a Highlander. I can't be sure it came from the factory this way, but it sure looks like it could have.

[ls1nova71]

I always thought that all Highlanders had woograin trim? At least all the ones I've seen.

Would really like to know why so many Custom Deluxes have the wood though. I also have a '71 Custom Deluxe with wood trim, it is a deluxe two tone, could that have anything to do with it?
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[jocko]

Originally Posted by special-K

Only Customs came with no side trim. If lower trim was ordered it was black accent. Custom Deluxes came with lower trim/black accent,Cheyenne came with lower trim/woodgrain,and Cheyenne Super came with lower/woodgrain & upper...all standard. There does seem to be an exception to the rule with some Custom Deluxes getting woodgrain and I believe those may have all been Highlanders. I had an all original paint & trim '72 Highlander with woodgrain.

Thanks very much Special-K, that is helpful and makes sense until I go back to this old dang sales brochure that prompted all these questions to begin with. I was starting to believe the literature - after all these posts, until this one. It makes it seem as though the lower body molding wasn't added until the Cheyenne pkg - and it only mentions the woodgrain - never mentions the black lower moldings. Now I'm confused all over again... and that's ok! This is a great topic - and I take folks' experience on here over the sales brochure any day! Here's the 2 pics from the sales brochure (the Cheyenne and Cheyenne Super one was posted above already, but here it is again along with the Custom and Custom Deluxe description also for comparison). Thanks guys, jocko

[jocko]

ooh ooh! (Horschack rdsponse)... Found this pic of the black trim on a 72 Custom Deluxe (very nice restored one on ebay) that clearly shows the black lower trim - i.e. just like Special K said it should have (note he has the upper also , so am assuming that would definitely be called out on the SPID). I have a call into him to ask the specific question about whether or not the LOWER trim was called out on his SPID. SPID wasn't posted on the ad.

This would provide some further backing of some of the comments/pics above.

[jocko]

Originally Posted by chipflyer

Belt molding (B85) is the upper molding. This label shows the upper belt and the lower wide molding.

Chipflyer - is the SPID you posted from a Custom or Custom Deluxe?