Chevrolet is celebrating 100 years of building trucks with a pair of retro-themed pickups.

[406 Monte]

I'll stick with my 95 K1500 Z-71 with 280,000 miles. A newer truck would be nice but I can still work on the one I have without needing fancy gizmos. The worst thing about it is the result of the harsh slop the Mn DOT think they need on the winter roads that has destroyed the body other than that she's running strong.

 

[Opie Knievel]

I'm putting new motor mounts, engine gaskets and some front end parts on my '88 GMC K1500. I'm gonna try to keep this old truck going as long as I can. It has power windows but it also has rust holes in the cab that you can put your fist through so I feel like that evens it out.

 

[axisg]

There seems to be a hole in the market for what most of us would consider a traditional work pickup. I often wondered if one of the truck manufacturers (Freightliner, International, etc) would have any success marketing a simple, basic, reliable 1-1.5 ton. Heavy duty chassis and sturdy, maybe galvanized body panels -- no "weight saving" aluminum beds. Actual gauges, roll-up windows, rubber floor mats and vinyl seats. No suede or infotainment center. If they could contract with Cummins and Allison they'd have a pretty tough to beat combo. Manual shifting transfer case and locking hubs on 4x4 models. Something more akin to a tractor than a Cadillac. Instead of focusing on gadgetry and trying to get customers to just buy a new, less obsolete, one every 3 years maybe they could try to build something worth keeping.
I bet if they could keep pricing reasonable they'd sell a bunch. Fleets would love something like that.

Think about it. Truck drivers don't trade in every 3 years because they want the latest in connectivity so they can tweet from the truck stop. They Invest in the long term life of the truck. My uncle has been driving the same Peterbilt since 1984. My grandpa drove log truck for 40+ years and I think he had 3 or 4 trucks. The last one only got replaced because it got wrecked.

I just can't see a new pickup as being money well spent. $60k and up (My former boss had close to $100k in his Ram) for something with a planned obsolescence at 100,000 miles isn't practical. Sure, most go well beyond that, but at a cost.
Now, if I had an option to buy a HD pickup for, say, $40k that had no frills and was designed to go half a million miles, I might consider that a better investment.

Funny, any time I think of a work truck it brings me back to being fresh out of high school and working construction. We were pouring a concrete underground water reservoir in Okotoks Alberta. The footing is some 50 feet below ground level in the clay soil. We poured Friday and it rained all weekend. I got the job to pull all the insulating tarps off the slab at 5am monday morning so they could start forming the walls. I went to the bottom of the hole and you couldn't walk 3 feet without 10 lbs of clay stuck to your boots. I had brought the work truck ( 3/4 tonne fjord 4x4 with bald *ss tires ) to the bottom to collect the tarps and promptly got it stuck. The boss got in at 6. He gave me 50 feet of chain, and the keys to his 2 week old 1991 Dodge 1 tonne 4x4 with the cummins to pull the fjord out. I bet they still laugh to this day about the kid from Toronto !!! I got absolutely covered in clay, the trucks both inside and out covered in clay. Me and both trucks were an absolute mess. But by luchtime the tarps were pulled and I had both trucks out ! Figuring I was done I was surprised when he gave me 10 dollars and directions to the coin op car wash up the street. One by one I took them to the coin op car wash. I pressure washed the INSIDE then out of both trucks to get the clay out of them. I worked for that company for another 2 years with those tough old trucks !
I would not want to try that with one of the trucks built in the last 10 years though....

 

[fleming442]

It has power windows but it also has rust holes in the cab that you can put your fist through so I feel like that evens it out.

That's what road signs are for......

 

[V8 Rumble]

I bought a new 16 Colorado z71 last year. I really didn't want to spend 45+ on a fullsize.I don't haul most of the times but when I do need to I'm glad I have it. I tend to keep my cars a long time.

I'm sure I'll be in here in about 20 years talking about how I'll keep my rusty 250k colorado because new trucks are to expensive

 

[ssn696]

I agree that what GM wants vs. builds these days leaves much to be desired, thus I drive a 2002 F350. I made an investment in a Lego kit for the future. It's a bit down the list, but there are a finite number of these left. Notice the Dana 44 HD. The seller took the Dana 60 and I got the 'circle-6' NP205 with the long 32-spline input shaft (slip-fit into an NV4500 with a $100 Advance Adapters ring), plus the rest of the truck and title for $600. That's like one payment on a 'Retro-Bowtie' edition. In lieu of payments...

...I've been collecting parts for the day this one's number comes up. I got deals on a fresh 6.2 Detroit Diesel and a used Banks kit with a new turbo in a box and an unobtanium-alloy 6.2 flywheel. I even have a slightly bent CUCV brush guard, dual 12Si alternator setup, glow plug controller and wiring harness. The cab needs a little body work, but I have a manual tilt column and a mint bed under a Snugtop cap full of car parts. Oh, and a Dana 60, an AAM 11.5 and rebuilt NV4500 stashed out of the weather, ready to bolt on. To complete the look, if I can still find them at that point, is a set of 16.5 rims that fit 9.5" wide mud tires. I should invest in a veggie oil conversion plant and I'll be ready for doomsday with this rig.

 

[pontiacgp]

70K pesos?

I hope not, the paso is probably worth more than the Canadian dollar

 

[olds307 and 403]

The one place the manufacturer's have stepped up is in the trans department. The TH350 failed often enough back in the day, behind not much power. The TH200 was horrible. The 2004R was known to fail around 120,000 km back then as well, supposedly. Don't get me started on the 700R4/4L60-70E, known 3/4 clutch pack issues. GM knew about how bad they were, that is why they still offer them under a TSB. Dodge went from the reliable 904 and 727 to units with flaky electronics and failures. Maybe once some of newer 5,6,7,8,9 and 10 SPD automatics will start showing issues with high miles but I have heard very few so far. Only the TH400 and 4L80E seem to have any chance without a major rework behind any kind of power.

 

[pontiacgp]

The one place the manufacturer's have stepped up is in the trans department. The TH350 failed often enough back in the day, behind not much power. The TH200 was horrible. The 2004R was known to fail around 120,000 km back then as well, supposedly. Don't get me started on the 700R4/4L60-70E, known 3/4 clutch pack issues. GM knew about how bad they were, that is why they still offer them under a TSB. Dodge went from the reliable 904 and 727 to units with flaky electronics and failures. Maybe once some of newer 5,6,7,8,9 and 10 SPD automatics will start showing issues with high miles but I have heard very few so far. Only the TH400 and 4L80E seem to have any chance without a major rework behind any kind of power.

with the 8,9 and 10 speed automatics you can probably loose a couple of gears and not notice it....

 

[james86gp]

I have a PoS 02 2500hd that I bought used in 03 with 33k on it. I'd have to think long and hard about going back. Granted, it's at 228k now, but that's not without a huge list of replacement parts with many multiple times.

I do think that GM could have done better Job with their truck I have 2011 GMC 1500 that started rusty with no physical damage and now the paint is peeling on the windshield after they repair the rust on the drip rail. poor craft man ship and a pee poor repair .