Sunday, August 7, 2011

Truck of the Day:August 8, 2011




The truck for today is Road Champ's 1980 GMC C/K.




The C/K is the name for Chevrolet and GMC's full-size pickup truck line from 1960 until 1999 in the United States.




An all-new clean sheet redesign of General Motor’s (GM) Chevrolet and GMC brand C/K-Series pickups débuted in 1972 for the 1973 model year. Development of the new third generation trucks began in 1968, four years prior to production in 1972, with vehicle components undergoing simulated testing on computers, before the first prototype pickups were even built for real world testing.[1] The redesign was revolutionary in appearance at the time, particularly the cab, departing from typical American pickup truck designs of the era. As a result, the third generation quickly became known as the "rounded-line" generation; although some people refer to them as "square bodys", given that the trucks appear square-like by more modern standards.

Third generation rounded-line C/K-Series pickups gained an all-new, high tensile strength carbon steel ladder type frame with "drop center" design.[5][9][10] Driver control systems included hydraulic variable power assisted steering and hydraulic Hydro-Boost 4-wheel power assisted brakes, which consisted of front self adjusting disc brakes and rear finned drum brakes.[1] Engines choices initially consisted of six or eight cylinder engines with either manual or Turbo Hydra-Matic transmissions.

C-Series pickups included standard two-wheel drive with an independent front suspension (IFS) featuring contoured lower control arms to improve durability and ride comfort. The standard rear live axle came with leaf springs in addition to staggered shock absorber placement to help reduce the wheel hop during hard acceleration.

Some 1980 models had a new grille, others did not; high-trim Chevys had both a new surround that incorporated near-flush square headlights and revised turn signals with a new, squarer grille pattern, while a GMC base model was entirely carryover, base Chevys had the new center section in the 1979 surround while GMCs with uplevel trims or the separate RPO V22 option had the new square-light surround with the main grille introduced in 1977. Blue interiors were a darker shade than before, and cloth-upholstered deluxe models had a new seat fabric.




To learn more, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMC_C/K







This is an old survivor from my childhood collection. I also have a purple version of the same casting as well as a yellow construction GMC too. Pretty sure the blue one shown with flames had a bed camper top but I removed that as a kid. Really like this model for the same reasons I loved it as a kid. With oversized tires, 4x4 stance, metal base and working suspension it's a winner then as well as now.

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