GM Semis

[junkmandan3]

Tim------You got it from Earl Fitzgerald [sturgishauling1@yahoo.com] who got a sample from a mutual adopted son Dave Mueller, who got it from me in the first place . I met Earl maybe 6-7 years ago through Dave who I met in 1990 or '91 on the way back to Cleveland from the Marlboro, Mass ATHS national show. Turned out Dave is from upstate NY about 50 miles from my roots, he was a student at Ohio Diesel Tech and getting gas at my normal diesel stop in Salmanca on the Indian reservation . About 2 years ago Earl planted a decal on my power chair at Macungie that I use at many shows to save my back. My feeble memory was aroused by the late Jim Bowser who asked me about the little guy who was used in all GM Diesel's parts and service bulletins in the 50-60s . I found a sample in my vast library of DD and GMC stuff, gave it to Jim who enlarged it and had decals made. They've graced a local 1950 Oliver tractor, Joe Fuller's red Cannonball with 60" Bentz sleeper and Cummins engine . Joe's Cannonball is another story ! You may know Earl has a truck restoration shop and currently is working on a 12V71 powered Brockway , among other projects . He had offered to redo my DD powered pickup, but I was foolishly too cheap to give it to him.

[junkmandan3]

Bill----I'm sure you noticed on your avatar picture that the truck was built on either Monday or Friday.............because it has Dayton wheels on one side and Budd on the other. Glad it wasn't my truck !

[C10 - C90 Bill]

I only see Daytons ??

[junkmandan3]

Look on the original brochure, you'll see what I see........Slick advertising .

But on another thought, I was getting you confused with Ashton Lewis . Was it you or he that was the GMC salesman back in the '70s. He's the guy with the slick ASTRO with 12V71 .

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by junkmandan3

Look on the original brochure, you'll see what I see........Slick advertising .

But on another thought, I was getting you confused with Ashton Lewis . Was it you or he that was the GMC salesman back in the '70s. He's the guy with the slick ASTRO with 12V71 .

I get it now....

That was Ashton. I haven't talked to him in a long while. He is an interesting guy who is pretty knowledge-able on a lot of details on these old great trucks. Didn't know he had an Astro with a 12V-71.

For the Nascar fans out there, the name Ashton Lewis might sound familiar to you. His son, Ashton Lewis, Jr ran Nationwide cars (might have been the Busch Series back then) for a few years.

Bill

[junkmandan3]

Bill------Somewhere in the pictures here are pictures of his truck. One thing that catches your eye is the horizontal mounted air cleaners and the swooping exhaust pipe over the air cleaner. Might be back on 2nd or 3rd page .

[KQQL IT]

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Real nice looking truck. If all original, I'm going to say a 4-71 Detroit.

Bill

[junkmandan3]

If the engine hasn't been changed, it would be of the 900 series models with 6-71. The depth, or height of the side panels on the hood plus the number of grille bars are the clues I use.

The fat cab models from 700 up through 850 are similar in appearance from the outside, but have shorter side panels and one less grille bar and could have either the 503 gas or 4-71s with a solid steel firewall,[no doghouse in the cab]. The 900s had a doghouse flush with the dash which would be about a foot behind the firewall.

Strange things about their numbering system back in the 40s and 50s on the way they changed model #s according to GVW and # of axles. The 980, which they seemed to discontinue early on had a 100K GCW with 12:00x24 tires. But the 970 continued even offering the 6-71T in 1957 and maybe 1958 when GMC released the D 860 with the "Dolly Parton" grille.

[greywuuf]

mister Junkman, if I may can I get you to look back at the "Trucks are beautiful" post I made with the detri\oit powered c-70 ( the red all wheel drive one) and give me you opinion on it, I am unclear of the "deep side skirts" you mentioned on the other one posted.... I could use a lesson. thanks !

[junkmandan3]

If you're talking about the 70 series with a Brigadier type cab on post #460 dated 1-26-14, [don't make me guess next time] , it has a steel butterfly type hood. The fender opening are normal for those hoods. Only when the hoods with fiberglass tilt did they have deeper skirts in the opening on 74 and up due to the cab being raised 4" . Prior the fiberglass fender opening looked the same as this one .

This is not a "C" series, but a "J" series model.............[more heavy duty].

[greywuuf]

Junkmandan3, Thank you for the reply, Sorry about making you go searching ( I had posted it in the other thread hoping you would say something about it and never thought to tell you where to look ) and yes it is a "J" model I tend to lump it together with my C-60 because people tend to know what that is and only truck guys know what a j70 is.

I knew the truck I pictured had a butterfly hood ( it is mine just waiting for the snow to clear to work a deal with the yard it is in and go bring it home ) I guess what I am confused about is what exactly ARE the side skirts you and Bill talk about, I look at the truck in post #427 ( that started that conversation) and am unclear what I am looking at ....also the raised hood... is it a taller hood and grille shell or just raised up off the frame ...I guess I am failing to "put it all together" as far as building my own "spotters guide" what year did the raised hoodline come about ? and one other little issue I am having is that on my truck the glove box tag lists the driven front axle so it came that way, but I am unsure if it would have come like it is now... budds ( or motor wheels) up front, Daytons in the back ..... did they mix an match like that ? or has mine been hacked at some point?

[junkmandan3]

The skirts I'm talking about are the outside edge of the fender that would contain the wheel splash[theoretically], and this seems to depend on whether it has a raised cab, which is dependent on the engine choice . Since I have GMC data books for 1966 and 1974 , I just referred to cab height dimensions for the short nose [90"bbc] like yours. They list 57.5" above the frame for 6-71 and 250 Cummins , while the top of the cab is 61.5" above the frame for the 8V71 or 290/335 cummins. I recall this dimension was critical for our DDA shop because with the stamped steel valve covers ,our mechanics would loosen the left cab mount for clearance. I believe the cast aluminum covers clear OK . You may be aware the 8V71 is tilted tothe right on the short conventional . We had a steel hauler in Cleveland called Dworkin that originally had the 113 BBC MH model, then bought the 90" BBC JH model .
The hoods are the same, except how they're mounted. From what I've seen[with fiberglass hood], with low cab the hood is hung on a cross tube bolted to the frame, but on the high cab the hood hinges are bolted to the bumper.
Budd front and cast spoke rear was a fad from the 70s, but usually the 4 wheel drive setup in that era was an aftermarket installed unit and they might put on what was most readily available or popular. Howe-Coleman in Troy New York specialized in those modifications and in the Tulsa,OK. area there was another vendor .

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by greywuuf

guess what I am confused about is what exactly ARE the side skirts you and Bill talk about, I look at the truck in post #427 ( that started that conversation) and am unclear what I am looking at ....also the raised hood... is it a taller hood and grille shell or just raised up off the frame ...I guess I am failing to "put it all together" as far as building my own "spotters guide" what year did the raised hoodline come about ?

As far as we can figure, the Raised-Up Cab with the Wider Fender Skirts started in either '73 or '74. Your Truck is consider a "Low Cab" even though you have it "sky high" with that Front Drive Axel on it !!

Also want to add that the Raised-Up Cab was on the C-90's and 9500's only. The C-70 and the 7500 Series trucks were all "Low Cabs", on the earlier ones anyway. The White Dump that we were talking about earlier is a puzzle to whether if it is original or not.

Bill

[greywuuf]

Thank you both, I see the how the two trucks differ now, I can always learn something here if I pay attention.

[studda]

I hope this hasn't been posted already. Pardon me if it has. I thought this '31 GMC was pretty awesome. I am going to ask my dad if he has any pics from logging in the '60s, '70s, and '80s and, hopefully, I'll get some pics with history up. Anyway, I thought this was cool. Here's the full link to the source:
http://www.trucktrend.com/features/c.../photo_06.html

[68panelman]

Nice, Probably has one huge buick engine in there.^^^

[special-K]

Now that's a rig! Gotta figure what all those little jars of baby food weigh. That's a long hood and big rubber

[junkmandan3]

Picture # 288 on page 12 is how Fred Craig's black MH looked when he bought it . That picture was taken at the ATHs convention in Greensboro in '97.

[streetrodchev]

[KQQL IT]

That's a neat tanker.



My buddys pic.

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by KQQL IT

That's a neat tanker.

It is pretty neat. Reminds me of the "Duel" Tanker.

Bill

[C10 - C90 Bill]

Originally Posted by junkmandan3

Picture # 288 on page 12 is how Fred Craig's black MH looked when he bought it . That picture was taken at the ATHs convention in Greensboro in '97.

That truck is a fine example of an MH. One of the nicest I've ever seen. I actually always thought it was a factory photo.

Bill

[junkmandan3]

Kool it--------- reference 574----The picture of the ? with big sleeper looks like something I saw at the first Pocono Truck race in 1983. Seems then it had a regular MH hood with a big set of bull horns 4' long fastened on top of the grille, plus 2 Astro cabs siamesed together.

[KQQL IT]

A better pic.

Nor my pics