Chevy vs GMC

[Rich Iowa]

Perhaps someone can shed some light on this for me. I have always wondered what the differance is between the Chevy and GMC branded trucks. Besides the name and grill they appear to be the same to me, same price, same options, etc. I'm suprised that the GMC brand wasn't knocked off like Oldsmobile and Pontiac when GM hit hard times.

 

[wisbaker]

GMC was part of Pontiac towards the end, with Trucks and SUVs selling strong they didn't want to axe the brand, like you said they're the same so their is no development cost and it allows them to put trucks and SUVs in Buick points. GMC used to have a few more differences a long time ago the engines were different, back before Chevrolet got full pressure main and rods bearings the GMC engine had it, I assume they used a Pontiac or Olds 6 cylinder or maybe that 270 staight six they had, in the 50's V8 GMC trucks had a Pontiac engine. In the 60's GMC pickups had a unique 305 C.I.D. V-6 that was a truck only item it was of the same family they used for the big truck V6 and V12. The V-12 was a strange engine 4 heads and two intake manifolds. My dad was a car hauler, had a load of pickups on one day 3 were to go to a Pontiac dealer, the dealer refused them because they were mis-built- all 3 had Chevy grills & tailgates but GMC horn caps.

 

[Dean]

Though GMC was once significantly different from Chevrolet, this is no longer true. Indeed, only trim and incidentals now differ.

GMC was maintained while other brands were elimiinated for marketing and franchising reasons.

Dean

 

[504]

In 1974 we had half a dozen GMC PUs that came with Chevy horn buttons. We had a Chevy van on the transport truck with a GMC rear door on it. If GM only made one truck, Ford would not have the best selling truck in America any more.(GM total numbers are greater than Ford)

 

[TomH in PA]

I don't know if it's still true (probably is for the surviving divisions) that Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, Olds, and GMC were basically design and marketing divisions. Almost all manufacturing was done by Fisher Body and General Motors Assembly Division. Same parts were put together on the same assembly line for all except a few models like the Corvette. Cadillac did most of it's own manufacturing, mostly as a marketing gimmick.

 

[KCTractors]

I was always told that the GMC truck was better than the Chev because they had lock washers on the bolts to keep them from shaking apart. The GMC is better looking in my opinion.

 

[old]

Years ago but not true today the GMC was a heavier duty truck then the Chev was. Like the frame for the GMC 1/2 ton was the same frame as was used on the 3/4 ton Chev. Only reason I know this is because at one time we had a 1/2 ton GMC and the same year 1/2 ton Chev the the frame of the GMC was bigger and heavier then the Chev was. But now days the GMC and Chev trucks as so close to being the same it pretty much does not matter.

 

[Stuart]

Not true. GMC body parts are different than a chevy

 

[wisbaker]

The various divisions did marketing, styling and engineering, they used to have their own plants, the last single mark plant was the old Oldsmobile plant on the river in Lansing. They shut 'er down in 1984 retooled it and when it re-opened it was BOC final assembly #5, now it's an empty lot. For years all bodies were made by Fischer body and sold to the final assembly plants along with all the other parts. One thing that has happened in GM is the high labor and legacy costs forced them to close parts plants and buy the parts from someone else. Delphi was a group of these plants they formed into a division and then sold it off. Heard the new owners (Uncle external_link and the UAW) were trying to convince a group of employees to take a pay cut and give up retirement benefits so they could sell the stamping plant to someone else. Gee all those union dues they paid were sure a good investment.

 

[Dean]

Agreed, and such is functionally incidential.

Dean

 

[Spook]

I worked for GM for 30 years. The Olds plant in Lansing was not the last single mark plant. Cadillac was still building Caddys at Clark street, in Detroit until 1999. That plant dated back to 1908. Lansing did have the last Fisher body plant, they were trucking bodies across Lansing until the 90's. It took GM a long time to put all the dividions together, it started with GMAD in the 60's - General Motors Assembly Division. I think 2 of the 1st plants were Arlington, Texas and Kansas City. GMAD was call Gone Madd!!!. At one time each division was it's own company, until the 70's they had their own foundries - then CFD, Central Foundry Division took over all foundries. It took too long to change, and the folks working there generally hated change - allways it meant somebody was going to lose a job.

 

[S.Crum]

Dad was a prep man at the Chevy dealer in town after he left the farm until he retired. One day he brought home a new GMC grill out of a 75' Chevy. Yes I said Chevy. The new truck came off the transporter and nobody noticed the grill until Dad found it while preping the truck. The trucks traveled the same assembly lines. The one's with the heavier frames were usually ordered that way. Chevys and GMCs were pretty much the same from the mid 60s on. There hasn't been one built since the 87' model year came out that is worth owning though. Ford did the same thing 10 years later.

 

[Anonymous-0]

You are right with the 87 model year, they would sell a bought if they would make them again. chris

 

[wisbaker]

I guess I stand corrected on Olds Main, I remember folks talking about it when they re-tooled for the 10 body (Grand Am Cutlass Calais and Somerset Regal) I grew up outside Lansing and worked at the Country Club about 5 blocks from the plant until '83. I remember the body haul trucks and always wondered how many people got killed over the years by the body haul trucks as they didn't stop at stop lights. About 5-6 years ago I was back in Lansing to pick up a 1966 Toronado, it felt funny pulling it by Olds main where it was made knowing the plant was shuttered, but not a strange as going back this winter and seeing the main plant and the jet plant gone. Took a while to get used to REO being gone.

 

[ILLEFTY]

Ordered a 1976 Chevy Blazer new. When it can in it had a GMC horn button. Was built on same assemblt line as Chevy.

 

[fepo]

question is why would they be different other than esthetics?
Marketing = sales
Market to he Chevy guys and they buy Chevy
Market to GM guys and they buy GM
change lettering, badges, grill style, all the easy cosmetics and there you go.
Underneath there is zero difference.
Yes they should shut a line down and make the other the best built and reliable truck on the market with all the savings they get from running a second line (ie: fire all the marketing dept).

 

[Dean]

Chevrolet and GMC light trucks are made on the same assembly lines and have been for decades.

Dean

 

[Dean]

GMC Truck has never been "part of Pontiac" but they were once both headquartered in Pontiac, MI and did have a close corporate relationship.

GMC did, indeed, use Pontiac engines in light trucks on several occassions, most recently Pontiac V8s in the late 1950s.

Dean

 

[Rich Iowa]

I have always thought the GMC was better looking too, even though it was almost identical to the Chevy.

 

[Goose]

Can't say for now, but I recall once back in the 1970's, I compared specs on Chevy and GMC engines, and GMC DID have different specs for bearing clearances, etc.

Also, at one time I had a '75 GMC crew cab dually and a '74 Chevy crew cab dually. They were supposedly identical mechanically, but the GMC would out pull and out work the Chevy without breaking a sweat.

That old "Jimmy" still goes down as my all time favorite pickup. Call it character, attitude, or whatever, it had that undescribable "something" that no other pickup I've ever owned has had.

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 13:10:27 05/13/12) Chevrolet and GMC light trucks are made on the same assembly lines and have been for decades.

Dean

f you want another "same" PU with more bling & more dollars, just get a Cadillac PU. :roll:

 

[Indiana Ken]

I was always told GMC stands for Gooder Made Chevrolet, eh.

 

[Russ from MN]

As long as they have customers for both they will make both. I think they should of dropped Chevy instead of Olds.

 

[Anonymous-0]

(quoted from post at 04:44:31 05/15/12) As long as they have customers for both they will make both. I think they should of dropped Chevy instead of Olds.

eah man! Olds made those 'great' 350 diesels! Left a bad diesel taste in mouths/minds of Americans until this day! That was really an OLDS engine, not corporate GM or Chevy.