What's the difference between Chevy & GMC trucks?

[16LT4]

One of the more comical things I’ve ever seen is a GMC pickup with one of those “Calvin pissing on Chevrolet” stickers in the back window.  Probably the same guy who is convinced that the “professional grade” marketing campaign means that his truck has heavier duty suspension and drivetrain components.

[KARNUT]

Up until 2014 my GMs were mostly GMCs. In my area they were cheaper, had more packages. Like the Texas edition. I bought bang for the buck. I had all the brands. All things equal I did like the front end look of the GMC better. 

[Grumpy Bear]

I owned a 70's Corvette once upon a time. Half shaft universals were $90 a piece and came in a red box with the crossed flags. That exact same universal came in a blue box with a one digit prefix difference in part number to fit the intermediate position of the one ton trucks with a two piece driveshaft and cost $19 a piece. 

 

In the early 70's you could still buy all the factory race goodies for the Ford FE motors. I remember looking up a camshaft kit. CZA6250-B. Ford was $135 but the Mercury was $300. You bought the Ford and bragged the Mercury.

 

You have to ask yourself if a 'look' or a 'badge' is worth several thousand dollars to you or not when the biggest difference is marketing. For some that answer will always be yes!!  

[Donstar]

My past two truck purchases have been GMC's when looking for a Silverado.  I buy new off the lot so I look for a truck that best suits my needs and price. I think my head would explode if I had to make all of the decisions required to order a truck!  I would be frozen at the first step; GMC or Silverado!  

[Donstar]

4 minutes ago, Grumpy Bear said:

I owned a 70's Corvette once upon a time. Half shaft universals were $90 a piece and came in a red box with the crossed flags. That exact same universal came in a blue box with a one digit prefix difference in part number to fit the intermediate position of the one ton trucks with a two piece driveshaft and cost $19 a piece. 

 

In the early 70's you could still buy all the factory race goodies for the Ford FE motors. I remember looking up a camshaft kit. CZA6250-B. Ford was $135 but the Mercury was $300. You bought the Ford and bragged the Mercury.

 

You have to ask yourself if a 'look' or a 'badge' is worth several thousand dollars to you or not when the biggest difference is marketing. For some that answer will always be yes!!  

My '90 Cadillac Sedan de Ville was bad for this.  As soon as you said Cadillac, the most generic parts or services seemed to come with an upcharge.  I soon learned to ask for a Buick equivalent! 

[Grumpy Bear]

18 minutes ago, Donstar said:

My past two truck purchases have been GMC's when looking for a Silverado.  I buy new off the lot so I look for a truck that best suits my needs and price. I think my head would explode if I had to make all of the decisions required to order a truck!  I would be frozen at the first step; GMC or Silverado!  

I don't know how old you are but when I was a youngster I LOVED going with dad to buy a new car. You got to choose nearly every feature. Color, trim, inside and out. Motor, carb, transmissions, gearing suspension.........kid in a candy store and EVERYTHING was on the table. 

 

2 minutes ago, Donstar said:

My '90 Cadillac Sedan de Ville was bad for this.  As soon as you said Cadillac, the most generic parts or services seemed to come with an upcharge.  I soon learned to ask for a Buick equivalent! 

I can relate. Alternator, Corvette $150, 64 Malibu $19. There use to be a parts interchange book you could buy from the Corvette Club. 

[Donstar]

2 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

I don't know how old you are but when I was a youngster I LOVED going with dad to buy a new car. You got to choose nearly every feature. Color, trim, inside and out. Motor, carb, transmissions, gearing suspension.........kid in a candy store and EVERYTHING was on the table. 

I remember it well.  1964 Ford Galaxie 500;  XL., 2 door fastback, automatic,  power steering, power brakes power windows, 390 4 barrel, Black with red interior, buckets c/w floor console,  white wall tires, clock,  and the piece de resistance - AM push button radio with rear reverberator!  

[dieselfan1]

I bought a new 1998 Chevy Silverado 1/2 ton reg cab 4x4 longbed off the lot in the fall 1997  . It stickered for $24,******.

That winter I was at a boat show and saw the same exact truck but a GMC same color even. The sticker was exactly the same price.

 

[Grumpy Bear]

6 hours ago, Donstar said:

I remember it well.  1964 Ford Galaxie 500;  XL., 2 door fastback, automatic,  power steering, power brakes power windows, 390 4 barrel, Black with red interior, buckets c/w floor console,  white wall tires, clock,  and the piece de resistance - AM push button radio with rear reverberator!  

Dad would bring home the sales info for a new car. Material swatches and paint chips for mothers input. Dad spec'ed the drive line. 

 

The guy did some nice cars but also did some oddballs. 

 

White on white 65 Ford 4 door Wagon. Bench seat Vanilla.  Not even any carpet. 3.55 locker, 4 speed and a 240 straight six. He towed with it. Mom hated that car. So he traded same year. 65 two door Custom. Radio delete. 390 4 barrel 4 speed 4.30 9 inch Detroit Locker. Bench seats with carpet. Maroon outside, black inside. That one would scoot pretty good. She didn't like that one much either. 66 Custom 500 4 door. 390 2 barrel C6 Automatic. 3.25 gear open. Midnight blue over black. That one had a radio. She liked it but wouldn't drive it. Man this girl is hard on a guy. 67 Ford Galaxie 500 XL 4 door sedan. 289 2 barrel C4, 3.00 gear. Air, radio. Brittney Blue with a Whitman White top. One of the prettiest cars I've ever seen. Oh she liked that one and drove it and wrecked it. 

 

[Donstar]

To sort of tie these posts in with Op's question I will add that compared to a "few" years ago there really is little significant difference between trim levels within models. The most basic truck now comes standard with major features that traditionally were  options. The manufacturers allow us to dress up our trucks (at a significant cost)  but they all end up quite similar.  You certainly won't find the oddballs in the used vehicle section that once appeared!  

[16LT4]

Is there anything other than arguably better looks (T1s notwithstanding) and the useless multi tailgate than a Denali has that a High Country Chevy doesn’t? I’m not being facetious and actually curious. 

 

My GMC doesn’t have dash vents, an HVAC that has a setting they than “heat” or “defrost”, crank windows, vinyl floors and a bare cardboard headliner. Not quite high class when you need to reach under the dash to open the fender well vents in order to get outside air. But like a good GM, has t needed anything other than fluid changes and ignition tuneups since new in 1984. Original clutch too, and the undercoating is still intact in the frame. It’ll outlast the K2. 

[ThundahBeagle]

Nothing.

 

They were different brands and GM bought GMC about a hundred years ago, then standardized on a single truck platform for Chevy and GMC. 

 

I like the "worker, boss, owner" quote above. That seems to hold true in general.

 

Contrary to popular belief, GMC trucks are not more fancy. They essentially have the same trim levels, but with different names for those trims.

 

Typically, you could say that 80 percent of Chevy drivers are purchasing mid to low level trim packages, while 80 percent of GMC owners are selecting mid to top grade trim packages. This makes it appear that GMC is a nicer truck, when in fact they have a "work truck" version just like Chevy does. GMC prices thier lowest trim level 1 to 2 thousand dollars higher than Chevy, so that contributes to the falsity that they are a fancier truck. As a result of all this, GMC is very profitable despite selling a lower number of trucks.

[ThundahBeagle]

I also have to admit, though...I have had a GMT400 Chevy scsb, and two GMT400 full size Chevy Blazer Silverados. Now I have a 2014 GMC Sierra and I love this truck. Of course it's a more modern model, but all things considered I like it a lot. Chevy would be hard pressed to get me to return to Chevy, no matter how senseless that seems.

 

And yes. I am a project manager when I used to be a worker bee. So, that worker, foreman, owner thing applies at least in my case

[garagerog]

From an old guy, just for historical reference, there used to be major differences between the Chevy and GMC p/u's in the mid-60's. The GMC used a relatively large, poorly balanced V-6, probably based on the Buick V-6 of the same era. With Chevy you had the choice of a 250ci I6, a 292ci I6, or a 283 ci 2 barrel. Although hard on gas, the 292 I6 was the best of the lot that Chevy offered. It had a tad more hp than the 283 and had low end stump pulling torque. I believe the GMC's had rear leaf springs whereas the Chevys had coil rear springs although it could have been the other way around. Prettiest paint I've EVER seen on any p/u was a dark maroon 65 GMC that belonged to an old feller in my small home town, as a HS kid I drooled over that p/u ever time I saw it.

[15 Z71]

What about the red dash lightning on gmc before they even changed that to the same color. Some people liked the red.