Let's See Some 88-98 Std. Cab 4x4's.

[jocko]

97

[special-K]

No text. Is this your truck? Nice one. What year?

[1badgmc]

Originally Posted by special-K

No text. Is this your truck? Nice one. What year?

Judging from the color, I'd guess it's a '97 in the one-year-only Bright Blue Metallic.

[jocko]

Sorry Tim! Yes, my truck, thanks - 97 as 1bad pointed out, 1 year only color. Bought recently out of South Dakota, 66k mi on it. Haven't done anything except swap on these factory wheels in place of the factory aluminum wheels. I like em both but like the steelies a lot better. Just doing some detailing, fluid changes, etc. Intent is for it to replace my 01 K1500 dd that's just a few miles shy of 300k. But it's still going and intend to drive it til it drops, which may be quite some time (knock on wood). Been hunting for a low mile 94 or 96-98 K1500, and kinda jumped on this one relatively quickly when it popped up on the net.

[dave6672]

Awesome truck Jocko. I've always liked OEM steel wheels with center caps and trim rings on these trucks. Looks great.

The 88-98 body style is a close second to the 67-72's as my favorite. I just bought a 93 K2500 Suburban (for the second time, but that's a story for another time). It was a one owner rig from CA until a few years ago ago it's rust free. I'll post pics on the Suburban thread when I get a chance.

[jocko]

thanks Dave, look forward to seeing your 93. I agree, I've always liked this body style as well - my first one, a 92, shown below - a shop in CA ended up wrecking it on a joyride many moons ago, I coulda cried.. They claim the brakes went out as they moved it around the shop - but I still have the picture in the back of my mind of the valet getting airborne in the Ferris Bueller Ferrari... That was over 2 decades ago, been all T800s and squarebody or earlier since then, until now. I'd prefer a K2500 over a 1500 any day, but my 01 2500HD gas mileage is practically a negative number - and it's also got very low miles on it, so I'm keeping it as the hauler when really needed and will enjoy the new 'ol blue above for daily runarounds.

[dave6672]

Very nice truck as well. I prefer the look of a standard cab truck and they're great for just tooling around, but with my family of three I always need the space of at least a extended cab. Now with the Suburban there's plenty of room.

[special-K]

You found a good one for sure. I am a standard cab guy, never owned anything else. In my mind that is a pickup, or at least the short top long tail end look is what I find attractive (and more utility), like a Coupe de Ville

I'm also no fan of factory alloy wheels. I like some tradition in any truck I own. If I want alloy wheels I will personalize with my favorite custom aftermarket wheel and have what suits me. I like as many touches of the past on a modern truck, or even de-styling if that's a word. When I ordered my '92 I got cab lights, stainless towing/camper mirrors, Woodland Green (same as 505) from the fleet selection, AND manual transmission

I always thought '92 was the best year. I owned one! But was because late in the year they introduced the 6.5TD. It was also the first year for the full truck line, Suburbans, Blazers, Yukons (though names hadn't changed yet), crew cabs, AND the all new 3500HD. I like the interiors better than the '95-up. I didn't like the chrome that blisters on the grille and in time I decided I liked the '94-up grille better. Although you get the Vortec with '96-up, and that is a big plus, I believe '94 is my favorite year. You get the new grille and the old interior. I like the TBI just fine and would rather have it. My dream is a '94 with Vortec heads and post-95 European market Van TBI intake. But left stock would suit me fine too

Let me see if I have any regular cab pictures while I'm here.

I spied this gem at Home Depot one day. I'd love to get my hands on one like this... or yours!

[Joesjunk]

That’s a beautiful truck Mark! I’ll admit I thought about buying it when you sent me this link to the ad. Glad you got it. Now you can sell me the 2500HD 😉

[jocko]

Originally Posted by special-K

You found a good one for sure. I am a standard cab guy, never owned anything else. In my mind that is a pickup, or at least the short top long tail end look is what I find attractive (and more utility), like a Coupe de Ville

I'm also no fan of factory alloy wheels. I like some tradition in any truck I own. If I want alloy wheels I will personalize with my favorite custom aftermarket wheel and have what suits me. I like as many touches of the past on a modern truck, or even de-styling if that's a word. When I ordered my '92 I got cab lights, stainless towing/camper mirrors, Woodland Green (same as 505) from the fleet selection, AND manual transmission

I always thought '92 was the best year. I owned one! But was because late in the year they introduced the 6.5TD. It was also the first year for the full truck line, Suburbans, Blazers, Yukons (though names hadn't changed yet), crew cabs, AND the all new 3500HD. I like the interiors better than the '95-up. I didn't like the chrome that blisters on the grille and in time I decided I liked the '94-up grille better. Although you get the Vortec with '96-up, and that is a big plus, I believe '94 is my favorite year. You get the new grille and the old interior. I like the TBI just fine and would rather have it. My dream is a '94 with Vortec heads and post-95 European market Van TBI intake. But left stock would suit me fine too

Let me see if I have any regular cab pictures while I'm here.

I spied this gem at Home Depot one day. I'd love to get my hands on one like this... or yours!

That's a nice one Tim, I have always liked the Victory Red with any two tone combo - I think the two tone blues that GM offered, even all the way back to the Custom Two Tones in the early 70's, thru the square years, and into this era are by far my favorite color combos, but so many of them were nice looking. The red one posted above is a 92 I had, really liked it. My favorite year is 94. I'm so picky in this era, it's not even funny... I prefer the 94+ grille, the 94- interior, and 94+ for ease of a/c service (i.e. 1st year for R134 on these trucks - and a lot of places won't even touch R12 systems anymore it seems, some do, but most won't). Obviously I'm willing to go with the 95+ interior, because I did so that's always been my search pattern: 94 followed closely by a 96-98. Why no 95 I've been asked? OBD I. I'd rather have NO OBD, ala 94, or OBD II as in 96+. OBD I, though readable, was the first year, and in most cases requires a standalone OBD I code reader - OBD II is the standard, and still around today. Told you I was picky... But the SFI vortec is nice and this 97's interior is growing on me - I do like it a lot. I also like the 97+ variable ratio power steering - steers like an "old" ps truck when twisting around in a parking lot, but feels like a newer one at speed on the highway. Both my 2001s seem to be higher effort steering at low speed. I DO prefer the floor shifted t-cases, but that's not a requirement for me - it's just that I've had a few instances where the electronics came detached and it was headscratcher to figure out for a short period of time. Probably not an issue now as it would be the first place I'd look, live n learn - but still, the manually shifted case is one less thing that can go wrong, fall off, etc. Generally speaking, I'm a "the less electronics, the better" sort of person, no matter how much nicer the new cool stuff makes our lives.

[special-K]

Bringing the thread back

[special-K]

Here is the '95 I had as bought, before building it into a work truck


And one of the '92 the way I originally had it set up