All I want for Christmas is this 1972 GMC pickup
Whether it’s a customized 4×4, a hot-rodded two-wheel-drive street truck, or a nice survivor, 1967–1972 GMC/Chevrolet pickups have long been popular with collectors and hobbyists. My most recent browsing session on the Hagerty Marketplace classifieds turned up this 1972 GMC 1/2-ton. It’s more of the hobbyist sort of truck—seemingly both used and cared for—and I dare say it’s now at the top of my holiday wish list.
First off, the classic body style is an obvious win. The GMC grille, with its quad lights, is a bonus. These trucks used a trailing arm rear suspension with coil springs, which offered surprisingly good handling and a nice ride. Its eight-foot-long, wood-floored bed offers a ton of utility, as well. The fact that it’s painted light tan and copper is just a slam dunk, not to mention sure to impress Brown Car Appreciation Society card-carrying member (and Hagerty senior editor) Sajeev Mehta.
Inside, the upholstery on the bench shows some wear but nonetheless appears fully serviceable, and the gold carpet was recently replaced. That brings up another thing to love about this generation of GMC pickup: several companies make replacement panels, carpet, upholstery, and trim. Access to such interior goodies makes this pickup a great project to poke at around the shop. Restore? Modify bit-by-bit as the need or desire arises? Sure, or just drive as-is until something needs attention.
Similarly easy to service, the drivetrain of this truck is ready for anything. It’s equipped with a Turbo 350 three-speed automatic and Chevy 350 small-block V-8, which was the top small-block offering in 1972, only eclipsed by an optional 402 big-block. We don’t need to extoll the virtues of a Chevy small-block, particularly the 350, which has got to be the most widely produced of all Gen 1 V-8s … but we will anyway! The ubiquitous engines are easy to take care of and there are scores of parts available from the factory and aftermarket to help you build whatever motor your want, be it torquey truck mill or high-powered drag motor. This one is equipped with an Edelbrock carb and appears stock otherwise, but that’s not stopping us from daydreaming about a Vortec cylinder head swap and a roller cam to wake things up a bit.
With an asking price of $12,500, it’s above the current #4 (Fair) value, but well below the #3(Good) value of $20,800. The truck is a bit weathered but far from worn out, and the paint is far better than we would expect for such a workhorse. A little buffing might bring out even more shine. I’d certainly love to see this in my driveway, so I’m sure its next owner will feel the same.
That is damn near perfect. I’ve been shopping these for a couple years and here (in the painfully wealthy city of Vancouver) they go for ridiculous prices.
I would be one happy camper (groan) if this was outside Christmas morning…
Love these trucks. As a Montana example the one in the article would hopefully be mostly rust free.
However, that lower two-tone with the wheel arches painted is not correct to anything I have ever seen for these:
-Just the bottom rocker line and roof
-bottom rocker line and top of door line (near door handle) usually with trim on top & bottom of the middle two-tone panel and roof painted
*a pillars can be part of the two-tone or not on these, seems to have varied. Often the roof/lower is the white but some reverse versions have pics on the forums for these trucks.
Anyways, look close on the provided pictures and I am not sure the lower rocker body lines are all that straight so their might be some work to do/redo on this truck.
Screw hole on the inside of the door under the vent window is 1972 only suggesting this truck has it’s original doors on it. The older doors with the metal door panels the regulator stalks are shorter but most pieces are interchangeable 67-72 on the interiors. It does look pretty well kept. I prefer these in the burnt orange or strange turquoise that was bizarrely popular. Copper is nice and they look good in just about any colour.
Coming from the rust belt… this is a 20 if not 30k CDN dollar truck in this shape in our insane local market. You can buy almost anything for these trucks. Don’t worry too much about the usual truck issues like rockers, cab corners and such –but be aware that these are prone to rust out at the front of the roof above the windshield which can be a nightmare to fix correctly (the folded tin edges facing up to the elements in the drip rail are part of the fail –squarebody eliminated this detail).
The radio delete plate in the example is a favourite thing of mine (misplaced the one I had been holding onto for years –hope I find it again). The different colour glove box is something I have seen in others of these that it was the correct build sticker (not a true full one, but if not destroyed it does tell part of the trucks story) and a contrasting colour to the rest of the interior. I prefer the dash all one color in these.
Disc brake on front option came mid generation on these, pretty sure by 72 it was standard. If that matters to a person’s build.