General Motors is Suburban sales since 1935longer lasting the DeSoto Suburbanthe Nash Ambassador Suburban And the Plymouth Fury SuburbanToday, the American market is the GMC twin of the Chevrolet Suburban wears Yukon XL emblembut GMC Suburbans were sold here from 1937 through 1999. The current Jewel of a car graveyard is a four-wheel drive example of the highly successful 1973-1991 Suburban Generationfound in a junkyard just outside Reno, Nevada.
The Service parts identification sticker on the glove compartment it says that this truck was part of a fleet order with some interesting RPO codes, including one for “Retail Amenity Delete”. Yes, the cigarette lighter was an option with an additional cost.
The original engine was a good old Chevrolet 350-cubic-inch (5.7-liter) carbureted small-block V8, and this small-block may well have been the one installed on the production line in Flint, Michigan. Output was rated at 165 horsepower and 275 pound-feet, not a lot of power (by today’s standards) for a truck weighing nearly two and a half tons, but it was plenty for the time.
The transmission is the optional 700R4 four-speed automatic. The seat is a bench, as it should be.
This is a four-wheel-drive half-ton with the base Sierra trim. The High Sierra and Sierra Classic packages (which corresponded to Chevrolet’s Scottsdale and Silverado names at the time) gave you nicer trimmings plus some convenience features.
The 1985 GMC and Chevrolet Suburbans had identical price tags, starting at $11,650 for the K1500 with the 350 engine (about $24,682 in 2024 dollars).
The eighth generation Suburban was released as a model from 1992and received the luxurious independent front suspension that had been on GM’s C/K-series pickups since the 1988 model year.
At one point, the tailgate of a Chevrolet Suburban was installed.
Rust is slowly working its magic in Nevada, but we don’t know where this truck stayed before coming to the Silver State.
An owner of this truck was a proud member of the International Union of Operations Engineers Local 12covering California and Nevada.
What broke that sent this truck here? We don’t know.
The Suburban isn’t featured in this commercial for the 1985 GMC trucks, but it’s still worth a look.
The majority of advertising spending for the Suburban went to the Chevrolet version.