There are certain cars and trucks that hit the ground as both an advancement and a risk. For General Motors, it was the release of their 1988 trucks that stood as both of those things. After the insanely successful 1973-1987 run of the previous generation of rigs, the company redesigned them from the ground up for better economy, handling, performance, and comfort. In reality, they could have stuck with the old stuff for a while but they knew that the competition was advancing and they had to as well. With sales of a half million trucks a year at the time, a mistake on this line would have been a disaster. As the Motor Week video below proves, it was anything but.
The independent front suspension did not endear these trucks to hardcore off-roaders who hated the complexity of trying to seriously lift one, but it did make the trucks very nicely riding units and as you can see in the video it certainly allowed the handling to be a cut above a beam axle type of arrangement.
We dig the fact that these guys tested a stripper unit. The thing had the base 4.3L V6, the vinyl bench seat, the base wheels, white walls, and an automatic transmission. The 0-60 time is about what a mini-van ran during that era, which makes sense. The price of that truck is about $13,000 which in 2023 money is $32,000. Base model trucks are certainly there and then some these days, kids.
A fun look at a big deal of a truck from 1988!
