I swear, I’m not doing this on purpose. Teasing Brian with big trucks that we all know he loves dearly sometimes is fun. But I’m pretty sure that over the last couple of months, that I’ve started to tread close to the theoretical line. I keep finding good stuff that I know he’ll go cross-eyed for and it’s such good stuff that you all should be seeing it too. Without a doubt, today’s find, a 1980 GMC C35 wrecker, is up his alley. It’s a more reasonable-sized form of the dearly departed Brutus the Tow Truck, filled with plenty of classic work truck clichés that he loves so much, yet still modern enough that he doesn’t have to use a Ouija board and a mystic crystal in order to find replacement parts if and when something breaks. Besides, who are we to turn down a 1973-91 GM truck when it looks this good?
1980 Chevrolets and GMCs are unique in that they have a one-year-only grille treatment, a full-width, full-feature grille that was still utilizing the 1973-80 fenders and hood line. Everything else is pretty much what you’d expect: 454, SM465 grunt-duty four-speed manual transmission. Okay, there are actually plenty of extras on this truck too: power brakes with front disc, tilt steering and power windows and locks aren’t that uncommon, but cruise control, air conditioning aren’t common on a work truck and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen the full gauge package on any year square-body at any time, ever. And of course, there’s the Holmes 480 towing setup out back that was restored and is in full functional order.
Don’t blame the messenger, boss, I just showcase what I find. If you spend the money, that’s on you.
If I had the funds I’d buy it.
Then spend the money to fix the issues. it’s not an all original truck. Someone went and did a best hits of 73-80. Cruiser control and clutch pedals didn’t happen in those days. the goofball 1/2 ton shortbed mirrors never went on a C-30. it would have had ‘below eyeline’ or ‘west coast’ mirrors. Also note the missing fender emblems.
If it were mine I’d slap on a FAST EFI or similar carb looking EFI set up. Replace the mystery BBC with 572 GMPP mill. Then drive the wheels off, and tow some junk.