It shames me to admit it, but I’ve never owned a proper pickup truck. Although I’ve long used my ’65 Dodge Dart wagon for similar purposes, it’s not the same as throwing greasy engine parts over the bedside to take to the machine shop, or hauling home a stack of 2x4s without having to fold the rear seat down and leave them hanging over the tailgate. No, nothing but a truck will do sometimes, and I’ve had a hard time deciding what my perfect truck would be. Until now. This 60,085-mile 1963 GMC is for sale on eBay at a dealer in Pleasanton, California, with an asking price of $14,995. Aside from one concern that I’ll discuss in a minute, it’s exactly what I’d want in a truck. How about you?
My concern is the engine. The seller has posted a video of the engine running, and while the ad says it “runs even and sounds healthy,” there’s an audible rhythmic noise that does not sound right. Cameras can absolutely distort sound, so I’d want to check the truck out myself or have a chat with the selling dealer; if it ends up being something innocuous like an out-of-adjustment valve, I’d be in love with the 60-degree GMC 305 V6. Is it the best practical choice for a modern truck? Of course not. But is it something that a guy who loves quirky old things would appreciate? Yes, it is. The 305 produced 165 gross and 142 net horsepower, along with 280 gross and 260 net lb.-ft. of torque at a low 1600 rpm. Having never owned one, I cannot corroborate this, but according to things I’ve read, fuel economy was fairly poor with the big six (although we can always expect comparatively poor mileage from our older rigs); however, they were designed as a heavy-duty truck engine from the start.
The doortag shows us that what we see is what we get: a two-wheel-drive, half-ton, V6-powered longbed GMC truck built in Pontiac, Michigan.
This GMC was purchased from a Texas collection that was stored in a warehouse for at least 30 years. Aside from getting the truck running, the seller says that other mechanical needs will still need to be addressed, meaning that it will be a good idea to inspect (and probably replace) brake hydraulics and change all the fluids. The interior appears to be in excellent original condition, and you’ll get some three-on-the-tree driving practice. You’ll also get a bicep and a quadricep workout: no power steering or brakes here.
The undercarriage looks nearly immaculate, and the painted floorpans seem to indicate that the turquoise paint is original, although I can’t find it on any period paint chips.
The 1960-66 Chevrolet/GMC pickups have, in my opinion, some great, purposeful styling, but I tend to prefer the GMC variant if for no other reason than the huge “G-M-C” block letters in the grille.
There’s no doubt about it; if I were going to buy a truck right now, this would be at the top of my list. Nevertheless, I’d be getting to the bottom of that noise I’m hearing in the video before I wrote the proverbial check.
Aaron, I think we have many similar tastes. This generation of Chevy / GMC trucks are one of my favorites. This color is absolutely at the top of my list. I know folks like Geomechs has a world of experience with the 305 V6, I don’t, but from what I gather its a great truck engine, coming in many different sizes as well for larger applications. It looks to be very well preserved. And I’d take a good long hard look at this one if I were in the market.
Beautiful original truck. The first truck I remember my dad driving was a white over turquoise 60 or 61 GMC with the pods or as a kid I called them eye brows. I have always been partial to these trucks. I don’t remember much about it other than it was GMC, V6 emblems, and the floor shifter.
BTW Aaron, I am the opposite…other than my high school cars my daily drivers have been pickups since 1977. Even when I drove Broncos, I still drove pickups.
Aaron, no doubt, that’s a noisy engine. I don’t know much about those old V6’s. Though it seems I’ve heard not great things about them. I used to own a ’65 fleetside. And I have to say, it was one of my all time favorite vehicles. Previous to my ownership it had a Chevy 283 swapped into it. And was a 4 on the floor. What a great truck. When the right one comes around I’d consider another one. Nice looking ride.
My dad had a 65 GMC with the V6 and a 4 speed. I believe he bought it out of 40 Acres Salvage yard somewhere around late 1980 early 1981. Been a long time for sure. It was a pretty good truck from what I remember but one thing I really remember about it was Dad got a little drunked up and checked the oil, he didn’t look at the dipstick right, this was a couple of years before his cataract surgery so that may have added to it. Anyway he overfilled it with oil by about 3 quarts and just left it like that and drove it. At least it was about 3 quarts overfull when we checked the truck out wandering why it was smoking so bad. The truck didn’t really go thru oil too badly before that whenever I was driving it but we could not keep oil in it after that
A 60-degree V6 should be a smooth-running engine with even, 120 degree firing intervals. This one almost sounds like a diesel, and I don’t think it’s distorted by the camera audio.
I thought those kind v6’s where for medium duty GMC trucks and school buses of that era.
Okay, with permission from the “filter”, ( that hates me, btw) I can say you people have been listening to Asian sewing machine motors for too long, I hear nothing wrong with this. They were rough running motors, I don’t recall a one that idled right, almost as if they had a hot cam. I can only imagine the “Thunder V-12”, 2 of these motors with a common block, that I never saw , probably idled at 1500 rpms! They were meant for full throttle application, with a small carburetor as the governor. Some bigger applications had rev limiters, vacuum controlled, I think. I see this is not a “plaid” replacement motor. In the early 60s, I read GM was having a lot of trouble with these, and replaced them with new motors that had plaid valve covers to separate them from the originals. The underside wreaks of ArmourAll, surprised the underside didn’t flash on fire, and what, 240 some viewers, but no bids, tells me, people are curious as to what a 1963 GMC was actually like, but not willing to spend 5 figures on one. Now, if it only had an automatic I’d bet it would be gone by now.
The GMC V-12′ had 2 – 351 CID V-6’s. It was 702 CID. It was also offered in a diesel version !
Swap those spark plugs for injectors and call it a Toro-Flow.
I worked on a couple of 702s and my share of V6s and 637 V8s; a mixture of diesel versions of 478/637 Toro-Flo but I never saw a diesel version of the V12. Of course in my GM days I saw a lot of variants.
Howard has a good point about us all being so used to “Modern” engines, with close tolerances, being as quiet as a……. Well……. Insert what you want here, Swiss watch, sewing machine, etc. These V6’s from what I’ve read are very stout truck engines, and they’regoing to make some noise, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If I were shopping for a pickup in the early to mid 60’s, I’d be looking long and hard at a GMC with a 305 V6.
I agree with Howard. This is how these engines sound. They were odd-fire just as early Buicks, with maybe less spread between alternating firing intervals, similar to the Chevy 90 degree V6s. As for 60 degrees making them a120 degrees firing order, that is incorrect. Only either a 120 degree bank (no such engine, would be too wide) or a 180 degree horizontally opposed engine will have an inherently even firing order on a V6 without an offset crankshaft. 60 degree V6s are a bit smoother however than their 90 degree counterparts, as 60 being a factor of 120 does cancel out some harmonics (vibration).
HoA: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the Sage of the Barn Finds Commentariat and to all Barn Finders. Picking nits re the originality of the paint, is that turquoise paint overspray on the should be black front metal frame behind where the hood latches and in front of the radiator? Also GeoMechs chiming in with his unbelievable expertise on these trucks got me to thinking how I had always heard the 305 was a gas hog and a dog of an engine. I guess not.
Meanwhile Ill stick with my ’72 C 10 250/6. and 3 on the floor with the unbelievable ratty Ochre original paint and its various bruises and occasional rust spots :) Maybe someday I’ll expose myself to the Barn Finds expertise and put it up for sale on BF :)
Sounds fine to me
WOW…. Identical to the one I taught myself to drive in…. V6, 3 on the tree, deluxe heater (4 levers) Ours was red and had the optional large rear window… and a thin full sheet of oily diamond plate in the bed, so large crates could slide and break the window. Cant remember if the wipers were multi speed.. which was an option as well as the passenger sunvisor. No armrest… these were very basic. All the interiors were ”fawn”. I imagined myself driving it all night going somewhere.
As to the 305 V6… they were considered an excellent truck engine back then. We also had an 8 foot stake with the 305… they were quite quiet while driving and idled normally.
These V6s always had a funny “laboring” sound, they’d be running fine, but always sounded like you needed to downshift.
man, no doubt that is 1 clean truck. the worst that could happen is you replace the motor with a s/b chevy. no big deal. that price is more than fair
Those V-6s were a tough engine to say the least. They weren’t an example of fantastic fuel economy but they ran–through thick and thin, and everything else that got poured into the tank. The only weak point (and that’s stretching it) was the camshaft. There were a few of them rounded off the lobes and had to be replaced. Modern oils were no friend to any flat-tappet engine so anyone running an old engine with new oil may be asking for something they don’t want. You want lots of ZDDP in your oil; that makes your flat tappets stay flat while that zinc in the exhaust causes some environmental zealot undue stress, combined with “undergarmental leakage.”
If this truck came my way, the first thing I would do is pull off those valve covers and run it. It might just need a top end reset but I do hear a low pop in the intake which could indicate an exhaust valve not opening.
Some blew head gaskets between cylinders, which would give a similar low-pitched “pop” but that was more common to the larger diesel versions. GMC DID convert the 478 and the 637 (V8) to diesel (Toro-Flo). We called them “Toro-Flops” which was actually an insult because, overall, they did a good job. There was just so much hype with the 2-Stroke Jokes/Green Leakers/Souped-up Yamahas that made so much noise–literaly–that everyone gravitated toward them and ignored the quieter 4-stroke.
The old saying: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease?” Well, the two-stroke also leaked the oil.
I might add that the Toro-Flo was actually a converted gaspot, contrary to all the skuttlebutt about the Olds 350/5.7 which was NOT a converted gaspot. In short, the ONLY engine that GM converted to diesel was the Toro-Flo.
Back to this truck. If this sported an eyebrow hood (’60-’61) and torsion bar front suspension I’d get some dirty looks from my wife as I packed to go and get this beast. My dad had a ’61 Chevy pickup with the narrow box and the ultra-boring option of NO options (well, it DID have heavy duty wheels), but we had a neighbor who went out and bought a fully-loaded wide box GMC. It was 2-tone red and white (like the GM promo picture I attached) and it had chrome everywhere. Park one like that on my driveway and I’d think I won the lottery.
Geomechs, thats a gorgeous pickup you posted. I know not too many were built that way, but man, if I were buying a new one back then, I’d go for it, chrome bumpers and all!!! I’m glad you chimed in here, I have never driven one of these with the 305 V6, only read about them, but always thought it was a good motor. Thank you for all your posts and insight you shed on all these old trucks. I still say, you seriously need to write a book!!!
-Dave
Yup, GMC V6s of this era were tough truck engines. Out in Eastern Oregon farm country they were a common sight from pickups to big trucks. Though a smooth runner, they had a sound all their own. If I remember correctly, there were short narrow boxes, standard narrow and long narrow. The subject looks like a standard. Anyone? :-) Terry J
This is a great truck!!! All of the positive comments above are correct. The GM V-6 had a particular sound all its own.. Especially the bigger ones in larger trucks. You could tell them were coming a mile away!! This truck will make someone a great weekend workhorse that can be enjoyed at cars and coffee / local car shows..
2 of my uncles had these of these they pulled well. I drove one that was in a 21 foot moving van. They were a little noisy on the top end. I never heard of an big problems with valve train . They pulled good even in the wind
Nice truck – Mr Welburn down the street…..went to school with his sons….had this long box with the spare on the side in a Chevy truck. You could almost know the time when he pulled up to the stop sign by our house on his way home from work. He could smooth shift that three on the tree but by the way that truck looked – he took real good care of it. Don’t remember if one of the boys got it.
Nice truck. I bought a 63 GMC shortbed stepside with the V6 from a “little old lady” in Arkansas twelve years ago with only 94k miles. All original except the paint. It runs great and haven’t had any issues with it. Manual everything with the optional heater and oil filter. I love driving it around town and it will run down the highway at 55-60. Mileage is about 8-12 mpg which isn’t bad for 1963. It has mechanical lifters so you get a bit more noise than some others. My grandfather owned a GMC dealership in East TX and drove one just like this for over a dozen years. Didn’t get a new truck each year even though he owned the dealership. The truck was so stout and dependable, he saw no need to swap it out. Buy this one and you can drive it forever. It is so simple that working on it is a pleasure and everything is industrial grade. The V6 was designed for medium duty trucks so they are made to last. The engine holds 8 gallons (not quarts) of water and you can still find parts for them.
Nice clean truck sounds to me like it has a exhaust leak slight lifter tick that can probably be resolved by driving or a engine oil flush, also sounds like the water pump is starting to go but overall nice clean truck.
The VIN tag says 61.
Not the correct hood for that year.
Those hub caps are like hens teeth to find.
I have the same truck in my barn.
The color is correct.
My dash is a lot more industerial looking; fleet vehicle from a nearby mine.
That is a good find considering the completeness and condition for its’ age.
I paid 500 for mine, still needs work, but, it is in the barn.
The dash on this looks the same as the dash on my 64; so, not a fleet vehicle.
Something like that in my area easily sells for the 20K + range to someone Not Here.
Dave, the “G” in the sixth location on the VIN tag indicates that it’s a ’63 model.
You may have me stand corrected.
I appreciate your input.
Still a worth while truck.
Go find one.
I got lucky to be handed what I have.
Gathering the parts to make it complete.
Who ever gets this; is one lucky S o B.
They better enjoy this Hens tooth!
Tongue in cheek, on SoB.
I have 23; Wife says no more!
I can’t count how many I have had to pass up.
If only I were Jay Leno…..