BF Auction: 1981 GMC C1500 Sierra

Seller: Mike K aiser (Contact)
Location: Payson, Mississippi
Mileage: 86,729 Shown
Chassis #: 1GTDC14D7BF704384
Title Status: Clean
Engine: 250cui Inline-6
Transmission: Automatic

I remember an old Steve Martin comedy bit where he was trying to speak French, and he finally said, “Boy, those French, they have a different word for everything.” That’s like pickup makers and how they named their truck beds. This 1981 GMC C1500 Sierra has what GMC referred to as a “Wideside” bed. This “Carmine” (burgundy) truck is located in beautiful Payson, Arizona, and the seller has it listed here as a Barn Finds Auction!

I guess paint colors are similar to box or bed style names; every manufacturer has a different name for burgundy. I believe this one is Carmine. I’m not sure what the missing paint is from on the passenger door, and there are a few scratches and nicks here and there. We see many more Chevrolet pickups from this era than GMCs, and it’s nice to see one from the fancy side of the assembly line floor. The badges on the rear bottom sides of the cab, where the white top meets the burgundy paint, say GMC, but for a Camper Special, I believe they would show a graphic of a pitched tent, so I’m not sure about this one being a Camper Special. I understood that the Camper Special trim package was only available on the 3/4 and 1-ton pickups, not the 1/2-ton, as with this C1500. The Sierra trim received this cool black inset grille and single rectangular headlights on each side.

The seller says this C1500 is wearing its original paint, and it looks really nice to me. I don’t even mind the passenger door fading, and there’s a bit of fading, as expected, on top of the hood. Please check out the seller’s photos to see inside the topper/cap/shell. That bed floor looks nice and shiny, almost like new. They say this truck has 86,729 miles and has been in storage for years, so that probably accounts for its nice cosmetic condition. Chevrolet referred to their full box/bed as Fleetside, whereas GMC called them Wideside. The Chevy Stepside bed was the same as GMC’s Fenderside bed.

GMC and Chevrolet offered the third-generation C/K-Series pickups from 1972 for the 1973 model year until the end of 1991 in North America. The Sierra trim “striped vinyl” seat looks nicer than it should for an original Arizona seat cover, so that’s nice. I don’t see any glaring issues inside, other than a couple of small cracks in the top of the dash from the relentless sun, and a small crack on the passenger side of the windshield. The door panels show some fading, but I’m betting those could be restored or repainted in an interior paint to match the factory color.

The standard engine for the half-ton pickups was a 250-cu.in. OHV inline-six engine. This one also has power steering and power brakes, along with an automatic transmission, so it should be almost as easy to drive as your modern vehicle, albeit with a bit less power. It should have 130 horsepower and 210 lb-ft of torque. They say it runs and drives, with new tires, but could use some dialing in after being in storage. For a nice, all-around pickup for weekends and show duty, it would be hard to go wrong with this GMC C1500 Sierra. Please check out the photos and get your bids in on this Barn Finds Auction!