- Seller: D M (Contact)
- Location: Ethridge, Tennessese
- Mileage: 200,000 Shown
- Chassis #: 1GTGC24M4ES500172
- Title Status: Clean
- Engine: 350cui V8 M-Code
- Transmission: 700R4 Automatic
Has anyone else wondered why vehicle companies can’t seem to come together to coordinate the gas door location to put them on the right side or the left side or in the back or wherever, rather than just putting them on whichever side they feel like? It’s also unusual that pickup companies use different names for their box or bed styles. This 1984 GMC Sierra C2500 pickup has a Wideside bed, it’s located in Ethridge, Tennessee, and it can be found listed here as a Barn Finds Auction!
Chevrolet referred to its “regular” bed style as a Fleetside, but GMC trucks were Wideside. Chevy’s “fender side” beds were known as Step Side, but GMC called theirs Fenderside. When you throw Ford, Dodge, International, Jeep, and others into the mix, it’s hard to keep track. GMC offered third-generation pickups from 1972 through 1991, and the seller has owned this truck for the past 7 months.
The seller doesn’t know much about the history of this Sierra 2500, other than acknowledging that there are many dings and dents, some rust, the paint is scratched, and it is in rough shape, and all the visual things we can see in the photos. They think it may have been a county government truck due to the paint that GMC called “White” (pragmatic!), the heavy-duty spec, and the flag holders on the front bumper.
The C-2500 is a 3/4-ton truck, and the Sierra is the base level for GMC pickups in this era, but these were still nice trucks for the time. They say the window seals are dry and need to be replaced to keep the cab watertight in storms; the radio doesn’t work; there are a few cracks in the dash; and there are other issues.
The engine is a “heavy-duty” M-code 350-cu.in. OHV V8, according to the VIN and the seller’s description, with 160 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque when new. Passing through a 700R4 Turbo-Hydramatic four-speed automatic, it sends power to the rear wheels, and they say that the transmission is the only real issue. It shifts into drive and reverse, but he says it’s glitchy going past second gear. Keep that in mind as you get your bids in on this Barn Finds Auction!
Bid On This Auction
ABrink56 bid $500.00 2026-03-24 09:22:28
Ain’t no giverment truck. Cleanest cab floors and frame rails I’ve ever seen on a square body GM truck. Original owner checked all the boxes, A/C, cruise, 700R4. Maybe an escort vehicle? Never saw a wet or snowy road.
Veeeerrry interestink, I was waiting for one of these to come along with news on my old truck. Whilst going through FB Marketplace t’other day in my area, guess what comes up? Yep, my old truck! Apparently, someone in Col. Springs got it, and did a lot of work to it. Rebuilt the motor, took the cap off, ( it actually looked nicer without the cap) the nicer GM truck wheels, nothing to the body, however, and had a price of,,,gulp,,$10 grand! I know what you might be thinking, was I upset? Not really, this person did a lot of work to it, and I got a “notice” saying it was dropped $500, and can’t find the listing, so someone got it. I have a feeling who may have wrote this, RE: gas filler. GENERALLY,,,I read, US cars all had the main fillers on the drivers side, ferrin’ cars on the right. Not on this, so much, but trucks used a LOT of fuel, and it was a challenge finding places for the extra tanks. This truck was no special truck, just one of the tens of thousands that were bought for what a pickup was intended for, a business that needed a pickup to actually deliver things,,,go figure. Shop truck, maybe? Sellers remorse? Nah, maybe a little, I did like the truck, but with gas going to $9/quart, I’ll just keep the Jeep.
Hi Jim! Just to clarify, no cruise control on this rig
Need a real no frills truck? This is it.
Light 3/4 ton
Bought several 3/4 ton Chevrolet and Ford F250 for salesmen duty and delivery vehicles over the years. Air conditioning, auto and a.m. was specified and headache racks build with 1-1/2″ steel pipe…
New, we paid $7,500 expecting 10 MPG even when idling. When we were finished with them the most valuable part was the pipe racks…
Everyone I know that had one of these never had any trans shifting issues till they put an Edelbrock carb on them and couldn’t get the cable adjusted correctly and burned them up! REBUILD THE Q-JET AND PUT IT BACK ON!
Hi william! The transmission is already burnt up. The TV cable wasn’t adjusted right. It will still drive slow though.
I see it has a new Edelbrock (carter AFB) carburetor. Old used truck with a tired transmission. Gee, I wonder why he is dumping it after only a few months ownership!
I’VE GOT A YARD FULL OF THESE, MOSTLY DRY MONTANA 4X4’S. I HOPE THE MARKET HOLDS I NEED TO SELL MOST OF THEM! A COUPLE ARE GOVERNMENT TRUCKS. USUALLY A GOVERNMENT TRUCK HAS HOLES ALL AROUND THE BODY LIKE INSIDE THE DOOR JAMBS WITH LITTLE PLUGS WHERE THEY HAVE BEEN RUST PROOFED. I KNOW I HAVE AT LEAST THREE OF THOSE, AND IT REALLY SEEMS TO WORK!
HOW MANY PEOPLE THINK THE BETTER SQUARE BODY IS THE 1973 TO 1980, OR DO YOU LIKE THE 81 TO 91 BETTER? I PREFER THE 1977 TO 1980 THE BEST, BEFORE THE SLOPE NOSE CAME OUT. I SEE A LOT OF BEAT UP TRUCKS HERE IN MONTANA AND I THINK THE 80 AND OLDER HELD UP BETTER.
From a service standpoint, the ’73 – ’79 is the best of the Squarebodies. Personally, I say the ’79 was the best ever. The General got all the bugs out by then and the ’79 was all but bullet-proof. By 1980 the designers were back to drinking their own bath water. The delayed fuel shut-down valve so you didn’t over fill the RH gas tank when you shut the engine off. Okay, but why did it take almost a year to properly address the failure of the relays?
OK, they went from that idiotic relay valve to a work-tough switch valve that just stayed in the selected position after shut down. That was 1981. Maybe I’m not giving them a fair chance because the EPA was getting out of hand. But I just felt that things were getting pulled back to downright skimpy by the ’80s.
Not a bad truck but I’m not very fussy about the 700R4 transmission. We worked on lots of them from ’82 to ’84. They were far worse behind a 6.2 diesel because the torque characteristics of the diesel could destroy the transmission.
We’d get them in with a positive reverse and ‘Sort’ of a low range so you could coax it onto the lift. We’d tear the transmission down, per GM’s directive, order $1,000+ worth of parts, put it all back together and roadtest it.
We had a positive reverse and ‘Sort’ of a low range so you could coax it back onto the lift, where we’d pull it out and wait for GM to send us a complete new transmission. New transmission and the problem was fixed.
When the dealership fell on hard times we had (8) crated transmissions. A transmission rebuild shop bought them at the auction. The guy told me that they just needed a new case and they would work. I never saw any real proof to that so I have to believe he was right. But–my experience with the 700R4 was NOT good, at that time…
I bought one of these new, a C6P chassis. I special ordered it fairly loaded. Mine had the TH400, but it was an 8600 GVR. I spec’d the 350, which was a poor choice, when fully loaded it would only deliver about 5.5 mpg! The 454 would’ve made better mpg, better power to weight ratio.
“Rode hard and hung out Wet” is the expression that comes to mind with this truck.. An excellent weekend workhorse for a mechanically inclined buyer to fix up and use. Especially if he has any body work skills to repair the rust spots. More likely a fleet truck?? If it was an escort, it would have a large amount of miles, which the seller does not state??
I bought the truck from a guy who told me it was a roller over once, so it has 112k. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if it rolled over twice, given the condition, but I have no way of knowing exactly unfortunately. It still has some life left. If the transmission were good, I wouldn’t be selling.
Gas door location is designed on the left side for US designed vehicles. Euro designed vehicles (RH drive countries) put it on the RH side.