Oversize tires give this Suburban a burly presence. These commodious workhorses gobble up hundreds of thousands of miles on the highways and rough roads of the world. Legendary reliability (if you can forgive some squeaks and rattles) makes the popular full-sized SUV the choice of businesses and families who often own three or more in succession. This 1999 Chevrolet Suburban near Hudson, New Hampshire backs up its beefy look with a fuel-injected big block and a surprising five-speed manual transmission, the latter conversion done “many year ago,” according to the description here on Craigslist. The $12,500 asking price marks $10 per mile for the claimed 125,000 mile classic. Thanks to Mitchell G. for spotting this three-pedal people hauler.
The stealthy choice of tan leather and carpet with a beige exterior –both near the color of dried dirt– promises to keep this rig looking tidy even if you don’t pamper it with weekly spa treatments. Heated power seats keep you warm on those chilly New England road trips. The towering shifter on that five-speed manual makes this one interesting ride.
The seller kindly shows edges of rust on a door bottom. Otherwise this big Chevy looks great for its Granite State address. What looks like a modest lift gives room for the bigger tires and helps encourage left lane bandits to signal, head check, and glide right as your bumper fills up their rear view mirror.
The mighty 454 big block delivers plenty of hauling and towing power with 290 HP and 410 lb-ft of torque. Thanks to Automobile-Catalog for some details. Today’s trucks make bigger numbers, but this one could be reasonably kept alive long after today’s direct-injected, turbocharged, and hybrid trucks have over-teched themselves to an early grave. Keep feeding this monster decent gas and you won’t be sidelined every 60,000 miles to have the cylinder heads walnut blasted. You might need a home equity line tied to your gas card, though, because this monster will definitely chug some dinosaur juice. Would you take a gamble on this well-kept stick-shift Suburban?
This has got to be some kind of Unicorn!!! 454 and a 5 speed?. If this is a conversion, like Todd wrote, I’ll tell you what, from what I can see they did a great job, it looks factory. You used to see a 4 speed here and there in the ’73 and up “Square body” Generation, but by this time no more. The truck looks like its in great shape inside and out. I’ve seen a couple from this generation converted into duallies.. Can you imagine if they did that too? Hmmm….. That gives me and idea…….
unicorn indeed, but its the factory moon roof that makes it so. Ive been seeking one of these with that option for years. ironically its the lift and the 5 spd that make this undesirable to me. The constant shifting and pushing a clutch is not for me, and the 4l80 it came with is a beast. Its nice to find this one, keeps me searching and knowing my dream burb is out there somewhere.
For anyone considering this who likes a manuel and actually needs the lift for boldering on a regular basis, these rigs are very well built, strong, smooth and have plenty of power.
All kinds of mods an accessories are available,.
Enjoy !
Cool ride. Were they ever offered w the big motor and stick shift combination from the factory?
The 1999 Chevrolet Suburban brochure does list a manual transmission as an option.
I had no idea!!! I just assumed it was gone by then. I’m still wondering if this is factory. It just looks it .
If memory serves me correctly, I believe when the Suburban was redesigned in 1973, a 454-V8 / 4-speed manual combination was available in the 3/4-ton two-wheel drive (C20) model. That may have only been for a year or two before the 454-V8 was limited to the automatic.
Many years ago we knew someone that had a ’77 1/2 ton 2WD 250 straight six and the SM 465 4 speed. It was the only one I ever saw like that, he actually ordered it that way.
With today’s aftermarket support, it can get at best 15-18mpg . Lite’N it up with aluminum heads and intake manifold and swap in Compcams 4×4 style hyd roller camshaft rpm 1’500-6500rpm,stroke the low mileage engine 496-505trq monster. Keep that BBC , cool cool 😎 . Better fuel injection to achieve such mpg
My CC dually gets 13mpg. No dually gets you 1 mpg. Manual probably another. So I’d say 15mpg max for this.
Priced 5k too high.
For comparison I ordered a 2000 GMC 2500 with the 454 and five speed (NVG 4500) in a 4×4 regular cab and box (8′). The new GMT 800 series killed my truck order as I ran out of build time So maybe the Suburban could be had this way.