One of the bright spots in the collectible vehicle market is the ever increasing love for Squarebody (or Square Body) GM pickups. Built from 1973 through 1987, these rigidly styled trucks have steadily risen in value for the past few years. Good examples are hard to find. However, this 1984 GMC Sierra short bed pickup being sold on eBay in Spokane, Washington is a very well kept truck that has brought in 27 bids as of this writing. While the truck has been garage kept and is a four wheel drive model, it is otherwise rather plain and utilitarian. Do you think this plain Jane six cylinder Sierra will sell for much more than the current bid of $6,826?
This truck has a lot going for it. It certainly has been used, but a closer look reveals that it was very well taken care of. According to the seller, this truck was garaged since new. That certainly accounts for the lack of fading in the paint and rust. There are nicks and scratches, with the occasional ding here and there. Still, the two-tone paint scheme is very appealing and catches your eye enough to look past any imperfections. As an aside, there is a Chevrolet dealer in Minnesota that is selling new Chevy trucks with seventies and early eighties two-tone paint jobs applied to them. GM and Ford, are you listening?
From there, you can see that the option sheet wasn’t exactly overloaded. It has power brakes and power steering, along with a tilt wheel. Someone has added a more modern CD player, and the vinyl bench seat has always had a cover over it. The other thing you can’t help but notice is the fiberglass topper. The seller tells us that it has been with the truck since day one, and that they still have a key to it.
The back bumper is one of those generic galvanized steel ones that dealerships used to sell. Believe it or not, at one-time bumpers were an option on some trucks. This was back when trucks were used as trucks rather than general transportation. Looking at the front bumper, there may have been a low-speed shunt in this truck’s past. The angle just doesn’t look right. The whitewall tires you see above have only 50 miles on them to go along with the gallon of Armor All that has been applied.
A peek into the truck’s bed reveals light, honest wear. You could imagine this truck being purchased by a small business owner to deliver parts and such. The topper obviously did its job well. You can’t even see surface rust on the spots where the paint has been rubbed off.
Looking inside the cab, we see the vinyl seats and floor mats are in great shape for a truck with almost 100,000 miles on it. The dash pad is free of cracks, and the door panels are almost like new. As you can see, the truck has a manual four-speed transmission. It also is equipped with four wheel drive and locking hubs. The system is said to perform well.
Under the hood is GM’s venerable inline six cylinder. This engine can trace its lineage back to 1929 and was in production in GMC trucks until 1988. These engines were ofthen overshadowed by the Small Block V-8, but they were fine runners in the correct application. For an around town truck, the torquey engine combined with a four-speed transmission makes for an easy to drive, long-lasting combination. You can’t deny that this is a really nice truck. The engine, transmission, and driveline combination would likely serve the next owner easily for another 100,000 miles. The bidding on this one is interesting. Has the price gotten to near $7,000 because Square Body lovers want this truck, or is the market for a good, rust free truck in the Northwest starving for good trucks? Why do you think bidding on this truck is at just under $7,000? What do you think it will go for?
I don’t know what it will sell for I’m in a different market up here in Canada. One thing I can tell you is the few of these still on the rode up here are complete rust buckets some of which have holes in the box sides the size of soccer balls. I can’t remember the last time I saw a clean one like this here in Calgary. As for this one a truck with miles that high isn’t worth $7k it’s at that age where it will nickel and dime you if your using it daily. It sure a nice looking truck though.
You are right, it’s not worth $7,000, I’d say between $11,000 and $13,000, possibly more.
Steve R
Same with N.Wis. Someone would kill for this truck. Most up there are out back with no box or fenders and a plow attached. Now out here in Colorado, there are plenty of square bodies so not as much demand. Like I’ve been saying, I wasn’t really looking for one, but a neighbor knew of a guy that had “an old truck”, it just turned out to be a ’77 Jimmy. The 4×4 adds a lot, but I feel the 6 detracts as much. Be a good city truck, but most the square bodies I’ve seen have a V8, and many, the bigger the better back then. Maybe an out west thing, I personally would have preferred a 6, but a new carb did wonders for the 350, and it’s gas mileage tolerable now. Not sure about the nickel and dime thing. I’ve replaced some stuff,( carb, fuel pump, water pump, tune up) but it’s to the point, I’d take that truck back to Wis. tomorrow. Remember, when new, it was the best truck you could buy.
Very clean and apparently well cared for truck. Not many options; I suppose that is okay depending on the buyers’ needs but since this is a flipper, there is a complete disconnect to its’ history as the seller does not appear to be the vehicles original owner. No paperwork that I could see. Seller should have also re-installed the spare back underneath. The truck does have twin fuel tanks, a plus.
One of the best looking GM truck designs, ever.
Jeff I saw a news feed bout a month or so ago about the new trucks having the old school two tone paint jobs even had a few pictures of them and IMHO I’d rather have this truck…the new ones just didn’t look right…this one is beautiful and has that inline 6 and a 4speed!! What’s not to like?personally I’d rather have this one
But it’s not NOT A BARN FIND!!!
( sorry but I just had to say that lmao)
The square body actually was produced into 1988 model year. The 3500 cab chassis was where the remainder of this cab style was vin’ed as 1988 until inventories were exhausted
Well, squarebodies were made all the way into ’91 actually – K5s, Suburbans and Crew Cabs didn’t recieve the GMT400 treatment before the ’92 model year. To differentiate the two designs in the 88-91years the new GMT400 continued the use of the C/K nameplate, while the ones still being the old style were given the R/V designation (I never really understood what that stood for…?).
As for the 250 I-6 in this example it’d be the last year it was made available before being replaced by the 4.3L V6.
To get technical, the square body regular cab short bed was produced for the Mexican market until 1991.
It wasn’t until the 1992 model year that the whole line of the new C/K series was offered for sale.
It would be a 292 I think.
Mexico was far from the only country to produce a squarebody variant after production ceased in the US. Brazil and Argentina produced their d20 (pickup truck), Bonanza (K5) and Veraneio (Suburban) way into the 90s propelled by an improved 250 I-6.
They are superficially somewhat different/simplified, but upon closer inspection it gets obvious they use same underpinnings
This is what the truck looks like in Mexico for the 1990 model year.
They should have had those north of the border too. Fine looking trucks. I’ve seen more than a few here that people did that nose treatment on and they looked great! Mexico has had some variations of vehicles that I wish would have been available here.
Really love the 6 cyl manual trans truck because its so different. Most were v8 auto. Different and unusual is better!!!
Although I would prefer the long box, I would absolutely love to be the next owner of this truck.
I would replace the grill & the tires (not a fan of the Optimo tires), either remove or repaint the cap to match the red, & and just drive it…after my move to Arizona. I would HATE to destroy it in Wisconsin.
Back in high school in 1986 I had a 1984 GMC High Sierra swb fleet. It was black with silver at the bottom and silver cab. Same six cylinder but with an auto trans (I forget if it was overdrive or not). It had ps pb ac pw and locks. My dad and i saw it in a local used car lot, drive it but passed as we felt they were asking too much. A few weeks later we passed by and saw it sitting out back, with a crunched in right front fender and hood. Closer examination showed no frame damage. We asked and were told it was wrecked on a test drive during wet weather (obviously a bad idea) I forget what we paid for it but i do recall it was half of the asking price pre wreck! We weren’t able to find any used sheetmetal as all the trucks we came across in the local yard were all wrecked as well, so we bought offshore parts. The fender and fender well fit ok but the hood fit was terrible. (Not sure why we didn’t try new from the dealer). A few months later I rolled it on its lid when a calf happened in front of me on an open range gravel road and i overcorrected. Poor truck burned to the ground when the battery fell out and caught fire. I couldn’t get the hood open as it was touching the ground.