The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk old gmc site

For those of you that have a GMC, that site is shutting down at the end of the year lack of interest. I personally have gotten an exceptional amount of info from them. Sorry to see it shut down.
Joe

You didn’t give us the web address of the site that is shutting down.

The forum web site is here, but you'll need to sign up to get in the first time. You can get to some of the historical information without getting an account be going www.oldgmctrucks.com

There are a bunch of GMC guys registered there who sometimes contribute to the conversions here on Stovebolt.

Joe,

Are you talking about Rob English's site https://www.oldgmctrucks.com/ ???

Please confirm as you can and if known, what time line for the shut down. I for one would like to try and save copies of the many pictures and pages of information, but how do you choose, presuming that Rob is okay with folks doing that. There is just so much history and info tucked away in those pages and it would be a shame to loose the content forever.

Sorry if I'm a bit late to ask my question after your reply here Bill.

So is it just the forum site that is shutting down, or the whole kit and kaboodle?

Shutdown is scheduled for Dec 31 2026

All I've heard about is the forum, but I'll bet all.

Thanks for the update Bill. I've only interacted with Rob once before, in purchasing a Chevy Truck Data Book earlier this year, so I don't have a real connection to ask questions about permissions to try and capture/save resource info from the main oldgmctrucks.com site pages.

Perhaps someone who has a more direct connection with Rob would reach out and ask his thoughts on that topic?

Would really hate to see them just disappear.

Is Rob ok?

The "lack of interest" ... these days with the way the internet works, you do limit yourself when you have a members only type platform. When people search for info on anything, if you are required to be a member, they click to an easier place. I know I do that in a nanosecond.

I know Rob has been dealing with medical issues. He still has a Facebook page, but I don't do Facebook.

There are 3 guys on the OldGMCTrucks forum that are sort of like the "moderators" on the 'Bolt. They have been trying to come up with a way to preserve the data, but no luck so far. The site uses very old software (last update was 2004 I think) that will only store pictures that are less than 100 Kbytes, so most of the pictures are links to other web sites. And when the links to those sites are no longer valid the pictures are not available.

Being a GMC guy, I knew of the Stovebolt forum, but it was my #3 goto site when I had a truck problem. It became my #1 about 4 years ago as the other two have almost completely wound down.

The old truck hobby/pastime/business has lost some really good, helpful and knowledgeable people in the last few years. 2 that I knew and had exchanged parts, information and a few laughs with come to mind. Evan and Charlie (and his wife Sunshine). My almost neighbor Kenneth is still around. If you don't recognize the names, maybe these "handles" will help: coilover, Cletis and GiantMountainClimber.

Coming to the 'Bolt has provided me with a vast pool of knowledge, even if it is mostly Chevy oriented.

Keep up the good work, all of us.

Good post there Bill. We know how much space on a server takes up with pix. It's a real burden. But we also know how imperative it is to have pictures.

We approached Bill some time ago about being a moderator here. He was willing to watch for GMCs and jump in as he was able. It's been a good move.

Good moderators are a key to survival.

Wow. Sad day indeed. Rob started out with us originally and then saw the need/niche for a GMC-specific forum which he then built his static content around. That was a long time ago.

The last time I saw Rob was at the 2015 ATHS National show in York, PA. Billy Marlow and I were working traffic control at "Malfunction Junction" and Rob kept us well supplied with water bottles.

Creating and managing a web site/forum is hard work and Rob kept it up longer than most. Sad to see him go. Hopefully someone can step in to save all his content.

John

I go on the site frequently and for quite a while there's been very little activity. The last post by Rob was a little over a year ago. It is sad! To bad the site couldn't be linked to this as a GMC Library.
Samantha

We are hoping we can do something as not to lose the stuff. What's coming from manuals is actually available to anyone with a manual.

Dan has been collecting manuals and other materials to help Bolters with their questions.

Does GM Heritage Center got more materials as of late, does anyone know?

A thing to consider is to ask GROK when you are looking for details that are in a printed pub.