The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Is this right?

I have a 1970 GMC Custom Camper special. It is equiped with leaf springs and a few extra leafs because of being a camper special. It is a longbed fleetside. My dad has a buddy that has been a mechanic for these kind of trucks for the last 40 years. He learned that the 70' GMC's that were longbed camper specials with leaf springs were a rare truck becasue GM put a toolbox kind of thing in the bed. I bought the truck without the bed, and don't know if it had this feature or not. I've only seen this thing on the Fords. Does anyone know about this and if it is a rare thing, and if I should pursue finding a bed like it?

I don't know if it was rare or not, but my Uncle had a '72 GMC Camper Special that had those toolboxes in the bed. They were at the bottom of the bed, just below the side trim and forward of the rear wheel opening. It also had 2 extra gas tanks mounted under the bed, but those were aftermarket.
Since you need a bed nayway, it might be worth seeking one out that has the toolboxes.

I think I remember my dad's 1969 GMC having a 12" extension on the front of the bed. There was a seam about 1 ft behind the cab.

David, that would have been the Longhorn version. The Camper Special was actually done in both the standard 3/4 ton wheelbase and bed (127" and 8' respectively) and the 1 ton wheelbase and bed (133" and 8 1/2'). My Grandpa had a '69 Chevy Camper Special with the 8' bed, and the one my Uncle had was also an 8' bed.

One of my local friends and also a atovebolter has one of the Longhorns. I have not seen the truck since last fall but I think I remember seeing something like your talking about.
Check out the pics in the Gallery. I know Dwaynes truck is in it. If I remember correctly his truck is a 69.

I bought a 69 Chevy camper special with a 396 engine, but maybe tool boxes were an option for GMC, I don't think they were
available for Chevy... Bill B.

Ah - the Longhorn.

You can just see the seam here.(6" from the front of the bed)

Dad also called it a 3/4 ton with heavy duty overload springs.

Were the longer GMC's also called Longhorn?

I thought his said custom on the fender.

Way back when I had a 1969 Chevy 3/4 ton Longhorn. It was not a camper special,but it was heavy duty.I was building a garage at the time and I hauled many loads in the 8,000 lb range with it.It was truly a work truck.Loads consisted mainly of limestone and sand. And yeah it had a wooden floor in the box which was 8 and 1/2 ft. long.A 350 cu,in. engine,and a 400 Turbo Hydramatic trans.And a little hard on gasoline.

Mine is not a longhorn. It's just a standard 8 foot longbed, sorry I forgot to mention that. I figured that the extra leafs were the camper special part, at least that's what I've been told. Is that right to? Or is there another name for that option.