The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 58 GMC Longbed

My friend has a 58 GMC fleetside longbed. I have 58 Chevy fleetside short bed 1/2 ton. I have a few questions about the differences between the GMC and Chevy.

First, can a GMC be considered an Apache?

Because it's a longbed (fleetside), is it considered a 1/2 ton?

His grille has a "100" decal on it. What does that mean?

I noticed his GMC has a completely different dash. Is that common for all of the GMC's?

Also his steering drag link ( from wheel to wheel) has a shock (stabilizer?) attached to it. Is that factory? Because mine doesn't have it.
Answers to any of these question is appreciated.

some of that i can't answer but gmc and chevys there are quite a few difference and yes gmc and chevy had different dashs for starters grill would be completely different as is the hood

I can answer somne of these. No, it's not an Apache. I beleive GMC still referred to theirs as "Blue Chip". I have some original literature on GMC from the era, I'll check it for you.
Being a longbed, it could be either a 1/2 or 3/4 ton. 1/2 ton GMCs were the "100" sereis, 3/4 tons were "150".
Dashboards were different between GMC abd Chevrolet, exept for Canadian GMCs, which used Chevy dasboards and engines.
The stabilizer is most likely aftermarket, I've never heard of an OE one.

Thank you for your responses. I had never heard of a Blue Chip before. His must be a 1/2 ton and is not Canadian because of the dash.

This information is very valuable to me and my friend.---

Just a correction, Canadian GM's used Chevy engines but their dashes were also different from the Chevs. A Canadian GM 1/2 ton was a 9314, the 3/4 ton a 9324.
Gord

Another correction: Fleet option GMC trucks used the chevy dash. As for the "stabilizer"... Is this a cylinder that is mounted in a verticle fashion to both front wheels? If so, it is a gmc option called a road dampening shock. Basically the function is that the I beam axle will resonate at a certain freequency. The road dampeners are suppose to ressonate at the same freequency, but opposite of the axle cancelling out all road vibration.

The rest of the answers seem fairly accurate. A GMC is not an Apache pickup. The 100 on the grill makes it a 1/2 ton. Yes there were 1/2 ton long beds, yes there were 3/4 ton long beds. No, there weren't any 3/4 ton short beds.

The 55-59 gmc trucks were known as Blue Chip trucks, or 57 and later known as "Blue Chip Money Makers".

Engines are different between the chebby and gmc. If the GMC has a V8, it should be a 336, which is actually a debored 58 pontiac 370. If the gmc has a 6 cylinder, it should be a 270 cubic inch motor.

Chevy pickups came standard with an Eaton rear end that had a dropout style pumpkin. GMC trucks came standard with a spicer 45 rearend. The spicer rear was used for both chevy and gmc trucks with positraction.

Other differences are noticeable in paint colors, headliners, and seat fabrics on deluxe trucks.

Another subtle difference is the GMC Non glare dash. GMC painted the dashtops with a flat textured paint, while chevy painted it with a glossy paint.

Of course this is just a partial list of differences between 58 chevy and 58 gmc trucks.

Wow, thank you for the great advice. I had no idea there were so many differences.