Muscle Trucks

As I was admiring some clean vintage GM trucks cruising Woodward Avenue here in South-Eastern Michigan (including a very rare first-generation G-Van), I got to thinking. Is there a way for a GMC enthusiast to share the joy of a muscle car, without having to customize the truck?


It turns out that there is. And no, I'm not talking about the later 454 SS or the new VortecMAX packages. While Chevrolet had a car-based pickup intermittantly since 1959 (the popular El Camino), starting in 1971, GMC had it's own version entitled as "Sprint".


Was it simply a case of badge-engineering? Yes. But was it a true muscle car? With a car-based chassis, a 454 cu.in. V8, and a Muncie 4-speed manual - does it sound like anything else?

While the photos here show a '72 and '71 Sprint, respectively, it continued to be made through '77. In 1978, the El Camino moved to the G-body Malibu. When this change occured, the GMC version was renamed Caballero.


Regardless, if you're interested in a really sweet '71 Sprint, take a look at Dan Guir's extremely rare '71 Sprint SP 454. His research on these muscle trucks is virtually second to none.