The GMC Astro 95 was introduced A popular model of truck, with COE fans, and with a following and some clubs across North America. I might have even worked on this one. 1969-'88 GMC Astro | Hemmings GMC ASTRO 95 Trucks Auction Results - 12 Listings | TruckPaper.com Your email address will not be published. Those old White Freightliners would just rattle all the time. So they dumped their interests in such things as snowmobiles and recreational craft, going hard after that one market they felt was most lucrative. Could be theres more badges these wore. The model was discontinued in 1987. (first posted 2/3/2014) As one of the people whod been rallying for a Big Truck Week, I suppose its only fitting that I step up and post some. There was no coming back after that. The top speed was right around 60 mph, the speed limit those days was 55 mph so many trucks were geared to keep the top speed down. Thats a nice one! COEs in general seem to be on the way out, though there is a big black Kenworth COE that hauls container trailers to and from the local port on the James River. Please email mewith questions and comments! 1972 GMC Astro Cabover Truck - Walkaround Exterior Interior Tour - YouTube They were mostly Astros, these older small-grille versions, in dark blue. Comfort is a big issue especially for long haul trucking. Super trucks for local work, but not well suited for long haul trucking. In addition to light trucks, this meant a potential GMC franchise needed the ability to support medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty commercial trucks, the GMC motorhome, P-chassis, and school bus chassis. Description. Dents and rust throughout, interior dirty and worn. The GMC truck in the fourth photo immediately reminded me of the cigarette truck barelling down the streets of Detroit in Beverly Hills Cop to the Neutron Dance soundtrack by the Pointer Sisters. The wrap around dash was a natural because it sits on top of the engine. But now a sighting of a working cabover truck on the road is more rare. [1] Although Detroit Diesel had developed a gas-turbine version of the GMC Astro in the early 1970s, fuel-economy concerns would keep it out of production. ), But they couldnt just let the boats pile upthey had to get them out to the dealers somehow. For over a century, GMC has been offering a wide range of commercial and military grade vehicles, as well as genuine auto parts. All three are currently relaxing behind the shop until my project backlog is a bit shorter. Having already acquired White Motor Company in 1980, the joint venture would do business as Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corporation, selling trucks under the combined WhiteGMC product badge. But the pontoon-hauler wasnt quite as fancy as this one. The new model featured better visibility and improved driver ergonomics. Astro model, go see the. We/I cant go anywhere without people coming out with cameras and cell phones to take pictures of my truck. GMC Astro had a windshield that seemed to come down to knee level! In a surprise win, I ended up with both the seventeen-footers and one of the two unfinished sixteens for just a few hundred dollars. The truck only racked up 85,000 miles in that entire time and the engine only has 2,500 hours on it. Even though today GMC mostly offers pickup trucks, SUVs, and medium-duty commercial vehicles with such well-recognized nameplates as Sierra, Acadia, Canyon, Yukon, and Savanna, there were times when the company was focusing on producing urban and transit buses, fire trucks, ambulances, and heavy-duty semi trucks. Wild dashboard, what a shame that there isnt really any use for these old beasts once they get on in years . I cant speak to what other people have done for or against the GMC Astro 95s but I still have mine and it is the only one that I have seen anywhere. My client roster once included a manufacturing firm called Ercoa. In addition to the regular cab, a sleeper cab was available as an option. There were approximately seven built, all told; they were prototypes for a new line that never got off the ground. Needless to say, everyone there knew their products VERY well. If these were being built in the late 70s, they werent that much before my time yet I cant remember ever seeing one. Guess which one I was most interested in? Condition. It had chrome bumpers, a chrome grille, and a single chrome exhaust stack, but the gas tank was steel, as were the wheels. The other cabovers weve seen have white cabooses. Even the old freight shaker cabovers! It featured an all-aluminum cab with a 108-inch or 116-inch hood. GMC ASTRO INTERIOR FOR AMERICAN TRUCK SIMULATOR - YouTube A major factor leading to the cancellation was lack of support for heavy-duty trucks by Chevrolet dealers. Updated: Mon, Nov 14, 2022 1:32 PM Get Shipping Quotes - (Opens in a new tab) Apply for Financing - (Opens in a new tab) No image. The interior is ruff, Dan is rebuilding the engine so as to keep it orignal. And so it went. For some reason most of the few I saw were rag-tag owner-ops out of Quebec. gmc astro cabover interior - Meta Tron Nw Heres a few pics of its predecessors. My extended family has owned and used that exact model of paddleboat on various lakes in Minnesota for close to four decades. The base engine was the Detroit Diesel 6-71N, with the Detroit 8V71 and Cummins N-Series diesel engines as options. The interior is ruff, Dan is rebuilding the engine so as to keep it orignal. The cabover style of truck took full advantage of the trucking industry length laws, in effect at the time. Anyway, I drove one when I was 12 years old around the lot, and I will never forget that dashboard of that windshield, or how sharp of a turn it could make. Beat me to itthe White was clearly an Astro rip-off, although there isnt exactly a lot of leeway with big COE trucks in making them look distinctive, at least in the idiom of that time. The Only Old School Cabover Truck Guide Youll Ever Need, Old School Cabover Truck Photo Collection, The Clifford Truck Show Best Cabover Collection EVER, What It Was Like to Drive the Older Model Rigs, Trucker Culture and Professionalism A Salute to the Professionals That Move Us, 1980 International Transtar Eagle Model Review, The Peterbilt Cabover Truck Photo Collection, The 5 Best Semi Trucks of All Times A Trip Down Memory Lane. Its grainy and basically useless, but unless I find the others, that may well be all that remains of these rigs. But, unfortunately, its also the one big truck for which Im most starved for pictures. Still, he remained hopeful that the tons (literally) of aluminum pontoon parts hed also bought would make up for it. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. The trailers, each one brand-new and built to their specifications, were a sort of light-duty lowboy that attached to this odd hitch, upon which the boats could be stacked two high along their entire length of forty-some feet. I love the old KW100E. Left Hand Drive. USD $3,300 . The Astro 95 had superior driver visibility. The Astro could be ordered with standard Detroit Diesel 6 or 8 Back in the 70s when I started selling parts I had a few customers that ran the BowTie versions called the Titan and Bruin. COEs have been the standard in Europe since many decades, a conventional truck is rare. I would bet my paycheck that the truck and trailer were originally owner by Old Dutch Potato Chip Company. The blue cabooses have interiors that are usually made of plastic. The Your commercial medium- or heavy-duty truck needs to be in perfect working condition to be able to make money. I still have a few anti-tamper ECM decals laying around somewhere. Especially love the old Kenworth K100E Aerodyne. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. It was easy for the younger drivers, but not quite so easy for the older truckers! Provo, UT - Box Truck - Straight Truck,Cabover Truck - COE Trucks For Cabover trucks, COE (cab over engine), are essentially a style of big rig truck without a hood. metatron-nw.com 2023. But somewhere down the line (perhaps in the early eighties) they acquired another line of business: building pontoon boats. 1979 GMC Astro For Sale | Spencer, IA - MyLittleSalesman.com William C. Durant established General Motors (GM) as the holding company for Buick on September 16, 1908. As you say, its tough to be distinctive. Title applied for. Following the launch of the cabover product line in 1969, the GMC Astro quickly exceeded the Chevrolet Titan in sales and market share. The Internationals were good solid trucks. Despite everyones best efforts, the business finally went under in 2013. As much as I enjoyed finally getting to climb around on the trucks, I was actually there for another reason. The GMC Astro (also known as the Chevrolet Titan) is a heavy-duty cabover truck that was manufactured by the GMC Truck and Coach Division of General Motors from the 1969 to 1987 model years. 1968 GMC ASTRO For Sale in Madison, Minnesota at TractorHouse.com. As far as I know this is a Bedford KM, the heavy-duty TK. It could go maybe 65 mph tops. The nose of the semi is flat and the truck cab sits on top of the diesel engine and steering axle. They were also louder than long hood rigs, as the driver was sitting right above the engine! Autocar will still sell you a new truck. There still seems to be a factory GM radio still installed in that rig, I always thought these had an interesting dash, semi wraparound, isolating the driver in the business section of the cockpit. The GMC Astro is a heavy-duty class 8 cabover truck that was unveiled in 1969 as the replacement for the GMC cabover semi truck produced during 1960-1968 that received the nickname Crackerbox for its boxy-shaped cabin. I was astounded when he paid $3500 for the title-less derelict Astro; upon looking it over again (just to see if Id missed something), I couldnt understand how he was making money on it at that price. As such, several other trucks will be standing in for it at various points. The Titan had a 290 Cummins and 10 speed Roadranger and the A/C worked! Modern cabovers are built with more structural safety features to protect the driver in the event of a crash. Depending on when it was made its Road Expeditor II, an Autocar or a Western Star. In 1909, GM purchased the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company founded by Max Grabowsky in 1901 that designed some of the first ever commercial vehicles. the Astro was now dead. Theres something very nostalgic about seeing these rigs on the road today. Astro featured many things that made it popular and innovative at the Radhe also tries different gadgets every now and then to give their reviews online. Highly inconvenient. It was the oldest design GMC had at the time, and still I believe that a gas turbine was optional in limited quantities, yet All Rights Reserved. Because of the regulations for length, this style of rig was very popular in its day. These Astro cabs had (exterior) styling far ahead of their time, especially the ones with the smaller grille. And you see a lot of Brigadiers out here too. The big windshields and door glass gave a full view of the road. Great truck and photo. I liked the little window in the passenger door. No wonder they were called Freightshakers! 94, with LT1 power, velour seating, and a trunk rack. eBay Find: This 1977 GMC Astro 95 Is A Barn Find Big - BangShift.com Thats actually not an Astro. 800,000 miles, and a rebuild. Its too bad they dont make them like that any more. But every end is merely a new beginning. Its Hall-Scott gas engine was still running well, but the truck just was too slow to be competitive in the late 1960s, and it was actually driven to its resting place in the woods at the local wrecking yard, where it sat for years before being scrapped. Of the seven, five were sixteen feet long, and two were seventeen feet. The others weve seen feature yellow and blue interiors. The simple fact that these big rigs didnt have a hood, created better visibility for the driver. Sleeper Cab. Maneuvering a big trailer was a real workout. However, there was a downside that accompanied this accessibility. Broken lights and lenses throughout. When I was bob tailing, and would hit a bump, Id have a new dent in the headliner. Want to learn the language of the truck driver? For more information on the last new Drivers didnt worry about head on collisions. Video: Crackerboxes an Astros - CDLLife Thats code word for farmers. These old school cabover trucks, whetherKenworth,Peterbilt,Freightliner, White, GMC, Ford, Diamond Reo or old Crackerbox, meantfreedom, simplicity, open roads, good memories and yes, some back aches. My good friend and photography mentor loves them. I had lots of scares over the years but that one was probably the most tense because it took a quite of bit of time to pull this off and get that cab sitting back down on its mounts. The white cabooses may be aluminum, but the black caboose is made of metal. The largest cabover trucks ever produced by GM, the Astro was introduced for 1969, replacing the 1960-1968 GMC "Crackerbox" COEs. 1 of 11 ever made by General Motors. He told me he took out over $2500 in bronze copper and aluminum shavings. They were once very common, particularly in fleet service. In 1986, Volvo AB entered into a joint venture with General Motors in heavy-truck production, with Volvo taking an 85% stake. there is no reaching into the sleeper to grab something, when sitting in the drivers seat! Not surprising, given that it came from GM, although its predecessor, the Crackerbox (attached) certainly couldnt have spent much time in the Design Center. Now for those of you who have seen dbl bunk Astro's yes there were some after market dbl bunk conversions. 615. It was a family business dad, son, and grandson could all be found down the same hallway. Big Truck Outtake: GMC Astro 95 - It Makes Me Want To Go Boating Of course, being a cabover it tilted forward for access to that huge Detroit Diesel mill. Mechanically sound. The cabovers black interior is also the most unique. But no more please, too uncomfortable. The sleeper seemed tight and on the same claustrophobic scale as the drivers side of the cab. From the second picture on, I knew it would be enjoyable! It seemed certain that these once-proud rigs would be fed to the crusher soon.