GMC 1948 Pickup, 350 Chev

RUN GMC: 1948 PICK-UP TURNING HEADS

Australia loves its utes and pick-up trucks. It always has but, for whatever reason, this type of vehicle is more popular today than it has ever been. In fact, in September this year, the Ford Ranger was, according to figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, the nation’s top-selling vehicle with 4,318 sales, followed by the Toyota Hilux with 3,822 sales.

It’s a vehicle type that just about all the major automakers manufacture and amongst them is the GMC brand.

A division of General Motors, GMC has focused on the truck and utility market for more than 100 years and the robust and sturdy trucks they have produced over the years have seen service across just about any industry you can imagine.

A few GMC vehicles found their way across the Pacific over the years, filling all manner of workhorse roles in Australia. The truck that graces these pages, for example, spent at least a part of its life as a fire truck in Sydney.

Now owned by expat New Zealanders Ross and Stacey Reid of Dier Automotive in Brisbane, this 1948 GMC pick-up looks, to put it mildly, very different now to what it did in that incarnation and, indeed, to the condition in which the couple found it just four years ago.

By that time, it had long since retired from its previous role and was, in fact, nothing but a literal shell of its former self. Owned by a neighbour who also had a workshop and who also a fan of old cars, the body of the pick-up was being stored in his backyard and had certainly seen better days.

“A tree had fallen on it,” says Ross. “It wasn’t in good condition and we did have to get a panel beater in to smack it all out and make it straight again.”

‘Smacking’ the body into shape was only part of the puzzle, of course. With just a bodyshell to work with, there was a stack of work to do to get the pick-up into any sort of roadworthy condition.

“It is pretty much a new car underneath,” says Ross. “We built a completely new chassis. It has a Holden VE rear end and an HZ front end, independent rear suspension and a transmission from an early VP that we rebuilt. It’s a bit of a hybrid under that body. We also bought in some 17-inch Rallye wheels that were manufactured in Sydney and, as for the Chev engine, although we already had a block to work on, we bought in a lot of what we needed from the US to finish it, including new heads, cams, pistons and so on.”

While the body – finished in a satin black that was applied by paint and panel expert Ken Connor – as well as the powertrain, engine and chassis of the pick-up needed to be built almost from scratch, Ross also sweated over recreating an original-looking tray and a new interior to the cab. Both have been restored to an extremely high standard with the cab‘s dash layout precisely the same as an original GMC 1948 interior (only with brand new details such as aftermarket gauges slotted into the original dash spaces), and some fine interior upholstery work completed by Ross’s mate John Clough from John Clough Auto Trim in Brisbane.

While the combination of restored original body, stylish new interior and custom-built underpinnings is brilliantly done, and the GMC is rare enough to stand out from the crowd under even normal circumstances, it is the extra decorative flashes in the form of candy apple red roses and the cryptic phrase ’65 ROSES’ that really makes this pick-up unique.

The rose is the symbol of the Cystic Fibrosis Federation of Australia and the phrase come from a young sufferer of the disease who, unable to say the name of the condition, pronounced it ‘65 ROSES’.

For the Reid family, the use of the roses and the phrase on the GMC is more than just decoration and reveals their deep personal connection to the debilitating and incurable illness that affects about 3000 people across Australia. Sadly, Ross and Stacey’s only child, seven-year-old daughter Anika, is one of those affected by the illness.

The GMC will, says Ross, be used to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis foundation and the continuing fight to find a cure.

“Anika absolutely loves the truck,” he says. “She loves to ride around in it and, once it is completed – we do still have a few fiddly bits and pieces to finish – we will take it along to car shows and other events and try and raise as much money for the Cystic Fibrosis Federation as we can.”

The GMC won’t just be appearing at the odd car show here and there – the family do plan to use it as their everyday vehicle and, while it is not absolutely complete as yet, it has made plenty of trips in the local area and is becoming a regular sight on the road. Not surprisingly, it is something of a talking point.

“People certainly do stop and want to have a good look at it,” says Ross. “And they do come up to us and want to talk about it too, of course, which is pretty cool. However, we do always get asked the same questions, so we do sometimes try to get to the car without anyone seeing us!”

Ross has a ton of experience in the automotive trade. He qualified as a mechanic at age 18 in New Zealand and has been running Dier Automotive for nine years after working for many years at dealerships and mechanical workshops across the southeast of the state.

Though the GMC pick-up is his first restoration project, it is little wonder that his experience has delivered a truck that has a comfortable and altogether modern-feeling drive. However, as projects go, this was, he says, a pretty trying experience and one that he may not repeat, however pleased he is with the result of his efforts.

“It really does drive very well,” he says. “As I mentioned, it is basically a new car underneath that body and that really is how it drives – like a new car. It even has air-conditioning now!”

“The project has been a lot of fun, but it has been quite stressful too. It’s taken a lot of time and a lot of money and a lot of effort, but I couldn’t be prouder of the finished product.

“I could do another project like this, but I won’t,” he adds. “There is this one, and that’s it! The next classic I think I will buy!”