One could update the grille and headlights and the Astro 2.0 wouldnt look out of place today in a lineup of new trucks on the dealer lot. [1] In 1972, the Detroit 12V71 became available as an option; though rarely ordered, the V12 engine would remain through 1978. The cabover has black, red, and white interiors. In fact, this picture was used to create a cut-out on foamcore, which sat atop their reception desk when it was unstaffed. Six Easy Ways To Keep Your Truck Cab Organized On The Road. Gauges for the trailer air supply and pressure were
They are also becoming wildly popular at truck shows. The only GM heavy truck that was built after the merger was the Brigadier, and it lasted until the Pontiac heavy truck plant closed in late 1989. The TM had 4 head lights and double bumpers to differentiate it and they had larger more powerfull engines than the TK range but the cab was shared. They have that in common with a great many other big trucks. Your email address will not be published. Never tripped across one that didnt rattle! In 1959, GMC introduced its Class 8 cabover trucks, replacing the previous "Cannonball" fixed-cab cabovers. White trailers with a big "Food Lion" graphic. They were indeed good-looking trucks. The California Air Recourses Board made me put a 2002 N-14 engine in it and a super large catalytic converter/particulate filter, but it dynoed super clean and the Astro 95 can be used until 2027. So they let me keep the Titan 90 and I drove it till fall when I decided driving full time wasnt for me and I went back to being a mechanic. Its grainy and basically useless, but unless I find the others, that may well be all that remains of these rigs. (Bedford being a GM division.). grille, chromed accessories, deluxe interior levels fog lights, and
As such, several other trucks will be standing in for it at various points. the Astro was now dead. Others say for every minute spent organizing and reducing clutter, an hour is earned All manufacturer names, symbols, and descriptions, used in our images and text are used solely for identification purposes only. Heck, it reminds me of the good old days when there were way less laws and regs. Here are some comments sent in from truckers. Any way it was big. They were also louder than long hood rigs, as the driver was sitting right above the engine! The Astro offered many improvements over the "Crackerbox" trucks. The trucks, however, were not so lucky. I love the old KW100E. Many memories are attached to the old cabover trucks models.Many truckers and retired truck drivers alike, lament about the classic cabover truck models, that once ruled the highways of North America. In 1916, GMC made headlines when a husband and wife drove the GMC pickup truck from Seattle to New York in 30 days. They are also usually found on the back of a car, but they can be found in other areas as well. Somewhere on the back roads near Pine City, MN, as I recall cant give more detail than that without actually retracing my steps. I cant say I have a soft spot for Brigadiers. The truck had plenty of power and did a good job on the New England highways that I drove on. Depending on when it was made its Road Expeditor II, an Autocar or a Western Star. Upgrades to the truck's suspension improved its handling and ride, as well. As you say, its tough to be distinctive. The neighbor has one Brigadier- a 1979 thats on its last legs. We had to do allot of work to use it in the state of California. I was a little concerned about the pieces that were twisted on the right front, yea they looked fine but I couldnt see taking a chance on this happening again. Updated: Sat, April 10, 2021 5:09 PM Get Shipping Quotes - (Opens in a new tab) Apply for Financing - (Opens in a new tab) No image. We have large over head hoists and we can slip a second trolley hoist onto the beam from the next hoist over. I still think about those days and whenever I see a picture of an Astro 95/ Chevy Titan 90 I know first hand they were one of the best designed and nicest looking trucks on the road. That thing is so deliciously 80s. I dont recall who won it, but I do remember that they paid $300 for the privilege. Its been stretched, and also has a tag axle. Dealer service was the biggest issue with the GMC, not unlike any GM product of the day. A popular model of truck, with COE fans, and with a following and some clubs across North America. USED - Door side vent, Does not include interior trim, Needs seal, Cab over. The different cabooses are designed to look different colors and to be able to transition from one color to another. Related > The Clifford Truck Show Best Cabover Collection EVER. Numbers 1 and 2 could be done from the engine compartment. Also seem to recall some connection with carnival equipment. Cochran Auctioneers & Associates LTD Boonsboro, Maryland. In 1986, General Motors created the VolvoGM joint venture with Volvo Trucks, leading to the discontinuation of the Astro in 1987. If these were being built in the late 70s, they werent that much before my time yet I cant remember ever seeing one. It
These rigs were once quite commonly seen rolling down the highways. (c) 2000, Evan McCausland. Who knows? It is neither inferred nor implied that any item sold by TRUCKiD.com is a product authorized by or in any way connected with any vehicle manufacturers displayed on this page. The cabover interiors caboose is a unique design concept that is made possible by the fact that it has black and red interiors. There was also the memorable wrap-around dashboard, all decked out in woodgrain. ASTRO 95. Call or email for more information. The Astro died honorably with
The GMC Astro 95 (1969-1987) For more information on the last new Astro model, go see the Other Astro Pictures -If you have any, please send them to me, and they will be posted! The cabover truck is an icon. In what would be a distinguishing feature of the vehicle, the Astro/Titan was produced with a wraparound dashboard;[1] the speedometer and tachometer were placed directly in the line of sight of the driver while most secondary gauges were placed off to the side, based on their level of use. The nose of the semi is flat and the truck cab sits on top of the diesel engine and steering axle. Thats code word for farmers. It was a nice truck but harder to get into tight spots and I was partial to the cabovers. Many RVs even up to today use the same glass. Company owners said should just have to put new batteries in and change the fluids and should start up. [2] Along with single or tandem axle configurations, the GMC Crackerbox was available with a sleeper cab. Along with the Dragfoiler roof spoiler, the option package included body extension panels between the cab and trailer, an air dam below an extended bumper and an optimized radiator grille. Especially love the old Kenworth K100E Aerodyne. GMC Astro 95 Cabover T/A Road Tractor, ; Vin# TGH928V900010, Special Plate- AC122503, Manual Trans.- NO TITLE Sold By: J.G. If I recall correctly, there were a few of these made with GMC badges on them when White and GMC merged their heavy truck operations in the late 80s. But no more please, too uncomfortable. This is because they are usually made of steel, and they are also available in other materials, such as plastic. Now for those of you who have seen dbl bunk Astro's yes there were some after market dbl bunk conversions. "A Brief Outline of the First Century of GMC Truck History - Generations of GM", Rigs of Rods; GMC Astro 95 & Chevy Titan 90, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=GMC_Astro&oldid=1140760775, Articles needing expert attention from January 2017, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 21 February 2023, at 17:11. I am actually the current owner of the truck on this article. I sold off the shop manuals years ago on the internet. I understood that much of the interior and the dashboard were designed by a woman named Martha Jayne Van Alstyne, who also worked on the interior of the 68 Corvette. Cabover trucks, COE (cab over engine), are essentially a style of big rig truck without a hood. 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. Radhe Gupta is an Indian business blogger. At the time I was trying to obscure the trucks location to prevent unwelcome tourists (as I commonly did with any roadside pics). NO
I wish I had shop space for those kind of projects, my wife gets annoyed when I leave a boat on our property for more than a few weeks. Single rear axle. Enjoy our hassle-free online checkout or call to speak to an expert. To this day I still drive a cabover, 48 years and never owned a hood. They were once very common, particularly in fleet service. And their parts guys knew the product a lot better. Want to learn the language of the truck driver? A 60 Detroit and a 10 speed trannie under the hood. Starting in 1980, the company offered the GMC TopKick. model in the middle of 1949. On various occasions, I walked in to find the President working a welder and the VP forming sheets of aluminum ahead of him! The driver would grab the outer rail and swing out and down! I was only supposed to keep the Titan until the Astro was fixed but I couldnt go back to that noisy sweat box now. Given the paint scheme, it seems fairly likely this tractor and trailer spent at least part of their lives together. It seemed certain that these once-proud rigs would be fed to the crusher soon. 1984 GMC ASTRO 9500 Sleeper Trucks For Sale Price: USD $23,500 Get Financing* Horsepower: 350 HP VIN: 1GDT9L4C0EV542424 Fuel Type: Gasoline Drive Side: Left Hand Drive Contact Us (573) 544-6500 Sold By: Pierson & Son Trucks New Florence, Missouri 63363 VIN. There are a few reasons this might happen: To regain access, please make sure that cookies and JavaScript are enabled before reloading the page. This merger formed the basis of the General Motors Truck Company giving the GMC brand name for their trucks. Isuzu Bedford might be the name down under, the blue one is very clearly a (Euro) Bedford TM. The funky hitch is called a stinger and its usually used on car haulers. On the sweeping floors it may be profitable. From the second picture on, I knew it would be enjoyable! This style of old semi trucks are incredibly maneuverable. Guess which one I was most interested in? Model. The GMC Astro is a heavy-duty (Class 8) cabover truck that was manufactured by the GMC Truck and Coach Division of General Motors. Additional information is available in this. None were roadworthy, only one was able to be started, and perhaps worst of all, no titles could be produced for any of them. Of the three trucks in the fleet, there were two Internationals and one GMC. And so came the companys latest investment, circa 1987: a fleet of new-to-them tractors with brand-new trailers. Its interior became much more spacious due to an optional sleeper cab. The cabovers black interior is also the most unique. Its a FACTORY double bunk. But given their neglected state, it also seems likely that their service lives have come to a close. You wanted to be sure you had your pants on when you rolled out of the sleeper! But the pontoon-hauler wasnt quite as fancy as this one. A truly excellent truck! For the paddleboat, of course. Astro featured many things that made it popular and innovative at the
When I worked at Peterbilt in the late 70s to early 80s, we definitely paid attention to some of the features of the Astro as well as Ford CL9000, especially the cab air suspension of the latter. When he used to be their mechanic, he claimed that they were always in the shop for something. Can anyone tell me where this picture was taken. Shopping with us, you get parts and accessories that work hard just like you, built tough just like your vehicle. Still, it was a new truck and I was pretty happy with it. Tahoe where I used to work had a tough time getting to stuff on our Pete 320 LCFs. When I was a kid, my parents would drive me to the nearest truck stop, so I could take pictures of the big rigs, and talk to the truck drivers. So the length issue wasnt so important anymore. 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. As of current production, GM has not marketed another Class 8 cabover truck (as the configuration has effectively ended production in North America). Thats an Isuzu Bedford the TM was a heavyduty TK with a double bumper, I saw one of those on Sunday a dead one they are too low powered and small for todays applications. The white cabooses may be aluminum, but the black caboose is made of metal. I had wanted to grab the ice cream sundaeas a souvenir, too, but someone else beat me to it. Perhaps even these Jeeps were big trucks in a past life. I drove many 10s of thousands of miles in the late 70s. before, and some were cut as cost-savings. A cabover interior is a very useful tool in that it can make sure that the contents of the car is hidden to anyone who might be looking. Each truck had a slightly longer than normal wheelbase, with tandem axles, a steel flatbed with wood decking, and an interesting low-mounted fifth wheel hitch setup. My son and I still drive this truck and trailer every week from San Diego California, to LA. Here we have a 1983 GMC Astro. Did find the high-res original of that pic, but alas, no GPS information or other pictures for context. Still, he remained hopeful that the tons (literally) of aluminum pontoon parts hed also bought would make up for it. Also in common with GM products of the day Astros didnt age well, particularly inside the cab. Van Alstyne was one of the female designers mentioned in the book, Damsels in Design, by Constance Smith which came out a couple of years ago and which was mentioned on this site and on others. Thanks for the history of the company. The Sleeper Bunk. Stock Number. The truck has a 3406 A model cat 13 spd GM air ride. Thats probably half the reason I was brought in: I worked cheap, I was willing to horse around with their archaic equipment, and I could manage to keep a sense of humor about it. Theirs was an Astro 95, of course; a 1978, if I recall. The model was dubbed the GMC B-Series and stayed in production for three generations. This must be the Astros counterpart from across the pond, the English 1974-1986 Bedford TM. What a mess. later dropped from the lineup. It was a family business dad, son, and grandson could all be found down the same hallway. All Rights Reserved. It looked similar to the above shot when I last saw it, but I bet its cockpit was much more awe-inspiring in its younger days. Although Volvo GM would continue sales of COE trucks under the White GMC and Western Star brands (the WhiteGMC WH and Western Star Cabover; both versions of the White Road Commander II), the GMC Astro was never directly replaced by Volvo GM, Volvo, or General Motors. Out here, the farmers still run Brigadiers, Generals, and Ford Louisvilles. After a couple years of testing the idea was dropped due to the turbines poor fuel consumption. Body Parts Cab Interior Engine Components Transmission Components Suspension Components Electrical Components Vehicles . Just love the old school classics. We have everything you need to maintain your GMC in top condition to avoid truck breakdowns and get it operating properly again. (The folks in their marketing department had a thing for using staff, friends, and family in their promotional photos. The yard owner and I were talking at the time, and I congratulated him on his win. You always had to check the interior before flopping one of these things open, you never know what you may come across, but a coffee cup was enough to take out a windshield. Class 8 cabover highway trucks are still manufactured at a plant in North Carolina. You've disabled JavaScript in your web browser. 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. It took a while for me to warm up to that oneI thought it was tacky when I first saw it, but apparently the secretaries got a kick out of watching peoples reactions. For this reason, they are still popular in Europe, where the roadways are generally narrower, with tight clearances, and even more congested than in North America. I was thinking WTF? Thanks for visiting my page! When it comes to clutter, some say its nothing more than postponed decisions. So an auction was scheduled, and the companys assets were bagged, tagged, and sold to the highest bidder. I knew a guy who worked in the service department at a Caterpillar dealer, and he said that some of his customers wouldnt hesitate to come right over his desk if they got the slightest inkling that he might be causing some delay in getting their equipment back into use. The total length of the cab was a mere 48 . Its design was cleaner and slicker than the Transtar. In 1909, GM purchased the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company founded by Max Grabowsky in 1901 that designed some of the first ever commercial vehicles. Cab is up in the air, a crack noise followed by some crunching sounds. Manytruckers complained that the ride was pretty rough, mostly due to the shortened wheelbase. Some models had quite large sleeper berths. One of my most exciting or tense days involved a White Road Commander. EnterpriseVander Haags Inc Sp Spencer IA. These two galsno idea who they aremade frequent appearances in company literature. and they will be posted! Cabover interiors are usually found in the back of a car, and they are usually made of steel rather than plastic. relocated to next to the trailer air brake lever itself, as shown. The Astro 95 was the best-styled truck of its time, and one of the best ever. It seems like there must be hundreds of RV, boat, etc manufacturers that have shuttered or consolidated in the past 2 decades. Now for those of you who have seen dbl bunk Astro's yes there were some after market dbl bunk conversions. Cab won't release to tilt. The gmc astro cabover features a black interior with a white caboose. Cabovers had great visibility and they had the look of highway trucks, due to their sheer height. 1987 GMC Astro 95
Year. The cabover has a smaller seat in the middle, two doors on either side, a small handle in the middle, and a small door on each side. The last GMC B-Series left the assembly line in 2003. During WWII, GM supplied the US Army with more than 600,000 GMC trucks. 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. They are also typically found on the rear of a car, but they can be found in other areas. However, Ive noticed a resurgence of interest in cabover trucks recently. [1] In an option that became standard a year later, in 1979, GMC and Chevrolet offered the SS (Special Series) package. made it able to slip through wind better than other COEs at the
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. with Rudkin-Wiley Airshield. [1] In 1975, GMC introduced a Dragfoiler roof spoiler as an option. When I was bob tailing, and would hit a bump, Id have a new dent in the headliner. None of the seventeen-footers were ever completed. He told me that when he purchased one in the mid 70s he test drove a Pete 352 (COE) and got the impression that it had inferior build quality to the Astro. 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. In contrast to the Crackerbox, the cab of the Astro was lengthened nearly six inches into a 54-inch BBC length with two sleeper cab configurations available. They were indeed good-looking trucks. Dan is hoping to use this truck in the summer to haul hay. I am trying to see if by some chance this trailer is still in existence. My Mom ran a truck leasing operation in the 70s-90s (NationalLease/LendLease) and back in the 70s when the 95 came out it was a VERY big deal. Get to know the CB lingo used by truckers, so you can get in on the conversation, cmon. All Rights Reserved. A cabover rig isnt as safe as a long hood rig, in the event of an accident, as there just isnt any protection for the driver. Changing a clutch was always fun since the rear engine mounts were attached to the transmission instead of the engine. The Titan was a very rare bird even when new. They were legal and they got the job done. The GMC Astro ceased production after the 1987 model year (coincidentally, two years after Chevrolet launched a van with the same name). It was hell. Its the only one of the three weve seen that has a black, red, and blue interior. This particular 1977 GMC Astro 95 has an interesting backstory in the fact that it was order by NASA and used very sparingly at the Wallops Island facility in Virginia. This interior is one of the highlights of my apartment. The only other cabovers weve seen have a black, red, and blue interior. Near the end of its run, Astro buyers had the option of several Detroit, Caterpillar and Cummins Diesel engines. 4 head lights and double bumpers. Learn the dangers of a truck driver encounters when driving an Australian road train in the barren Outback and how trucking in Australia is so different from North America. The red caboose is made of metal too. He told me he took out over $2500 in bronze copper and aluminum shavings. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. was a radical departure for GMC-it was completely cab-over engine, and
Your commercial medium- or heavy-duty truck needs to be in perfect working condition to be able to make money. But, with surprising candor, he began to lament his purchase of the truck having now done the math, he was expecting to take a big hit on it, and several other things hed won at that auction. Find the 9 highest paying truck driver jobs in 2022. American Brands: AMC, Jeep and All Others, Tractors, Lawn Mowers, Off-Road Equipment, Big Truck Outtake: GMC Astro 95 It Makes Me Want To Go Boating. You can connect with him Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. All were late 70s vintage cabovers with sleepers and rooftop air deflectors, painted white, with the obligatorylogo on the door.