It’s 1977 and young Greg Bowden is in high school and driving a newly purchased 1955 Chevrolet Step bed pickup. He soon realizes that his first hope, to restore it to new condition, would be out of the question considering his limited income and his college years coming soon. It needed so much plus the body rust continued to get worse. (Known locally as Oregon Coast Cancer.) Something had to give!
It all came together when he saw an ad in a Portland, Oregon newspaper (he lived 90 miles away). It described another 1955 GM step bed pickup. The difference: It was a GMC!
He found it in so much better condition than his Chevy pickup. Though the size and most sheet metal was the same as his Chevy, it had many different features that made it stand out as a GMC. He had to have it!
18 year old Greg on his very tired 1955 Chevy ½ ton. He sold and delivered firewood for extra money.
To Greg, the major change it needed would be to remove up to 9 layers of paint that had been added over its 25 years. This he could do himself and it would fit within his budget. During the evenings, and no school in the summer of 1979 he brushed on thick liquid paint remover, let it do it’s softening of the old paint, and scraped it off to expose bare metal. A little spray primer protected it from rust as he progressed.
No doubt over the months it slowly became a truck in primer! Most important, Greg could still drive it every day with the anticipation of having it with a new bright color!
The color of choice was 1977 Corvette Yellow. It quickly became the shiny yellow pickup that attracted so much attention everywhere it was seen; especially on the college campus. All with an eye for older vehicles, quickly recognized this now regular seen local yellow GMC 1/2 ton.
A few extras listed individually that relate to Greg and his attractive GMC:
Applying the Paint
Greg’s father had a good friend that was a retired body man from the local Chevrolet dealership. To help the young college student, he offered to paint his GMC for almost free! He did the painting for a fresh whole Salmon that Greg and his father had caught in the Pacific Ocean! It would be Greg’s responsibility to prepare it for paint: light sanding, all dirt removal, and taping paper over all parts that would not be yellow. Even some disassembly was required to be sure “over-spray” did not find some parts that could not be yellow. This soon became the shiny yellow pickup in this article.
The New Paint Job Is Soon Changed
Soon after, the completed pickup was at its best, a much unexpected thing happened. Who would have thought? The pickup was kept outside miles away from Mount St. Helens; one of our country’s few very rare active volcanos. In May of 1980, it erupted occasionally for two weeks! Ash settled on everything within many miles during that time depending on the wind direction, including Greg’s pickup with the new paint.
It had just been waxed and rain water beaded in small puddles on the flat areas. These puddles combined with the volcanic dust. This caused a slight change in the paint. If you get really, really close you can see the many dust marks (the size of a pencil eraser) in the new yellow paint. However, you can imagine what they did to Greg’s ego!
Note the small volcanic dust spots that are permanent.
A Few Additional Details on Greg’s Special Pickup
Greg’s 1955 GMC step bed ½ ton has the usual 114 wheel base, and 248 cubic inch six cylinder engine (on GMC only).
Options are the deluxe cab with the large rear window, and stainless steel trim around the door glass, windshield, and rear window. (He has the windshield stainless for future installation.) Yes, it certainly has a chrome grille and bumpers! Unusual, with all the deluxe trim, it also came with the accessory 4 speed transmission. This is almost bullet-proof on the ½ ton as it was standard equipment on the large GMC commercial work trucks. A few other options were the factory installed fresh air heater, oil bath air cleaner and the turn signals built into the steering column.
Yes, Greg recently found an original radio! Plans are to install this accessory very soon.
Identification Plate Data
Greg’s 1955 has 1956 on its title. Often in earlier years the title showed the year it was first registered. (Strange in comparison to today’s rules.) Greg’s 1955 has a letter “Y” in the identification number on the I.D. plate (it is the last letter before the number order as they came off the assembly line). Thus, it was definitely manufactured in 1955. FYI: The 1956 GMC ½ ton had the letter “X” in that position. The letter before the “Y” on this GMC is a “C” (California Production). The other assembly plant was Pontiac, MI. This would have a “P”.
Six Volt Electrical System
1955 is the last year for the 6 volt positive ground electrical system on GMC trucks. It was only on the six cylinder 248 engine and older. Their new V-8 (a Pontiac engine) was equipped with a 12 volt negative ground system. (In 1956 the six cylinder begin with the larger displacement 270 six cylinder and a 12 volt system was on all GMC engines.)
Someone before 1979, when Greg bought it, had changed over to a 12 volt electric system. This required protecting the six volt gas gauge, heater blower motor and ignition points with voltage reducers and adding 12 volt light bulbs. Yes, the starter remains 6 volt as do most conversions. The foot operated starter now turns faster for quick starts.
Correct wheels and hubcaps
Aftermarket chrome wheels were showing their age, so later Greg located a set of six bolt 15” original wheels. He also found a set of new 1955 GMC hub caps so this made a perfect original set. See photos.
The Big Separation!
Soon after Greg graduated from college he was selected into the in the US Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Officer program for nuclear powered submarines. Very impressive to be chosen for this position! He served his full 20 years! This involved so much traveling in so many parts of the world. Thanks to his father, Greg was able to keep his special GMC. It was kept stored in a barn on the family farm.
Near the end of his Navy career he was stationed at the Offutt Military Base close to Omaha, Nebraska. When he retired in 2003 he became a civilian employee on the same base. Finally it was time to settle down to a more 8 to 5 employment.
Now, after about 20 years it was time to re-bond with his yellow pickup. How does this happen with it over 1,700 miles away?
What luck! His father knew a person driving with an empty trailer to pick up an older vehicle in the Midwest. It couldn’t have been better for both parties. Greg is now united with his GMC from his college years. So many nice memories from his younger days have come to the surface. We suspect he even likes the many small spots from Mount Saint Helens! This is part of his truck's history!
The End
You can contact Greg at: gbchevy55@aol.com
