Rare Rides: The Real Dream of the '70s - a 1975 GMC Sierra Gentleman Jim
Yesterday, Steph Willems reported on a dealer in the northern province of Minnesota that’s offering a dreamy Seventies stripe package for newer Chevrolet Silverado pickups. The package includes the mandatory stripes, vintage tailgate lettering, and “Cheyenne Super 10” badging. The internet is most pleased with the offering.
I was mostly underwhelmed, and felt the need to share with you a real dream pickup from the Seventies. He’s a special luxury Sierra, but you can call him Gentleman Jim.
Long before the Denali name implied some extra trim and a $25,000 price increase over plebeian models, GMC had luxury limited edition dreams for the Sierra. Here we see Gentleman Jim himself, negotiating a transaction with a lady of the evening.
Available only in the black and gold color scheme you see here, Gentleman Jim featured many additional exterior and interior features over standard Sierras.
A color-keyed grille matched the rest of the exterior, along with upper and lower body moldings.
The interior was nearly dripping with luxury. This truck was the first with factory bucket seats (in tweed and saddle vinyl because it’s 1975), and the center console and door panels match the seats.
Said panels contained additional sound deadening, making for a quiet ride to the western-themed restaurant downtown or wherever. The storage pouches (another unique feature) were of the same material as the seats. Comfort and luxury, could one ask for more? Of course they could.
Woodgrain abounds in the interior, so passengers are aware this isn’t your average farmer’s conveyance.
Full gauges were standard in the Gentleman Jim, as well as air conditioning. All Jims had automatic transmissions, power brakes, and a tilt steering wheel.
The dealer had his hand in the luxury options box as well, and could offer rug protectors, chrome tie-down rails, splash guards, CiBIE fog lamps, a tonneau cover, and chromed locking lug nuts. Most of those additional extras are present here.
Offered on a “very limited” basis, I was unable to find exact production figures; one website stated there were under 1,000.
This one sold not long ago at Streetside Classics, the dealership with comprehensive photography. It was asking $31,995, but what’s a pristine O.G. luxury truck worth to you?
Who knows? Maybe we’ll have some more black and gold soon.
[Images: Dealer, General Motors]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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I could see this in someones garage next to this 1975 Trans Am with similar paint schemes... https://img1.etsystatic.com/177/0/14665937/il_570xN.1207833913_dgxe.jpg
Nobody mentions the strangled Malaise-era engine? It likely had the 350 V8, good for 150 HP. In California, only the pre-1975 vehicles are classic/antique, so it would still be subject to smog testing.