Lawrence Street Sighting: GMC S-15 Sonoma

As I said yesterday, I have a soft spot for GM's smallest trucks in our market--especially in first-generation guise; produced from model years 1982 to 1993, the GMC Sonoma (S-15) was the corporate twin to the Chevrolet S10; like most other GMC products, the Sonoma featured only a badge, and slightly different trim to separate it from its near-identical twin. It, too, was powered by the Iron Duke, and a choice of 2.8 or 4.3 liter sixes, and like, it's Chevrolet twin, the Sonoma could be specced from a cheap sub-$10,000 base workhorse to a $20,000 top-of-the-range compact pickup with four-wheel-drive.

Shown here is the GMC Sonoma ST with argent steel wheels and black mirrors and rubstrips; while not really a performance truck by any means, the Sonoma ST was a nice looking little truck--and not very many survived. There were two main reasons for this; first, these trucks succumbed horribly to front fender rust and door-sill rust; and two, these first-generation S-trucks were prime fodder when the minitruck scene took off in the 1990s. When the scene fizzled out in the mid-2000s, a rash of half-finished project trucks quickly popped up on various auto sites in less than impeccable condition.

Like Minnesota trucks, S-trucks in Kansas are fairly rare, with the second generation making up most of the remaining vehicles. I haven't seen very many first generation trucks, much less the ST trimline.

Yes, the paint is heavily faded; yes, its painted in a decidedly early-1990s paint color, and yes the gunmetal graphics look good on it. When someone mentions cheap sporty trucks of the 1990s, the Ranger Splash often comes up when compacts are brought up. But to GM fans, the GMC Sonoma ST fits the bill. No, it isn't fast by any means, but that's not why one buys one of these. A little splash of style for a little dab of dough, and you have a marketable concept.

I haven't seen one of these in years, and I forgot how much I like them. When I was about five or six, these, along with the obvious GMC Syclones, were my favorite things GM made Corvette aside.

I am glad I shot this, because I have not seen it since, and all the STs I find in Minnesota are pretty much scrap metal as far as condition goes.

Minneapolis Street Sighting: The Abandonments

Every so often, when scouting the city, I come across various abandoned vehicles; some are easily dismissed as crap, and I don't shoot them. Others beg me to stop and take a closer gander. This pair of classic American workhorses piqued my interest enough for me to hop off my bike and dig out my camera.
Trucks like this are usually found in Kansas, and not in Minnesota--at least not in the Twin Cities. Parked on Portland and I think 37th or 38th, this pair was sitting there for what seemed like eternity. It seems that this lot is a decaying dumping grounds for anything abandoned; I've seen dead Ford Tempos, a few Pontiac Sunfires, and a mid 1980s Chevrolet S-10, but never anything as lucky as this find--and nothing quite as cool since.














First things first, this is a relatively early Dodge pickup; I used Allpar as a reference site, and I have come up with this one as a 1941 model or thereabouts; this bodystyle was introduced in 1939, and continued through the 1947 model year. The chassis code for these trucks was WC for the basic 1/2 ton models, and WD for full-fledged one ton versions.
Las registered in 1974, this poor truck certainly has seen better days. Being off the road for more than thirty-five years, it looked to be in reasonably decent shape, especially for a Minnesota truck. Sure, it probably has some hidden rust, but what Minnesota truck left to the elements doesn't?
The paint is obviously shot, but the body itself doesn't look to be too far gone. All the emblems are there, and surprisingly, all are in pretty nice shape. Even the interior looks quite nice for its age. I'm no expert, but I'd say this Dodge would probably make a good restoration project if someone hasn't already snapped it up.













Next up is this 1967-1972 GMC pickup; for being nearly thirty years newer than the Dodge, it seems to be worse off; the bedsides are so caked with rust that they'd likely need replacement skins if a future owner wanted to have a functional truck. Amazingly, the rest of the truck looks no worse than trucks found in Kansas or Oklahoma; I guess rustproof hadn't gotten to trucks when this one was built. Aside from the bed, this poor GMC looks like it probably is a good starting point for a project, provided there isn't any hidden rust. It's got current collector plates, so I'm sort of miffed about why its just sitting there; maybe it's going to be restored, along with the Dodge. I base that theory on the fact that both trucks dissappeared about the same time, never to be seen again. I did find a rotten same-era GM cab, and a set of fairly rusty white trailer wheels commonly used on this generation truck so who knows.
This is a one-time, as I've never found anything this cool in that spot since--and believe me, I keep looking. I'm just glad I took out my camera when I did, and documented these two pieces of American history.

Lawrence Street Sighting: GMC 1500 V8

By now, you've discovered that most of the vehicles I deem blogworthy in my hometown tend to be pickup trucks; there's quite a few still roaming around, but I chose the most interesting ones to blog. As with yesterday's post, this pickup is domestic as well.
Even now, GM has a strong threshold on the pickup truck market, but look back forty years, and their trucks had even more prevalence than they do now. Granted, there weren't as many cab choices and upholstery choices available, but then again trucks weren't festooned with bells and whistles either. Since this GMC was just labeled as a 1500 V8, I'll venture to say this model is a 1967 to 1970 model, which sounds about right. Like many other GMs of its vintage, this particular truck has a daily driver vibe that certainly fits; it's definitely not a regal mode of transportation-- it never was-- nor would I expect its owner to be very cavalier. As with the Dodge I posted yesterday, this example is quite a celebrity in my town. After the microburst hit, the owner of the GMC helped remove debris from the storm, including a bunch of astroturf.
Obviously, this has seen its fair share of weather-- and it shows. Paint is definitely faded, rust is eating away at this like it's a vintage Corolla, and those godawful white "trailer" wheels sure aren't helping. Yeah, they're period like this color combo, but still. At least the chrome on this example is relatively straight. That said, I would probably drive it, but not unless the cows come home first. I like it, but not that much. If I had a choice, I'd try to find a cleaner model, but even in Kansas, that proves to be quite a difficult task.