Photo: Craigslist, Reno NV
Can you name something that should be dead simple but winds up being more complicated than any logic-driven person would ever make it? We can. It's the simple act of going to a dealer and buying a brand-new, simple, honest work truck with minimal bells and whistles in 2023. These days, you pay for tech up the wazoo whether you want to or not. But older trucks aren't like this. Just check out this 1990 GMC Sierra.
Now, we understand that you're either a fan of old GMT400-series trucks and SUVs, or you think they're the biggest piles of tin can garbage General Motors let leave an assembly line. There's no arguing these trucks weren't the best they could've been built. Say what you will about old '80s and '90s GM trucks, but you could never in a million years buy something this bare bones in 2023. Thirty-three years ago, you could've waltzed into a GMC/Chevy dealership, run your average credit score in the system, and walked out the door financing this truck for around $12,000.
That's roughly $28,500 in modern money. Imagine buying a brand-new full-sized pickup truck in 2023 for that kind of money. Sure, a current 2023 Chevy Colorado might say it retails for $30,695. But after dealer markups, sales taxes, and other service fees are tacked on, you start to realize how much easier things used to be 33 years ago. Well, what do you get for this paltry sum? For starters, you get the most basic pearl white paint color you've ever seen on any automobile, a grey cloth interior without any airbags, a five-on-the-floor manual gearbox, and, surprisingly, air conditioning.
Back in their day, GMT400-series pickups left the factory sporting everything from a 4.6-liter V6 to a 350-cubic inch small block V8. No word from the Craigslist ad about which engine is under the hood of this particular Sierra, but it's safe to assume, based on the smaller air cleaner and general spartan nature of the rest of this truck, that it's the V6. According to the sales information, this truck was the daily runabout for a grandfather local to the Reno, Nevada, area for practically its entire life.
Such an area often isn't kind to a truck's interior. Harsh solar UV light tends to break down cheap, early-90s GM interior plastics like termites in a freshly-built gazebo. But there's a sense that whoever owned this bare-bones truck really cared about it. Those delightful, brand-new tires and sparkling hup caps take a few thousand miles off the looks of this 76,000-mile survivor. You almost never see '90s trucks this nice anymore; that's why an asking price of $9,950 is an absolute steal for one of these.
That's roughly $28,500 in modern money. Imagine buying a brand-new full-sized pickup truck in 2023 for that kind of money. Sure, a current 2023 Chevy Colorado might say it retails for $30,695. But after dealer markups, sales taxes, and other service fees are tacked on, you start to realize how much easier things used to be 33 years ago. Well, what do you get for this paltry sum? For starters, you get the most basic pearl white paint color you've ever seen on any automobile, a grey cloth interior without any airbags, a five-on-the-floor manual gearbox, and, surprisingly, air conditioning.
Back in their day, GMT400-series pickups left the factory sporting everything from a 4.6-liter V6 to a 350-cubic inch small block V8. No word from the Craigslist ad about which engine is under the hood of this particular Sierra, but it's safe to assume, based on the smaller air cleaner and general spartan nature of the rest of this truck, that it's the V6. According to the sales information, this truck was the daily runabout for a grandfather local to the Reno, Nevada, area for practically its entire life.
Such an area often isn't kind to a truck's interior. Harsh solar UV light tends to break down cheap, early-90s GM interior plastics like termites in a freshly-built gazebo. But there's a sense that whoever owned this bare-bones truck really cared about it. Those delightful, brand-new tires and sparkling hup caps take a few thousand miles off the looks of this 76,000-mile survivor. You almost never see '90s trucks this nice anymore; that's why an asking price of $9,950 is an absolute steal for one of these.
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