- Hero's get remembered, but legends never die.
Look at Babe Ruth,
dude was literally an absolute freaking legend
and is still getting talked about to this day.
- I'm just here to give you a hand.
- But you're-
- Dead? Legends never die, kid.
- In much the same way,
there are plenty of trucks out there that get a lot of hype,
but there are few that live up to the legacy
of the square body Chevy truck.
I'm Dustin, Dusti.co on Instagram if that's your fancy,
and today's video is all about
those oh, so fantastic square wheel wells,
the boxy grill headlight design, and the introduction
of the very first dual wheel pickup truck in existence.
That's right, if you guys didn't guess it,
today's video is asking the question
"Is a square body Chevy worth it?"
Let's get it.
(upbeat beatboxy music)
Now as we get into the nuts and bolts
of what makes a square body just so (beaver squeaking) good,
a reminder that if you need wheels and tires for your truck,
you can find those at customoffsets.com.
We've got a ton of wheels and tires in stock
from some of your favorite brands.
We've got companies like TIS,
we've got Arkon Off-Road, we've got AMP tires,
we've got Nitto, and even some lift kits
from some guys like Rough Country,
or even some parts from Kryptonite if that's your thing.
Best part is if you pair your wheels
with brand new tires,
because let's face it, if you're buying new wheels,
you're also gonna need tires, bro.
We'll even mount 'em,
we'll balance 'em and we'll ship 'em to your door for free
as long as you're in the lower 48 states.
Also, if you guys have an episode
of "Is It Worth It" that you guys want us to cover,
drop it in the comments down below.
Do it right now and maybe, just maybe,
we'll make it into a video.
The year is 1973 and America
is at the pinnacle of product invention.
Walkie-talkies are a popular Christmas gift
to youngsters in the family,
Stove Top stuffing is making its debut
across the nation in grocery stores.
- Billy? Like to stay and have dinner with us?
- [Billy] What are ya havin'?
- Chicken.
- Just chicken?
- Chicken with potatoes. Or, Stove Top stuffing?
- Stuffing? I'm stayin'
- The average tuition
for a full four years of college is $358.
$358.
Guys I spent more than that
on food my first week of college.
Incredible, absolutely incredible.
But despite the low cost of continuous education
and the introduction
of my absolute favorite stuffing of all time,
because Stove Top just slaps, and if you don't agree,
we can't be friends anymore.
Things were heating up
at the old General Motors Corporation.
After the introduction of their second generation
of the C/K line of pickup trucks,
right their half ton trucks
and three quarter ton trucks, one tons,
General Motors knew their new truck had to be
an absolute banger if they wanted a shot
at the top of the food chain
when it came to truck sales in America.
Because of this,
General Motors would go to the drawing board
and come back with a design so iconic, so classic,
and just so good looking
that they would leave it relatively unchanged
in production for over 15 years.
This makes the square body Chevy
the third longest generation of truck
to ever be produced ever,
only overshadowed by the Dodge D/W series
and the Jeep Gladiators which spanned 26 years
over the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
Literally almost as long as I've been alive,
they made Jeep Gladiators.
Now we're talkin' the old ones, not the new ones, right?
So if you add the new ones it's even older.
Introduced in 1973,
the third generation of GM truck,
known as the square body by today's standards,
would set the benchmark for the next 30 years
of General Motors pickup trucks production
when it comes to exterior styling.
We actually just did a video on this
where we talked all about those beloved,
or maybe less than beloved, square wheel wells.
Which you guys can find right here.
This brand new pickup truck
would feature a completely restyled design,
more rounded features, seats that didn't completely suck
when you wanted the drive it for more than 35 minutes.
Fun fact for you guys, did you know
that even though we call them square body Silverados,
this generation of truck was actually introduced
as the round body generation of CNK pickup trucks.
This is because for the first time
in this history of pickup trucks,
General Motors would introduce a truck
with curved side window glass.
No longer were your windows just sheets of flat glass
that you just rolled up and down in the doors.
Additionally, this truck
would be the very first General Motors truck
to be flow tested in a wind tunnel,
which is why you see a lot
of those really sweeping body lines the and curved panels
in comparison to trucks before that.
Aerodynamics were the name of the game back then,
and General Motors certainly understood the assignment
when it came to the CNK pickups.
I understood the assignment.
On top of all that cool stuff,
one of the coolest things about the square body Chevy
is that it was the first truck to ever be produced
with a dual rear wheel option.
The 1973 Chevy C31 One-Ton Dually was unlike any other truck
that you'd ever seen on the market.
Sure, before that you could get a truck chassis
with dual rear wheels, right?
But you couldn't get 'em with a bed of any kind.
Additionally, this would be the first truck
to offer a crew cab option from the factory,
meaning that the C30 had room for you and all your buddies
to go mobbin' down the road to deer camp.
It was dubbed Big Dooley, with two O's by the way,
because, well, that's just frickin' cool.
This monstrosity of a truck came
with a 350 V8, ministering 155 horsepower,
and cost just $4,388 from the factory.
It was big.
It drank fuel like my uncle Ted drank whiskey old fashions
after the Packers lost the Superbowl in 1998.
Over the next 15 years,
the square body would continue
to have minor tweaks and changes
like adding power door locks and power windows.
Some front end tweaks like headlight styling
and grill changes and some stuff like that.
And the introduction of the 5.7 liter diesel engine
that would eventually lead to the 6.2 Detroit diesel
that Gale Banks essentially used
to pioneer the entire aftermarket diesel industry.
However, that's a video for another time.
What makes the square body so popular though
is how nostalgic it is.
There's not a single person that I know that works here,
or anyone that I've ever met in general,
that doesn't have a memory of riding with their dad,
or their granddad, or their uncle, or even a family member,
in a square body truck as a kid.
For me, it was my dad having not one,
but two of them on the farm.
One of 'em that was massive,
or I thought massive at the time,
it was green and it rolled around on,
what I thought were monster truck tires,
but they were probably only 35s.
And then he also had another truck
that sat in the fence row
that we would just periodically steal parts off of
when the first one broke, because you could do that.
And three wrenches and a vice grip
and you could pretty much tear the whole thing apart.
Additionally though, if you wanna build a truck,
there are few that are more versatile
than the square body Chevy.
Lift kits are available.
Drop kits are available, and even just wheels and tires
are all plentily and readily available
from a ton of manufacturers,
so that way you guys can really build it
how you want it to be.
If you need to restore your truck,
there's companies like LMC, for example,
who are making pretty much every body panel
that you could ever want for your square body available
to you to just bring in, weld in, bolt-on and paint over it.
And bam, you got a brand new truck.
Because of this massive aftermarket parts availability,
the diversity in the builds of these trucks
is solely incredible.
One of the best examples of this
is the Lonestar Throwdown Show,
which is actually in just a coupla weeks.
Taking place just north of Houston
in the city of Conroe, Texas.
Lonestar Throwdown has arguably the most diverse lineup
of trucks that I've ever seen at a show.
We're talking full on SEMA builds,
drop Dooleys from the guys at Phat Phabs who
just love to buy brand new Dooleys, drop 'em on their nuts,
and then make the internet mad.
And otherwise, square bodies galore.
Slammed square bodies, lifted square bodies,
camper square bodies.
They're everywhere.
Custom paint jobs, interior work
that rivals some of the new high-end luxury vehicles
of today, and deep lifts as far as the eye can see.
If you're into trucks of all calibers,
Lonestar Throwdown is the show to go to.
It's awesome.
But enough outta me, what do you guys thinks?
Is a square body Chevy worth it?
Let us know down in the comment section below
and be sure to subscribe if you haven't already.
With that, I'm Dustin. We'll see you guys on the next one.
Peace.
(upbeat bassy music)