Jolly’s GMC Saga

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Jolly’s GMC Saga


Some of the newer guys In the National 6066 GMC Truck Club probably have not

heard all our war stories about the GMC Trucks & Engines we have collected & why?

It’s Also the story of why this WebSite was put together by Myself in the first place.


Anyway we roll the clock back to about Summer 1999. I find this 1964 GMC one ton,
broken engine & Ohio grain bed, guys want $1800, which I say is too much. I get online
& look for GMC V6 engine info, none is found on any of the sites, no GMC sites to be
seen & the guys doing the Chevy Truck sites don’t have a clue about these engines. Most
think I’m up in the night, (which I am), so I start asking around on some forums for
info & help. I run into a few guys that are just about experts on these GMCs like Ed
Snyder, Peter Chronis, Attilio Soprano, & some guy in Idaho by the name of Conrad.
Things are looking up for finding info on the GMC V6.


Anyway I recall having a 1962 GMC Suburban with the 305 V6 when I was younger. It ran great
& even thou I tried, I could not kill it. I had worked on some trucks before that
had these engines, at one shop I worked in we pulled a GMC V6 out of a GMC 4000 to
put into a pickup with blown V6. The guy told us to make sure his Plaid valve covers
got put on the new engine. Yes I have see these engines around. A John Deere dealer I
worked for also sold Phillups 66 fuel & oil to the framers, Typical for a small town.
They told me the fuel delivery truck was a GMC that has a Twin-Six V12, cool but I never
get to see it. They said something about what a pain it was to work on & get in tune.


I get some info about the GMC V6, & I stumble onto eBay, do a search & find all kinds of
1960-66 GMC truck stuff. So I figure why not start a 1960-1966 GMC Trucks WebSite, &
while I’m at it I set up a e-mail list for these trucks on One1ist. Well time goes by
& many folks join the group, lots of them from Oregon & in the west. I put out the word
I’m looking for a one ton type GMC truck. Not too much time passes & one is found, in
Oregon, but it’s not in too good of shape, needs work to run. The guy wants $700. While
I’m working a deal, another one drives up near Kenny in Oregon, (he found the first one),
its newer truck, a 1965 model & it’s running.


This guy only wants $800 for it, so I tell Kenny to pick it up. While waiting to go to
Oregon to get the truck, Kenny finds a 351C from a 1963 GMC L-model for me, so we work
a deal for it. I plan a vacation to Oregon. I pick up the truck & extra engine while on vacation in Oregon.
I use a Tow Bar to bring my new found toy home from Oregon. We planned on
taking two days for the return trip so as not to be in too big a hurry to get home. Also it’s always
good to plan extra time for those “Just in Case” moments. We get the truck home without any trouble.


Then more time passes & I get an e-mail from a guy in Texas. He has four GMC Twin-six engines,
one almost complete, the others basically long blocks, he what’s $400 for all of them & won’t
sell just the complete one to me, so I buy them all. Now how to get them from Texas to Utah.
I look into shipping, just way too much trouble. So I start looking for a trailer, one if
found, used. I blow my big check from all the overtime working during the 2002 winter games
on it. Take a quick vacation to Texas & get the engines, when I get there, the guy tosses in
a complete 478 GMC V6 with the deal, & his friend has found 7 more Twin-Sixes, but I can’t
afford to buy anymore, so I get what I paid for & come home.


I think about powering my 1965 GMC with the 478, one of the guys in the club tells a story on the
site of all the work invaled to do so, so I offer it up on the site if someone was of offer me
$500 for it I would sell it. I get an e-mail one day, the offer in made, I send my address & a
cheque shows up, a week later & truck pulls in the yard & the 478 is gone. I’m back to using
the 351C for a bigger GMC Big Block V6 in my 1 Ton project.


I locate a Spicer 3-speed aux transmission in Michigan, once again through the National 6066 GMC
Truck Club. I have been on look out for one of these from as long as I was looking for a truck.
I make plans to drive out & pick it up, but things get in the way, & nothing gets done, more
plans are make, & more problems. I offer a $100 reward for getting the trans here, & it’s
headed this way in a week.


I have most of the major parts for my 1965 GMC 1 Ton Project. Then one day along comes another
e-mail, this time from a guy I know over on the ChevyTalk.org
forums. He has a friend that just bought the farm, & on this farm, is a old GMC he wants gone,
so he offers me the truck. I ask a few questions & get more info, It’s got a GMC 401 Magnum V6 &
New Process 540-GL 5-speed in it, & its a 1963 4000. So this tells me the drive train is newer
than the truck. The truck is in Oregon, so I get a friend close to it, David, to go & check it out.
It’s not in to bad of shape & David wants what’s left for helping me get the parts I want off
it. David also had to get it moved to his place so he could disassemble it. I’m getting the
GMC 401 Magnum V6, a New Process 540-GL 5-speed, the big truck grill plus the dash panels that
has a Tachometer. I have hauled these parts home from Oregon now, we took a Vacation in April
2004 to the Oregon coast.


So as you know, I check eBay for GMC Items. Well one day I see a 1966 GMC Pickup listed, it’s located
in Ogden Utah. So I e-mail the owner & offer to buy it if it does not sell on eBay. Well I ended up
with this truck also. It’s a 1966 GMC 1500, GMC 351E V6, New Process 435-GA 4-speed. Power Steering,
Power Brakes. It has the Custom Package with both of the Chrome trim packages. I bought it for $500.
The truck had a bad clutch & the owner was moving in a week, so he needed it gone. I replaced the
Clutch & Chevy hood with GMC Version, then sold it for $2000 to a fellow back East.


I Got an e-mail from a guy that lives in the south end of the Salt Lake Valley, he said
he had this 305E V6 sitting in his way & if I wanted it just to come get it. I drive down
& pick it up. he said it ran when it got pulled out, he put a 350 SB Chevy in it’s place.


So anyway I have at this time, Two Trucks, a 1965 GMC 2500 with 305E V6 & a 1960
Chevrolet Viking L60 LCF with a 400 Chevy SB. I have a GMC 305E, 351C & 401M V6
Engines. I have two GMC 702 Twin-Six V12s, the near complete Twin-Six is sitting
on a trailer, I’m building it as a display engine, hopefully a running display,
time will tell. Anyway if any of you new guys would like to see any of my trucks or
engines, just go to the Main Page of the Site & click on the corresponding links.

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