Car of the Week: 1985 Chevy K20 Silverado

"lorem ipsum" (nothing123456789) 09/06/2013 at 11:57 • Filed to: Jalopnik

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This is a new feature I’m starting as a way to motivate myself to write here at least once a week. Car of the Week focuses on, as one can probably guess, one car every week that’s caught my attention for some reason or another. This week, coming straight from the heartland of America, is a Chevy truck.

This generation of the Silverado is far from the best looking, best engineered, fastest, most accomplished, most reliable, most anything , of any of the other generations. It’s from the ‘80s, after all, a decade where little was good, and most things were viewed through a lens of crack cocaine. So, then, what is it about this truck that I like so much?

The initial attraction, as with anything, is from the way it looks. I know it’s not a pretty truck, but it’s also not overly butch. It stands somewhere modestly in between, so it doesn’t give off any vibes about the owner. It’s just a plain old truck. And that’s what I like: that with this plain old truck, you don’t look like you’re compensating for anything when you drive it, and because it’s so plain looking, you’re not afraid of getting it dented and scratched. You’ll drive it to get the best out of it, never worrying about breaking it. They’re cheap, they’re tough, and they’re easy to fix. It wasn’t really even designed, per se, the engineers just said: “we’re going to need a bed about this size, four wheel drive, this much ground clearance, a wheelbase this long, and this much overhang”, and built it without even consulting a man with a sketchpad. It wasn’t designed, it was merely built to a certain set of specifications. The utilitarian simplicity has its own sort of elegance to it.

I like these trucks because they’ve got character. They’re the kind of thing that you can develop an attachment to. They don’t make any pretensions to anything besides what they are: honest workhorses. You can tell all of this just from a glance at one of them.

lonestranger > lorem ipsum 09/06/2013 at 12:03

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FYI, the pic is of a C10.

BJ > lonestranger 09/06/2013 at 12:21

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I was going to say the exact same thing!

Now I can actually sit and read the article with a clear mind...

BJ > lorem ipsum 09/06/2013 at 12:28

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I agree - I love this generation and the simplicity that came with them. I grew up with a C10 and have fond memories of it. In fact, I wrote about it recently in a reply to one of your earlier posts, My Automotive Idiosyncrasies.

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BJ > BJ 09/06/2013 at 12:36

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Here's a handsome C10 shortbox in blue:

An immensely understated and unassuming K20 - a simple work truck if ever I saw one:

Finally, a K30 Crew Cab dually - all business, all the time. Sublime...

n1zm0 > lorem ipsum 09/06/2013 at 13:26

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Just seeing the title and not knowing much about American car/truck chassis codes, I thought it was about a K20 powered 80's Chevy pickup.

JEM > lorem ipsum 09/06/2013 at 14:23

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My uncle still has his 1985 C20 Silverado that he bought new.

One thing with these, why do some sit so much higher up than others? His does and I know it's a 4WD model, think it's a C20, definitely a Chevy not GMC.

M54B30 > lorem ipsum 09/07/2013 at 12:53

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My favorite style - and it's older than me! The Blazer looked badass as well, especially on mud tires, which seems to be the only way I ever see them.

Aliens Ate My Buick > lorem ipsum 01/10/2014 at 23:41

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Calvin approves.