GM sold Isuzu Faster pickups with Chevrolet LUV badging in North America from 1972 through 1982, replacing that Japanese truck with the all-Detroit S-10 starting in that final LUV year. An SUV-ized version of the S-10 ( the S-10 Blazer) followed for the 1983 model year, and a GMC-badged twin known as the S-15 Jimmy went along with it. Here's one of those first-generation mini-Jimmies, found in a self-service yard near Sacramento, California.
Just to confuse everyone, Chevrolet and GMC were already selling much larger, unrelated trucks called the Blazer and Jimmy at the time, but Ford had gotten away with selling two unrelated cars with LTD badges in the late 1970s, so why not take advantage of existing name recognition?
Technically speaking, the four-wheel-drive version of this truck was known as the T-15 Jimmy (but all GMC marketing materials appear to use the S-15 name for the whole family of trucks).
Meanwhile, the big Jimmy and little Jimmy got fender badges that differed somewhat from each other. I'm just sad that GMC dropped the classy Gentleman Jim and Beau James packages years before (though you could retrofit an S-15 Jimmy with reproduction Gentleman Jim decals if necessary).
Just 136,173 miles on this truck. The early S-10 gauge cluster is a masterpiece of cheap-yet-functional design.
Unfortunately, GM made a lot of cheap-but-easily-broken hood-release rigs in their 1980s vehicles, so I couldn't get photos of the 2.8-liter V6 under the hood. That engine was rated at 125 horsepower.
The base engine for 1986 was the 2.5-liter Iron Duke four-cylinder.
A rear-wheel-drive version was available, as was a five-speed manual transmission, but this truck has the most common 4WD/automatic configuration.
All-wheel-drive mania had not yet consumed America, so this 4WD system was the real thing.
This AM/FM/cassette radio cost $344 extra (about $935 in 2022 dollars), but was necessary for full appreciation of the fine music of the era.
The price for a 1986 S-15 Jimmy 4x4 with V6 engine and automatic transmission started at $11,928, or about $32,435 after inflation.
If you wanted air conditioning, that cost another 705 bucks (1,915 bucks today).
Production of the first-generation S-10 Blazer/S-15 Jimmy continued through 1994, despite being primitive and harsh-riding compared to the new crop of suburban-commute SUVs beginning to dominate American-market vehicle sales.
A four-door version with a stretched wheelbase didn't become available until the 1991 model year.
Colorado demands shift-on-the-fly four-wheel-drive and electronic fuel injection.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin Jimmy owners could haul the boat out of the lake before heading to the fish boil.
[Images by the author]
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