“Finding A Cheap Manual 4×4 Pickup Truck Has Become Depressingly Difficult,” is an article I wrote [checks calendar]…last week. That very same day, while doing research for that article, I stumbled upon a cheap manual 4×4 pickup truck. Was it depressingly difficult to find? Yes. Did I have to drive to the middle of nowhere to buy it? Yes. But as soon as work ended I blasted to the middle of the desert in my Pontiac Aztek, and today I am the proud owner of one of the finest American trucks ever: A GMT400, specifically a 1989 Chevrolet K1500 with a stickshift.
If you look at my article from last week, you’ll see me reminiscing about the GMT400 pickup I was lent back in 2019, and you’ll read how much I loved that thing. It was a five-speed four-wheel drive box on wheels with a Chevy 350 engine, and it was just lovely.
I thought the days of finding a reasonably priced GMT400 pickup were behind me (hence my article). Everyone’s been writing it, including car value experts at Hagerty, whose article “Values for GM’s full-size trucks (1988–2002) are still rock-solid” from 2022 includes the following:
Now, surging interest and values in these trucks has us humming one of Mr. Seger’s biggest hits as we investigate what might behind this gradual rise to collectibility.
In the past three years, values of Chevy GMT400-series trucks have increased by 63 percent. No coincidence, calls to Hagerty agents for quotes on insurance for the trucks have increased 58 percent in the same period. For GMT400 GMC trucks, values are up 52 percent, with 53 percent growth in insurance quotes.
Then I found this:
It was a listing for a manual 1989 Chevy K1500. The intro photo wasn’t great, as it cut the truck off, but the next photos showed quite a decent looking machine:
While finding reasonably-priced K1500s in decent shape isn’t too hard, I’m a manual-only guy, and manual 4×4 trucks have gotten really, really hard to find. That’s why this photo caught my eye:
Gorgeous! That brown and gray just works great together.
The downside — and probably the reason the truck was even still available — is that the truck was in a place called Tehachapi, CA. I’d never heard of it myself, but it’s about 100 miles north of my office, or 45 miles southeast of Bakersfield.
Intrigued, and fully aware that this was a smokin’ hot deal that would disappear if I didn’t act soon, I asked Autopian social media contributor Griffin if he wanted to go on a bit of a road trip (probably at least five hours in total). He said he was down, so after we swapped his C6 Corvette’s serpentine belt in the work parking lot, we hopped into the Autopian Pontiac Aztek and headed north to the middle of nowhere. In the dark.
The trip started with some traffic, but was otherwise a smooth two-hour cruise northeast into the desert.
I have to admit that, as we got closer to our destination, I felt a bit bad. I hadn’t really vetted the seller. He’d seemed normal on Facebook Messenger, but I didn’t call him on the phone like I usually do. And now I was dragging Griffin out to a mystery-person’s property in the middle of the desert, and I wasn’t sure Griffin quite signed up for this.
The seller gave me his address and a screenshot of his exact location, telling me to expect to have no service out there. This made me even less comfortable.
And to be clear, I’ve done sketchy things like this many times in the past, but those times I didn’t have a poor, innocent social media contributor with me, and I also didn’t have a wife at home who expects me to, you know, return in one piece.
“That’s my new AR-15” the seller told me shortly after I arrived at his huge property, pointing into his garage that was also filled with motorcycle and car parts.
He was a young guy, about my age.
“Yeah, I got too many cars. I just got that Nissan Frontier. Gets better mileage for my commute, which doubled thanks to this new job,” he told me. “It’s a good truck,” he said about the white 1989 Chevy K1500 I was there to see. “I just don’t need it….runs good, drives good.”
After he walked me around, he fired the truck up. The throttle body-injected 350 cubic-inch small-block Chevy V8 — the engine that powered the American spirit for the better part of 50 years — sounded perfect, idling and revving smoothly.
The gentleman offered me the keys, and off we went for a test drive around his local neighborhood, which consisted of dirt/gravel roads and humongous, spread-out private properties stretching as far as the eye could see.
The engine felt smooth and responsive. It wasn’t fast, but it felt like it could tow a hangar. The five-speed had huge throws, but the shifts were buttery, and honestly, everything felt good. Even the interior — which features power windows and locks — seemed to be in nice shape aside from the headliner. It needs a cleaning, but otherwise the whole vehicle felt like a respectfully-used 129,000 mile pickup.
We returned back to the seller’s abode after about a 10-minute test drive.
By the way, at this point, Griffin was nowhere to be found because I’d suggested he drop me off at the seller’s property. “If someone’s getting their organs harvested tonight, it’s not you. Just drop me off, and I’ll let you know if everything’s OK by giving you a signal with my headlamp.”
We agreed that a strobe was bad news, a solid beam was good, and no beam was also bad.” Then we realized that our iPhones offered a satellite text feature, so we tried that, and it worked!
After the test drive, I told the seller it was a nice truck, and asked if he’d take $5,000 for it. “I mean, I bought it for $5,000 with a trailer, so I basically got a free trailer; that’s a deal!”
I actually snagged the old GMT400 for $4,900 since the seller told me he felt bad for not having smogged the car prior to sale. And thus, I became a Chevy GMT400 owner.
The drive back to Galpin was amazing; right away it became clear to me why GMT400 pickup has become so legendary in American automotive culture. It’s not just the squared-off styling (which I think is a little on the boring side), it’s not just the classic American V8 under the hood, and it’s not just the ruggedness — it’s the perfect blend of just enough refinement to go along with a bone-simple, incredibly-capable machine.
The GMT400 K1500 is shockingly good on the freeway, cruising at 75 mph quietly and comfortably; the vehicle feels decades newer than my 1985 Jeep J10, whose ride isn’t quite as smooth and whose cabin at any speed north of 50 mph sounds — relatively speaking — like the eye of a small tornado.
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I still have a lot of inspecting to do to understand everything that’s wrong with this truck, so you can expect a “Here’s Everything Wrong With” article soon. I have plans to clean up the cabin (detailing, replace headliner), but I have some concerns about the transmission input shaft bearing. I’ll get into that later (I could be wrong and maybe it’s totally fine). For now, I’m in love.
I know these trucks were much cheaper just a few years back, but even at nearly $5 grand, this is a lot of truck. Don’t take my word for it; listen to Bob Seger!
Dang, I just sold one with similar mileage but a long bed and 454 for 2500 – either the third pedal is commanding a ridiculous premium or I’m just not very good at selling cars.
They aren’t mutually exclusive propositions.
Ow.
No idea why people like these so much. I was working for a Chevy dealer when they came out and they were nothing but trouble. The square body trucks these replaced were much better.
So, is the J10 going to depart? As a fellow (former) car hoarder, you may need to go to the one in – one out rule of inventory control.
He has access to the #1 Ford dealer in the country’s lot now! Take that code enforcement.
Uh…. sure…. I guess. A worn white chevrolet pickup. With a stick.
I seem to remember an article a while back about DT getting rid of all but 2 vehicles
I don’t think I ever went THAT crazy. Two cars?!
Okay I may be delusional, as I went to Socal from northern Alberta and apparently got the plague
Considering that Like a Rock is the story of a broken-down old man talking about how great he used to be, I’ve always wondered if Bob Seger laughed his butt off every time he cashed a check from GM.
That song choice was probably made by the same ad exec that picked Been a Long Time Since I Rock and Rolled for Cadillac.
Having said that, nice truck!
Copycat. 🙂
COTY!
Great find, well done. The only thing that stands out is the fact that they still weren’t putting headrests on truck seats in 1989. Please avoid getting rear-ended when driving this beauty.
Seems like the deal of the century for 2025. NP all day long, and I am moderately jealous. Pretty much the exact spec I would want in a truck. The only thing that would make it better is if it was Forest Service green.
Tehachapi has one of the coolest stretches of railroad in the country, the Tehachapi loop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehachapi_Loop
Assuming it passes inspection and smog testing, that’s a nice purchase. Kick that old Jeep truck to the curb with confidence now.
Remember that in CA, the seller is responsible for smogging. If it fails, legally it should fall onto the seller to fix it.
While true, it’s never enforced. I’ve heard stories of people going into the DMV to complain that a car they bought without a valid smog check wouldn’t pass smog, and the response was basically “Sucks to be you, dude.”
Might be time to call Judge Judy soon? /s
David thumbing his nose at Mercedes right after she writes an article about wanting to buy a truck 🙂
That’s what I was thinking! scrolling down to look for her comment.
That is a great truck and a very good deal. I don’t really understand all the fear, though. I mean, normal people live in the middle of nowhere, too, and people in the middle of nowhere are no more likely to be some kind of danger to you than people in LA.
I haven’t been to Tehachapi, but I did fly with a friend in his plane to lunch in Kernville, once. Great view.
It’s the darkness, the lack of any comms, and the fact that I hadn’t really vetted the person much. Truth is, I wasn’t worried at all, but I didn’t want Griffin to be concerned, so I took precautions just so he’d be comfortable.
(usually I meet people in public places).
Aw, too bad you visited Tehachapi at night. It’s a really cool area, with thousands of wind turbines up on all the hills. I think it was one of the first places in the USA to have them. Also watching the trains go through the mountains is fun. It was the best part of the trip going between AZ and CA to visit family, especially after crossing the Mojave desert for 3 hours.
OK, this is a DT purchase I can get behind. Hopefully it’s a CA/western truck from day one and doesn’t suffer from rusty brake lines and other stuff.
I recently sold my ’98 C1500 for $5k because it’s been replaced with a ’95 F-150. I still miss the Chevy.
Meanwhile one of the new “cheap truck” listings in my area is a 2008 2WD Tacoma with 210k miles and holes in the frame for $5200. At least they disclosed the holes in the frame I guess.
The holes are there to “add lightness”.
I’m very happy to see that you are still allowed to buy random cars on a whim.
Your headlamp doubling as a bat signal is my new favorite DT fact.
Plain white truck. Once it all checks out mechanically, you should road trip it up to the midwest (or eastern Canada) this winter to apply some ‘patina’. Or, just toss some traffic cones in the back, wear a reflective vest, and you’ll be able to street park anywhere you want.
Congrats DT! I also recently acquired a white manual 4×4 pickup from the 90s, in my case a sweet little Ram 50.
woah! how do you like it? Those are all gone in the midwest, I only see them when I’m in the southwest
I’m in the southeast and they come up now and then. I’m really enjoying it, I’ve used it to haul a bunch of stuff and done some beach driving in the Outer Banks.
I added some graphics and it’s a nice addition to the local RAD-era car community.
The truck can be seen on Instagram at @sunset_truck_90.
Awesome truck! Will
Still be sad if you sell the J10, though (even though you objectively should…)
Fantastic! I owned (and loved) a 1991 with 260,000 miles on it, and the only thing about your new truck that I don’t like is that it lacks the blood red interior my truck had (mostly for nostalgia’s sake, not because the brown is bad). Of the nearly 50 vehicles I’ve owned, that 1991 is one of the few I regret ever getting rid of.
the blue interior also rocked. That’s what my family went with when they purchased a brand new C3500 back in 92. We kept that truck for 15 years
The blue did rock! I had a Suburban with the blue and it was awesome. I was extremely disappointed with my dad when he bought a new ’97 K2500 with the dull grey interior, and even more disappointed when I bought a used ’97 Tahoe with the grey – the colorful interiors were just so much better!
Great find and a steal! For that money in the northeast, you’d get more miles and the rocker panel & cab corner delete. I hope you keep this one! This could be very useful for you.
Just curious, when you go buy these randos on the spur of the moment, do you guys have a dealer plate you slap on, or do you just mob it home plateless with your fingers crossed?
If he gets pulled over he just says “it’s OK, I’m from the internet” and flashes his Autopian ID.
Hahaha!
I do not live in California, but in the sate I do live in it is legal to transport a newly private party purchased vehicle home without a plate. It is expected to be insured, and you better have the “I just bought this paperwork” on you. You can’t leave a dealer lot without tax title registration and proof of insurance however.
That’s convenient. I think that’s reasonable. No such thing in RI, there’s tamp tags but you still need the title and everything to get it. Not helpful if you’re going out of state to look at a car that you hope to bring home in one trip.
Out of state cars need a VIN inspection by the PD before they can be actually registered, so the temp tag is basically just for that.
In Virgina one can get a “Prospective Purchaser’s Trip Permit” that gets you three days to move your unregistered car. Also used for getting projects to and from shops. I was pretty old before I learned that this is a thing, and it kept me from trying to do something weird that would have had me all worried about the laws I would otherwise have been breaking.
https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/vehicles/registration/temp-permit
That’s cool, I really like that. In RI you can get a temp plate which is good for 10 days IIRC, but you need to take the title and proof of registration to the DMV get that. It’s really only useful if you buy a car private party out of state. You need to get a VIN inspection certificate from the PD before you can register it and get the actual plates.
I bought a car private party in MA years ago, and ha to go this route. A few years later I bought a car at a dealer in NH, they gave me a temp NH tag so I could skip that trip to the DMV.
When I lived in MA, you were SOL, no temp tags at all and you needed title and all that to register.
In California the plate stays with the car, so traveling home is a non-issue. Carry a bill of sale with you and you’re good until you find time to go to the DMV and transfer the plates into your own name.
I like that, makes the whole process easier. The downside of that is that if there are any past taxes or whatever associated with that plate, it’s now your problem?
It’s the one thing that’s cheaper in CA too as you aren’t buying new plates for a used car, unless you choose to do so of course. But that’s the reason why there are still plenty of old cars with blue and some of the original (not the repro new one) black plates around, they are not necessarily single owner cars or anything.
As generally in other places taxes and penalties or whatever follow the VIN not the plate (which is of course linked to the place for administrative and identification purposes). And conversely part of the CA title (pink slip although they are no longer pink) has a tear off to send in to the DMV to verify sale of the vehicle to the prior owner is not stuck with any future charges.
Can confirm the northeast thing. “Rocker panel delete”. That’s funny !
The plate stays with the vehicle, so it’s no different than borrowing a mate’s car.
Love that! People love to hate on Cali, but they DO have some good ideas, as well as amazing weather.
I sincerely appreciate an honest truck that doesn’t look like it wants to do violence.
That is a great deal! Nice find! I am super jealous!
this is the truck my grandpa would sit me on his lap and let me steer while driving out to the ranch, just had to wait until we got off the main road.
Hondo? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFjrWPLAx4c
lol, I’ve never heard this before.