GMC Car Owner's Service Repair Manuals. 1901 "Rapid Motor Vehicle Company" (RMVC) established, which developed the earliest commercial. RMVC purchased by General Motors to form basis for the General Motors Truck Company, 1911 GM purchased Reliance Motor Car Company and merged it with RMVC. The Marque name "GMC Truck" (GMC) was first shown at the New York International Auto Show: GMC produced 372 trucks that year. 1925 GM purchases Yellow Coach, and begins manufacturing transit and inter-urban buses under the GMC nameplate until the 1980’s.
THE FIRST CENTURY OF GMC TRUCK HISTORY
The original version of this history, entitled GMC Trucks - The First 80 Years, was compiled by this author in 1995. On May 23rd, 1996, I presented a slide show based on that report to the American Truck Historical Society at their national convention at Ottawa Lake, Michigan (near Toledo, Ohio). The original report only covered from 1900 through 1979. Slightly modified versions were presented to the Southeast Michigan and Oregon Trail Chapters of ATHS in 1999 and Motor City Chapter in 2005.
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Although the original presentation was not officially sanctioned by Pontiac-GMC Sales, they allowed access to their historical document and photograph files. Also, GM Media Archives loaned slides made from negatives the writer pulled from their files. Due to copyright restrictions, no copies were made of the GM Archives slides. Also, much credit is due to Roger Sackett who loaned a large number of slides he had previously presented to the SAE Truck Committee. For the update, many additional slides were provided by Pontiac-GMC Dtv. and Jim Cote’ who retired from GM Truck Engineering. Copies of illustrations representing most GMC models are also available on request.
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This report was revised in October 2000 to include information copied or condensed from GMC Truck History, 1900- 1950 by Russell A. Crist. Only five copies of that report were distributed within GMC Truck & Coach Division in 1956. Mr. Crist was a member of the GMC T&C management team and was their official historian. In 1999, 1 received a copy of volume I, the main document of that report. Recently the other four volumes, including mainly photographs, became available at the GM Heritage Center. I recently transcribed Crist’s Volume I text and can now provide hard copies and/or on a CD. I have an original copy of the book written by William Warwick about his cross-country trip in a GMC truck in 1916-1917. Aiso, I made a copy of a booklet about Cannonball Baker's 1927 record breaking transcontinental trip in, also in a GMC truck. I can provide copies of transcriptions of either of those books with some of the photos, on request.
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In 2002, this history program was expanded to include the period from 1980 through 2002 with a peek at 2003. It was then retitled: The First Century of GMC Truck History. The author presented the updated program to ATHS at their national convention in Kansas City on June 30th and July 1st, 2002 with the sanction and support of the Pontiac-GMC Division of General Motors.
In 1983, after the Chevrolet Light Truck Engineering group was consolidated with GMC Truck Engineering to form the GM Truck Engineering Department, I was appointed Assistant Staff Engineer for light truck power train components, including manual transmissions, clutches, transfer cases, prop shafts and drive axles. At the time I retired from GM Truck & Bus Engineering in 1987, 1 was Assistant Staff Engineer responsible for all power train components, engine cooling and HVAC systems for G and M vans.
From 1988 to 1999, 1 worked for the GM Military Vehicles Operation as a contract consultant specializing in military vehicle application, military equipment retrofit design, retrofit program coordination and quality assurance. GMC has been and is now one of the most successful of the pioneers in the manufacture and sales of commercial motor vehicles. The GMC brand is one of few of the original makes that have survived into the 21st century. The reputation of GMC truck quality, value, dependability and performance and the resulting user brand loyalty originated with the first roots of GMC products.
GMC has been and is now one of the most successful of the pioneers in the manufacture and sales of commercial motor vehicles. The GMC brand is one of few of the original makes that have survived into the 21st century. The reputation of GMC truck quality, value, dependability and performance and the resulting user brand loyalty originated with the first roots of GMC products.