Ancient Web: 73-87.com Kept Squarebody Truck History in the Garage

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.

It takes a special kind of enthusiasm to preserve the difference between a 1973 truck and a 1974 truck. It takes another level entirely to preserve old advertisements, factory photographs, trim information, and homegrown upgrade parts alongside it.

Visit 73-87.com.

This hand-built enthusiast website is dedicated to the full-size Chevrolet and GMC pickups, Suburbans, and Blazers of the 1973–1987 era. Its information archive collects material that could easily have ended up scattered across magazines, garages, and forgotten dealership files.

Among its most interesting holdings are photographs the webmaster says General Motors supplied for the site, including 1970s assembly-line scenes, clay models, and paint studies. Elsewhere are contemporary road tests, original advertisements, brochures, postcards, and a collection of unusual dealer and factory special editions.

Research manual meets workbench

The site does not stop at nostalgia. It explains model-year differences, trim levels, engines, transmissions, emissions, and vehicle-identification details. Its pickup numbers section seeks contributions from owners who still have option codes that the site's listings lack.

That invitation captures something essential about specialist Web archives: knowledge accumulates because people bring their own scraps to a common shelf.

Then there is the workshop. The site's owner, identified in its contact address and testimonials as Jeff, describes fabricating steel brackets for mounting modern 6-by-9 speakers inside old truck cab corners. The bracket page specifies the steel gauge, mounting details, and compatibility limitations. He also discusses instrument-cluster assemblies and the trouble of designing around different aftermarket gauges.

The original home page is dense with small images, direct appeals for photographs, handwritten-style updates, and the occasional unabashed sales pitch. A preserved 2014 version of the homepage shows how the collection grew over time.

There are newer forums and polished restoration videos, but a carefully maintained enthusiast site has a different virtue. It keeps the old evidence, practical repairs, personal commentary, and obscure model details under one owner's care.

Explore the 73-87 historical information pages.

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.