No Reserve: Vortec-Powered 1967 Chevrolet C10 Suburban for sale on BaT Auctions - ending December 9 (Lot #92,861) | Bring a Trailer
Wow! That's a beauty! Never understood the three door configuration though. My folks considered buying one of these for a while when I was a kid, but the fact that there was no rear door on the driver's side was a deal breaker.
I really wish there was documentation or interviews with the guys who designed that truck to find out what the logic behind that 3 doors only was. I've heard a few takes on why and some seem more likely than the other, but it's still something I don't get. Having read interviews with engineers from other engine families and car lines I love finding out the "why" of these things.
On that same subject, I thought, if International Harvester could make about as many Travelalls in a year as Chevy makes Suburbans in a week, and make them with FOUR DOORS, why couldn't Chevy? ( IH also was making '3-door' Travelalls at one time, but went to 4-doors way back in 1961! ) Chevy / GMC finally got with the ballgame and did 4-doors starting with the new generation for 1973 - 12 YEARS after International made the change.
I agree, it's always fascinating to get the behind the scenes information to answer questions like that. I remember thinking "they put four doors on station wagons, sedans, even pickups. But the Suburban (which is meant to carry passengers) they only put three doors on it?" That don't make no sense.
From wheat I understand it was a financial decision, they could not afford the tooling for both 2 door and 4 door versions, so a compromise was made. Remember they had not made a 4 door Suburban yet, and it was before car seats were mandatory for small children. And big SUV's were not big sellers at the time, nor were they big profit generators. So in a way it makes sense, see how the 3 door sells, and when proven more popular make the 4 door version standard on the next redesign. And that is what they did for the 1973 and later models. International was the only real competition at the time, and putting the 2 doors on the passenger side makes some sense as it would encourage passengers to enter and exit from the Curb side, like the longer passenger door on the AMC Pacers was supposed to do.
That makes sense. At that time, the Suburban was primarily used as a commercial vehicle. Often used as an alternative to a van, or used as an ambulance, a curbside door was all that was necessary.
