1972 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN IS TODAY'S BRING A TRAILER PICK
- The sixth-generation 1967–'72 Chevrolet Suburban was the first to truly cater to family SUV buyers, and it shares the cool, understated styling of the "Action Line" pickups it was based on.
- This Suburban's original ochre-over-white paint and black interior offer a striking vintage look, but it also has upgrades like a modern climate control system.
- Suburban sales soared in these years, but the "barn door" 1972 C20 is still a fairly rare truck, with only 2136 made. This auction ends July 23.
To today's eyes, the color choices for the 1972 Chevrolet Suburban and C/K pickups look like a bowl of Skittles. That year, the last one before the long-lived 1973–91 "square body" designs arrived, Chevy offered its trucks in a rainbow of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, golds, and blues, plus multi-tone schemes with white accents. Some hues have aged better than others, but the colors and the trucks' understated styling radiate vintage cool among today's muted palettes and endless shades of gray.
This ochre-over-white ‘72 Suburban C20, up for auction on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos), looks like it just rolled off the set of The Partridge Family, but many upgrades lurk beneath its surface. Those upgrades and its roomy three-door, three-row setup make it a cool classic that a whole family can enjoy. GM's designers would probably be proud, because this Suburban was specifically meant to be more family-friendly than its predecessors.
A true automotive Methuselah, the Suburban has been around since 1935, but Chevy didn't find the modern Suburban formula until 1967 and didn't perfect it until 1973. Pre-'67 versions were similar in that they were wagon-bodied trucks with seats and windows, but they were all two-door designs and usually bought as work vehicles. After the 1960s success of the four-door International Harvester Travelall and Jeep Wagoneer, GM decided to rethink and enlarge the Suburban.
Chevrolet had already planned to redesign its light trucks to make them more comfortable and civilized for '67, increasing their appeal to buyers who might otherwise have bought a car. When the "Action Line" C/K trucks arrived, they had carlike styling and creature comforts, softer-riding suspensions, more features, and even performance-oriented street truck variations. All these improvements were baked into the redesigned Suburban, but it changed even more than the pickups.
To battle the Travelall, Chevrolet stretched the Suburban's wheelbase from 115 to 127 inches (shared with the long-bed C/K pickup), giving it a much larger interior. During the design phase, GM considered adding four doors to the bigger 'Burban but ultimately gave it only three, settling on a curbside rear passenger door. This may have been done to save costs, as the Suburban was a niche item back then, with only 12,000 sold in 1966, and shared some stampings with the C/K Panel Truck.
The door made interior access much easier, and the plusher interior made it more hospitable, but it was still just as capable. As on the pickups, buyers could choose rear-drive C10 (half-ton) and C20 (three-quarter-ton) models or (much rarer) four-wheel drive K10/K20 versions. Cargo-area access was via dual "barn doors" or a single tailgate, and Chevy offered eight different engines at various times: two inline sixes and V-8s from 283 to 402 cubic inches.
The new format was slow to catch on, and sales fell in '67, but soon rebounded. 1971 brought a refresh and standard front disc brakes for greatly improved stopping power. In 1972, Chevy sold 27,302 Suburbans, a new record. With the "Square body" '73, Chevy added that crucial fourth door, and sales boomed, leaving the three-door generation as a curious and cool relic.
With classic looks but a relatively modern feel and rock-tough mechanicals, the late Action Line pickups and Suburbans have been popular with collectors for ages. A huge aftermarket has grown up around them, and this truck is evidence. It isn't wildly resto-modded, but it packs some nice extras such as a modern digital stereo and an aftermarket climate control system.
Under the hood lies its original 350-cubic-inch small-block V-8, rebuilt in the early 1990s, plus an HEI distributor (replacing the original points), a higher-capacity radiator with electric fans, and a mean-sounding aftermarket dual exhaust. It also has some rare original bits, including cruise control (a dealer-installed option in 1972) and the barn doors, which are rarer than the tailgate type. Plus, there's power steering, which makes low speeds in this big bruiser much more pleasant.
You'd never know these helpful changes were there unless you looked closely, nor should the non-original 15-inch wheels be a turnoff. This truck's vintage look oozes style, but it's easier to use and live with than a totally original one. Since the actual mileage is unknown, there's also no worry about devaluing it by using it for beach runs, vacations, or just cars & coffee. It'll get looks wherever you go.
The auction ends on July 23.
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