The Bridges of Madison County
 

Decided to take it easy tonight and watch a little TV. Looking through the channels and saw the subject movie with Clint Eastwood, which I have never seen before. Started watching it and noticed Clint driving a GMC. Looks like a '60 model. Looks like it's period correct.

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Re: The Bridges of Madison County
 

Clint Eastwood drove what were labelled as 60's GMC's in a few movies: Every Which Way You can, Bridges of Madison County and a Perfect World. If you pay close enough attention to the dashboards on all these trucks you will see that none of them were GMC's. Actually Chevy's dressed up to look as GMC's so none were V6 powered. The one in Perfect world was a Red and white two tone with V6 badges on a Chevy hood and it had one of those Chevy passenger car styled steering wheels with an oblong horn button and ring that went half way around the steering wheel, definitely not GMC stuff. Actually this subject is nothing new, it has been brought up before.

Re: The Bridges of Madison County
 

Interesting. I wonder why they even bothered with mixing between the two brands then?

Re: The Bridges of Madison County
 

I would think it would be the same party that supplied trucks to all three movies, possibility that there was just a better availability of Chevrolet trucks. At least a real 62GMC V6 Suburban was used in the movie Man without a Face starring Mel Gibson, to top it off it was powered by a 478M V6!

Re: The Bridges of Madison County
 

Hey Clark, I have been fascinated with Eastwoods GMC trucks for years. Here is my theory behind the wacky BOMC trucks. I think they are Canadian GMC trucks. Here is a factory picture of Canadian GMC pickups from 1961. You can clearly see the double hump dash. I have always heard that Canadian GMC trucks from this era were re-badged Chevy trucks. Canada did not make V-6 trucks. If they ordered one, they got a GMC made in USA sent to the Canadian dealer. Otherwise, you had a Canadian made GMC, which is a Chevy truck, with GMC badging(hood, tailgate, horn button, cowl badges). The movie sound could be anything, but when he pulls away from the red light, my ear hears an Inline 6 cylinder sound. I know that sound well as I drove one for years. It is a smoother, more passive note than the V-6 or V-8 motor. Also, I notice the BOMC truck does not have backup lights. And I once saw a golf program on CBS that showed his GMC in front of an Inn that he owns in Carmel. They mentioned that he actually drives the truck and that it is the one from BOMC. For the movie folks to convert a Chevy, they would have had to change the horn button, tailgate, hood and grill. Not a major undertaking, but still time consuming. But all of this has already been done if you start with a 1961 Canadian GMC. To "Americanize" it, you simply pull the Canadian GMC cowl badge(which US GMC did not ever use, but US and Canada Chevy did)and fill two holes, and repaint. A much easier conversion and therefore a much more likely scenario. But it is just a theory. I would like to ask Eastwood about his GMC trucks. If I ever meet him, I will, haha. GM

Re: The Bridges of Madison County
 

I asked a Canadian friend who is a Canadian GMC guy, about the double hump dash. He sent me this 1960 brochure picture. One Hump. He is looking for his 1961 Canada GMC stuff, and I will post it when I get it. The 1962 Canada trucks also had only one hump. So it is probable that the 1961 trucks were also one hump dash equipped. The page I have already posted showing 1961 Canada GMC having two humps is the only reference for this that I have seen. I can not tell if it is photographs or drawings. I have seen drawings of US GMC trucks that show two creases in the rear fenders of Wide side trucks. I have only seen the standard one crease fenders in all my years of looking. Some of these drawings are photo realistic. GM

Re: The Bridges of Madison County
 

Hey bigblock, I am working on one of those steering wheels right now. Chevy offered the Custom package as an upgrade to the base truck. Part of that package was the nicer steering wheel with the chrome half ring horn button. It was borrowed from the base model Chevrolet cars from 1958-60. The fancier car wheel is the one with the V shaped center section with a series of holes, that are commonly known as Impala wheels. Later, Chevy trucks offered the 1965 Nova Steering wheel with the Custom package. I only wish they made a 15 inch version. They look great, but are pretty big at 17 inches. Later, GM

Re: The Bridges of Madison County
 

I guess I need to pay more attention... I didn't realize there were differences in the creases. Thanks for the info. And, the old documents are always fun to look at.

Re: The Bridges of Madison County
 

HDGMC, you're right about that steering wheel, now that brings back memories from when I was a kid. A friend of mines father had a 1960 Chevrolet full size station wagon, a real strip down version with the 235 six and 3 speed on the column which had that steering wheel.

Re: The Bridges of Madison County
 

Hey bigblock, The good news is that anyone needing one of these wheels for a truck project can source them from the car guys. They all want the fancier wheels anyway, so they will part with these "truck wheels" pretty quick. Even in a stripped wagon, these wheels look really nice to me. GM