40 Years Later, Wyoming Still Loves Legendary Square Body Trucks

Square body Chevrolet and GMC trucks might have been the market standard during their ‘70s and ‘80s heyday, and perhaps even regarded as boring a few years later, but now they’re cool again.

As in, the kind of cool that’s worth some big bucks.

Lander-area resident Ken Legstra recently sold a 1985 Chevy Silverado pickup to a potato farmer from Idaho for $27,000.

“It was an all-original truck” that reminded the farmer of the trucks he grew up with, Legstra told Cowboy State Daily.

“He jumped right in it and drove it back to Idaho,” he added.

Trucks of that vintage can easily fetch prices in the $40,000 range, depending upon their condition.

As of Friday, the bid was scraping $50,000 for a 1985 Chevy K10 4x4 short-bed pickup, packaged with a vintage Winchester rifle on the Collector’s Elite auctions website. And bids were open until Sunday.

It’s All About The Nostalgia

Chevy and GMC square bodies ran from 1973 to 1987 for pickups, and until 1991 for Blazer and Suburban SUVs.

The current fever for Chevy square bodies, as well as their square body Ford counterparts, is rooted in nostalgia, automotive writer Aaron Turpen of Cheyenne told Cowboy State Daily.

“Nostalgia is basically 30 years ago” on back, he said.

“Those will be the cars that the person drove, or wanted to have, when they were teenagers or in their early 20s,” Turpen said.

“When you go to collector’s shows and auctions, most of the people there are over the age of 40, because that’s the age at which they can start to afford that stuff,” he added.

That said, square bodies also seem to be popular with teens and young adults, perhaps because their parents have fallen back in love with the pickups and SUVs of their own younger years, he said.

And '90s vehicles aren’t that far behind in the coolness factor, Turpin added.

A few years ago, he picked up a 1993 Ford Ranger for a few hundred bucks, as a basic run-around vehicle.

“I’ve been offered $3,000 for it,” he said.

What About The Quality?

As long as square bodies were well taken care of, they can still make solid trucks, for those willing to spend the money, Turpen said.

Parts are readily available for them through collectors' websites. And they can be modified or souped up, without losing value, Turpen said.

“You don’t kill the resale value of the truck, if it’s not original,” he said.

That includes swapping out engines, Turpen said.

“A truck that originally had 180 horsepower on a good day can now be a 500-horsepower monster,” he said.

Square bodies can also be outfitted for serious off-road adventures by simply lifting them and outfitting them with larger tires, he added.

Other vehicles, such as old Toyota Tacoma pickups, had to have their bodies cut for a “baja configuration,” which could kill long-term value, Turpen said.

One thing about square bodies, particularly in Wyoming, is that many were originally bought as working ranch trucks and might have suffered body damage or rust in the line of duty, he said.

“If you go shopping for one, bring a little Harbor Freight magnet and run it over the body in several places,” he said.

“There’s a good chance there’s a shit-ton of Bondo on some of those trucks,” he added.

‘They Were Awesome Trucks’

Rick Bestul of Lander has a hankering for the Chevy and GMC trucks that are generation behind the square bodies; trucks made from 1967 to 1972.

Years ago, he found an absolute gem sitting in a “log cabin” style garage up near Togwotee Pass. It was a 1969 GMC 3/4 ton pickup, two-wheel drive, with a long bed, and 43,000 original miles on it.

He drove it for a few years and then sold it to Legstra. In turn, Legstra “went all the way" through the truck and made several improvements, including a new engine.

Then, two years later, he bought it back from Legstra for $25,000.

“I drove it to work this morning," said Bestul, who owns the Lander NAPA auto parts store, and co-owns the store in Dubois.

The older rigs “were awesome trucks” to begin with, he said.

And they can also be improved with after-market parts and ingenuity, he added.

“You can pull that old stuff out and put a modern drivetrain in an old pickup and make it more drivable and more user-friendly,” Bestul said.

He owns three other 1967 to 1972-era pickups; another two-wheel drive, and two 4x4s.

Square Bodies As Hotrods

Legstra said at one time, vintage American muscle cars were all the rage, and were reasonably affordable, even as daily drivers.

These days, a 1969 Chevelle, for instance, might go for $68,000. That’s too steep a price for many casual collectors, who are looking for something to zoom around in, he said.

So, many hot-rodders turned to square bodies, particularly the sporty short-bed pickups.

“Guys started buying those pickups, lower them and hot-rodding them,” he said.

“I would say, in the last six to eight years, square bodies have gotten really popular, and really expensive,” he added.

One of his favorite rigs is his 1990 Chevy Blazer.

“It was one of the last square bodies,” he said.

And for him, it’s not a show pony, but very much a working vehicle.

“I’ve had the Blazer for years. It’s my hunting and ‘going to the hills and roaming’ rig. It gets buffed out once a year,” he said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.