Chevy Replaced the Squarebody in 1988. Then It Kept Building It Until 1991.

In the spring of 1987, Chevrolet put a brand new full size pickup on sale. New cab, new nose, new frame, sold as a 1988 model and wearing the C/K name. By every normal rule of the car business, that was the end of the truck enthusiasts call the Squarebody.

It wasn't. Walk into a Chevy dealer in 1990 and you could buy that new pickup, or you could buy a Blazer, a Suburban or a crew cab wearing a body that first went on sale for 1973. The truck Chevy replaced kept coming off the line for four more model years.

How long did the Squarebody really run?

It depends how you count, and truck people will argue it both ways. The pickup most of us picture ran from the 1973 model year through 1987. The Blazer, the GMC Jimmy, the Suburban and the crew cab and chassis cab trucks stayed on the same body through the 1991 model year. Hagerty calls that an 18 year run. Count every model year from 1973 to 1991 and you get 19.

Either way, the same basic truck was in production from Richard Nixon to the first President Bush. Five presidents, one body.

What changed along the way

1973: It arrives

The new C/K trucks landed for the 1973 model year, and they sold. According to Hagerty, Chevrolet moved 666,619 C/K trucks that first year.

1975: New names on the fender

The Silverado and Scottsdale trim names arrive, and Silverado goes on to outlive the truck that introduced it by decades.

1981: The big facelift

Everything ahead of the windshield was reskinned: new grille, new headlights including an available stacked quad setup, new bumpers. The trucks got lighter. The cab behind the windshield did not change.

1984: It enlists

The U.S. military started buying diesel Squarebodies as the Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle, or CUCV. Roughly 70,000 were built for the 1984 through 1987 model years, with a 6.2 liter diesel V8 and a 24 volt electrical system. The M1008 was a pickup. The M1009 was a K5 Blazer.

1987: New letters

Throttle body fuel injection arrived across the gas V6 and V8 engines, and the trucks were renamed R (two wheel drive) and V (four wheel drive). That freed up the C/K letters for the all new pickup that was about to go on sale.

1988: The replacement

The new generation pickup went on sale in spring 1987 as a 1988 model. Regular cab and extended cab buyers moved to it. Everybody else kept buying the square body.

1991: The last ones

The 1991 model year was the last for the square body Blazer, Jimmy, Suburban and crew cab. For 1992, all of them moved to the new platform, and the run was finally over.

The proof is in the glass

Here is the part we can speak to firsthand, because we tooled it. The Fesler Squarebody flush mount windshield was built for 1973 to 1987 Chevy and GMC C/K pickups. That exact same windshield also fits the Suburban and the GMC Jimmy all the way through 1991, and the R/V pickups too.

Think about what that means. A windshield molded for a 1973 C10 drops into a 1991 Suburban. The opening it sits in is the one Chevrolet drew for 1973. Eighteen years of trucks, and the windshield opening never moved.

If you have one of the late trucks, go look at it next to an early one. The sheet metal ahead of the windshield changed. The glass, and the cab it sits in, did not.

Why everybody wants one now

For years these were work trucks, farm trucks and the family Suburban. That has changed. Hagerty tracked K5 Blazer values climbing 164 percent between 2009 and 2019, and it still calls the square body Suburban the affordable way into Squarebody ownership. Eighteen years of production means there are a lot of these trucks out there, and a lot of them are finally getting built the way they deserve.

Building one

Our Squarebody glass is DOT certified laminated in front and tempered in the rear, made in America, and bonds straight to the body with no rubber gasket and no chrome trim, so paint meets glass in one flat seam. It is sold three ways: windshield only at $1,299, rear glass only at $899, or the front and rear kit at $1,899, which is $299 less than buying both separately. Flush glass for the 1973 to 1991 Blazer is available too.

See everything we make for the Squarebody, from glass to interior, or contact us if you are not sure what fits your truck.

Sources: Hagerty 1973 to 1987 Chevrolet and GMC truck buyer's guide; Hagerty market reports on 1973 to 1991 Suburbans and second generation Blazers and Jimmys; Hagerty K5 Blazer valuation data; Fesler USA fitment data.