Chevrolet has been building trucks since 1918, and with the current Chevrolet Silverado, the experience shows. After all, people don't buy a Silverado in order to be surprised.
Every Chevrolet Silverado, like every Chevrolet pickup before it, is built around a solid ladder frame with a separate cab and bed bolted atop it. Chevrolet trucks came into their own with the introduction in 1929 of the company's legendary overhead-valve "Stovebolt" six-cylinder engine. So rugged and reliable was the Stovebolt that it stayed in production, in significantly evolved form, up through the 1984 model year. But while it was the Stovebolt that made the Chevrolet Silverado's ancestors tough, it was the small-block V8 introduced for 1955 that made them great.
The Chevy Silverado's ancestor pickups were always reliable tools, but they became stylish commercial companions with the 1955 models. Besides the debut of the small-block V8, the 1955 Chevy pickup trucks featured all-new cabs that were more comfortable than before, and new chassis that delivered a more controlled ride. And included in the 1955 range was the elegant Cameo pickup with a full-fender bed and features designed to attract not just tradesmen, but suburbanites who would use the truck for light chores and personal transportation. The Cameo didn't sell in big numbers, but it was the truck that first forecast what the Silverado would become.
Though many forerunners of the Chevy Silverado were aimed at personal use, Chevrolet was slow to adopt some obvious innovations. For instance, while competitors introduced extended-cab pickups during the '70s, the first full-size extended-cab Chevrolet pickup didn't appear until the debut of the C/K generation trucks for 1988. However that doesn't mean the pre-Chevrolet Silverado pickups weren't style leaders.
Before Silverado became the name for all Chevrolet full-size pickup trucks, it was a trim level used on higher-line pickups from the 1960s and into the '90s. The first truck to officially be called the Silverado was the GMT800 platform pickup for 1999. And since then the range of cab, bed and drivetrain choices for the Chevrolet Silverado have only expanded.
There is now a Chevy Silverado for everyone.
