GMC’s full-size C/K pickup line began with the 1960 model year, when General Motors introduced a new light-truck family that used C to identify two-wheel-drive trucks and K for four-wheel-drive versions. It replaced the earlier GMC half-ton, three-quarter-ton, and one-ton pickup naming structure and became the brand’s core full-size truck offering for decades. The early trucks established the basic formula that would define GMC pickups through the 1960s: practical body styles, a wide range of duty ratings, and shared underpinnings with Chevrolet’s matching C/K models.
The nameplate evolved through several major redesigns without losing continuity. The 1967-1972 trucks brought a cleaner, more modern look and helped set the stage for the long-lived 1973-1987 generation, often remembered by enthusiasts as the “square-body” era. GMC’s version followed the same basic architecture while maintaining its own trim and branding identity. In 1988, GMC launched the next major redesign on the GMT400 platform, carrying the C/K badge into a more rounded, aerodynamic era.
For 1999, GMC moved its all-new full-size pickup line to the Sierra name, but the C/K designation still appeared on the outgoing classic body style in the transition period. That makes the C/K pickup one of GMC’s most historically important nameplates, spanning nearly four decades and covering the key eras that shaped the modern American full-size truck.