GMC Jimmy & GMC M35 military truck & Mercedes Benz L serie/Kurzhauber truck!

 

That ol’ GMC army truck’s prolly one’a the two biggest dang highway haulers Ah ever jawed about on this here blog, right up there with that Mitsubishi Fuso Canter critter and all them cousin rigs. Truth be told, the GMC’s likely the roughest sumbitch ta drive outta the bunch, seein’ as it’s runnin’ on machinery older’n a church biscuit, stuff reachin’ clear back ta World War II.

Now the GMC Jimmy, that there was the first’un, built right up till the war kicked into high gear. An’ lemme tell ya somethin’ straight: y’all sure as shootin’ ought not turn one’a them into no street cruiser. That rig’s pure history, partner deserves ta be kept just the way the Good Lord intended. But she’s worth bringin’ up anyhow, bein’ the granddaddy and first edition of the line. Just like the M35, them trucks showed up in a whole mess’a American movies and even hauled tail through real combat back in World War II.

(GMC M35)

Ah used ta reckon the GMC M35 quit rollin’ off the line sometime back in the ’60s, but shoot — turns out them boys kept crankin’ ’em out clean up till 1999. That makes her the longest-buildin’ American rig ever made without hardly changin’ a damn thing on it.

Now chew on this fer a spell — them Americans been tangled up in war dang near every year since the whole country got birthed, save fer maybe three lil’ breaks. They print money like it’s growin’ wild in a pasture, sittin’ on a national debt taller’n a water tower, an’ still they’re out there buildin’ them bare-bones, no-frills military trucks like the apocalypse is comin’ Tuesday mornin’.

Even clear up in 1999 ’bout the same time they quit buildin’ the last real no-nonsense civilian rigs like the Jeep Cherokee, Chevrolet Suburban, Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Yukon, and them ol’ GMC Sierra pickups it’s kinda frustratin’ ta admit it’s hard nowadays ta call an American ride truly old-fashioned in that hopeless, lovable sorta way.

Most’a their cars these past twenty years ain’t never really looked nor felt old-school no more. ’Cept fer one stubborn thing they still cling to like a hound dog on a pork bone: them giant-ass V8s an’ V12s rumblin’ under the hood.

Man, y’all can trick out a GMC M35 just like them wild rigs in the pictures, slap a pair’a skyscraper exhaust stacks right up behind the cab, maybe even keep ’em mostly fer show while hidin’ some absolutely unholy electric torque underneath. Heck, Ah’m talkin’ one’a them mean ol’ Tesla motors pulled straight outta them monster-sized semi trucks Elon kept promisin’ all through the late 2020s while everybody sat around waitin’ fer the dang things ta finally show up.

An’ truth be told, the ol’ M35 done appeared in a whole mess’a movies over the years. But maybe even more important these last couple decades, that truck turned into a straight-up icon fer younger folks through all them badass war games an’ over-the-top action flicks.

An’ speakin’ of action movies, shoot, y’ain’t even allowed ta skip mentionin’ the undisputed king daddy of video games these past twenty years: Grand Theft Auto, or just plain ol’ GTA, partner. Them big ol’ military trucks rumblin’ through chaos, tearin’ up city streets, dodgin’ helicopters an’ causin’ absolute mayhem? That’s practically part’a the American mythos by now.

The Mercedes-Benz Short Bonnet truck, now there’s a real interestin’ beast. See, Mercedes-Benz always had themselves a mighty strong reputation over in the States, and way back in the 1930s they was buildin’ automobiles that looked dang near like them giant American luxury land-yachts folks used ta worship.

We’re talkin’ the same sorta era as the Studebaker Champion, the Studebaker President, and the legendary Cadillac V16 all them long, dramatic machines with enough chrome ta blind a ranch hand at sunset. Ah jaw ’bout ’em plenty over on my ol’ classic car blog, ’cause back then even the Europeans seemed ta understand Americans wanted their cars ta look like movin’ skyscrapers fer millionaires.

Now listen here — Mercedes-Benz got itself tangled up with the American Chrysler bunch from ’98 up till somewhere around 2010. But here’s where the story starts gettin’ real weird in that beautiful global-industrial kinda way.

There’s this outfit over in Iran called Iran Khodro Diesel — folks shorten it ta I.K.D. — an’ them boys been buildin’ the Mercedes-Benz Short Bonnet truck under license from Mercedes ever since 1979. An’ shoot, they’re still buildin’ the dang thing today like time just flat-out stopped.

Meanwhile Daimler-Benz themselves built ’em from 1959 clean through 1995 — just four lil’ years shy’a when the ol’ GMC M35 finally rode off into the sunset.

An’ hold onto yer cowboy hat fer this one: the Mercedes Short Bonnet even got built by Freightliner Trucks down in South America from 1975 till 1991. So this weird ol’ military truck somehow ended up belongin’ ta Germany, America, Iran, an’ Latin America all at once — like some diesel-powered Cold War mutt that refused ta die.

Worth pointin’ out too: Persia an’ the Middle East got themselves some ancient, heavy-hittin’ empires stretchin’ way back through history. Nowadays the region’s packed with oil kingdoms, wealthy sheikhs, geopolitical messes, an’ enough money flowin’ around ta float an aircraft carrier — with plenty’a that history tangled up alongside American influence whether folks like admittin’ it or not.

Y’can trick out a Mercedes-Benz Short Bonnet truck just the same way folks do them ol’ GMC M35 rigs, giant exhaust stacks, lifted suspension, armored bumpers, crazy lights, full Mad Max energy, the whole dang deal. Though honestly, nowadays it’d probably make more sense ta stuff one full’a brutal electric torque — maybe some oversized Tesla drivetrain setup specially with how hard the climate conversation’s crashin’ into car culture.

Gonna be mighty interestin’ ta see whether governments eventually end up bannin’ dang near every kind’a combustion engine altogether. Sky-high diesel an’ gasoline prices thanks ta the Russian invasion of Ukraine, along with all them climate summits like 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference over in Glasgow, are already shapin’ what tomorrow’s hot-rod culture’s even gonna look like.

’Cause let’s be honest the future “rånebil” might not rumble no more. It might howl like a dang spaceship instead.

Down below y’all got a small handful’a pictures showin’ these trucks too in fully modified, pimped-out form — plus fire truck versions, an’ appearances in video games an’ TV stuff where they keep on livin’ as these giant, chaotic mechanical monsters folks just can’t quit lovin’.

(Here’s a lil’ sign fer y’all showin’ that even an old GMC M35 army truck can be turned into a proper street-ridin’ machine — complete with wheels that actually steer where ya point ’em instead’a fightin’ ya like a drunk mule.)