The ‘Chevvy’ Suburban is an American family truck legend, and in particular the GMT400 generation was incredibly popular over in the states thanks to immense comfort and practicality. It could seat 8 occupants in full comfort and still had a huge boot even with all the seats in place.
It was a much more family-friendly model over the previous generation Suburban, with a much nicer interior, supremely comfortable seats and such was the popularity, at one point Chevrolet were selling more than half a million of these GMT400 trucks and SUVs a year.
This particular example has had quite possibly the easiest life of all the eight-generation Suburbans still in existence. It has had just three owners during its lifetime, and was first registered by an importer in Nice, France to a chap who spent 15 years cruising this particular truck around the streets of Monaco, covering around 74,000 miles before moving back to the UK in 2011, bringing the Suburban with him.
After a few years – and less than another 1,000 miles - he sold it to another UK resident, who owned it for about a year before it came under the custodianship of the present owner who has enjoyed the car for around 3,500 miles and is only selling as a pickup truck now suits his lifestyle more.
There’s not a great deal of paperwork included in the sale, only the original owner’s manual and an invoice for some maintenance work that the previous owner had commissioned in June 2021. This included:
Outstanding is the best way to describe the interior condition, and is indicative of the extremely low mileage – it’s truly impressive for a car from 1994. Only very minor signs of wear and tear – such as very slight fading to the interior plastics - can be found anywhere on the inside.
All of the eight seats look virtually brand-new, with little or no signs of any wear whatsoever, and they are extremely comfortable. It appears that no one had ever even so much as sat in the back seats until last year, with interior carpets, trim and door cards all in excellent condition.
The dashboard is unmarked with no noticeable scratches or cracks, and that includes the pristine condition switchgear. Everything works as it should, although while the air con blows fairly cold it would benefit from re-gassing.
The bodywork is exceptional, and not just for a car from 1994. The doors, door shuts, sills, wings, inner wings and underbody are in fantastically solid condition, with no indications of rust. Underneath the car is as clean as you will find one of these, with barely any corrosion at all and the chassis in incredibly good condition, a sure sign that it has enjoyed a long life in sunnier climes.
In terms of paintwork, while there’s absolutely no major damage, it does show signs of its past life in a busy city, with various blemishes on some of the panels, most notably:
Scratches on the tailgate
A couple of small dents on the doors and sills
Light scratches along both sides
Light scratches on the bonnet
All of which are shown in the photographs.
Optional extras included the luggage rack and roof bars, plus the towing pack.
The 5.7L petrol small-block V8 starts first time on the button and settles into a lovely, smooth tickover. On the road it feels powerful and strong, and sounds great, too.
Mechanically there are no known faults with this car. The power steering functions as it should and there are no knocks or bangs from the suspension. The handling feels really tight and solid.
The gearbox is very good and it shifts into high and low range with no issues, and the switchable 4WD system means you can run in RWD or 4WD mode depending on the scenario.
Upcoming maintenance would include a service in the summertime and while the MOT runs to February 2023 (it passed with no advisories), it does have some patch welds on what appears to be the original exhaust.wS5LMgoldDPwaGXNvlEBIu9o70Eni5ee0zUfNpYb.jpeg1.83 MB
The Appeal
This truck has been exceptionally well cared for its entire life, as the mechanicals, underbody, low mileage and fantastic interior condition attest.
It presents an incredible and rare opportunity to purchase one of the very nicest GMT400 platform Suburbans remaining, and you’ll do very well to find a nicer one anywhere in Europe.
Notice to bidders
Although every care is taken to ensure this listing is as factual and transparent as possible, all details within the listing are subject to the information provided to us by the seller. Car & Classic does not take responsibility for any information missing from the listing. Please ensure you are satisfied with the vehicle description and all information provided before placing a bid.
As is normal for most auctions, this vehicle is sold as seen, and therefore the Sale of Goods Act 1979 does not apply. All bids are legally binding once placed. Any winning bidder who withdraws from a sale, is subject to our bidders fee charge. Please see our FAQs and T&C's for further information. Viewings of vehicles are encouraged, but entirely at the seller's discretion.
