page_title: GMC Astro
section_title: Design overview
hierarchical_section_title: GMC Astro / Design overview
caption_attribution_description: English: 1985 GMC Astro 95 tractor in Chile
context_page_description: The Chevrolet Titan and GMC Astro are heavy-duty cabover trucks that were manufactured by the GMC Truck and Coach Division of General Motors. The largest cabover trucks ever produced by GM, the Titan were introduced for 1969, replacing the 1960-1968 GMC "Crackerbox" COEs. The Astro and Titan would become the final trucks of the type assembled and marketed by General Motors, following the 1981 exit of Chevrolet from heavy truck sales and the 1986 creation of the Volvo GM joint venture.
  The Chevrolet Titan and GMC Astro were assembled at Pontiac Truck & Coach/Truck & Bus in Pontiac, Michigan, with the final GMC Astro produced in 1987.
context_section_description: The GMC Astro/Chevrolet Titan are Class 8 cabover-engine (COE) trucks, sold in both single and tandem rear axle configurations.  In contrast to the Crackerbox, the cab of the Astro was lengthened nearly six inches into a 54-inch BBC length with two sleeper cab configurations available.  In what would be a distinguishing feature of the vehicle, the Astro/Titan was produced with a wraparound dashboard; the speedometer and tachometer were placed directly in the line of sight of the driver while most secondary gauges were placed off to the side, based on their level of use.
  In stark contrast to the boxy Crackerbox, the exterior of the Astro/Titan featured rounded body corners and wraparound windshield glass.  In 1975, GMC introduced a Dragfoiler roof spoiler as an option.  In an option that became standard a year later, in 1979, GMC and Chevrolet offered the SS (Special Series) package.  Featuring a (much) larger radiator grille, improvements to exterior and interior trim, the SS package was meant to market the Astro/Titan towards owner-operators.  In 1983, the Aero Astro option package was released, largely as an effort to improve fuel economy.  Along with the Dragfoiler roof spoiler, the option package included body extension panels between the cab and trailer, an air dam below an extended bumper and an optimized radiator grille.
  In a major change from precedent, when introduced in 1969, the Astro/Titan were marketed exclusively with diesel engines.  The base engine was the Detroit Diesel 6-71N, with the Detroit Diesel 8V71 and Cummins N-Series diesels as options.  In 1972, the Detroit Diesel 12V71 became available as an option; though rarely ordered, the V12 engine would remain through 1978.  Although Detroit Diesel had developed a gas-turbine version of the GMC Astro in the early 1970s, fuel-economy concerns would keep it out of production.  In 1977, the Cummins KT450 and Caterpillar 3406 became options; the larger engines required the addition of a larger radiator.  In 1979, the 6-71 was replaced by the 6V92, making all available Detroit Diesel engines V-engines; the 6V71 was discontinued after 1980.
caption: 1985 GMC Astro in Chile, showing the smaller grille of 1969-1979 U.S. models.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "1920", "Image ImageLength": "1440", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A510", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2014:07:21 22:33:56", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "296", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1138", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10098", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/640", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:03:31 17:16:08", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:03:31 17:16:08", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "149/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "125/16", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1052", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "64000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "64000/7", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}