CarBrandLogos archive · GMC · 1970

GMCJimmy

The Blazer with a different badge, from full-size roots to the compact SUV boom.

Photo: MercurySable99 · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in GMC history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the GMC Jimmy, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

GMC's version of Chevrolet's Blazer carried the Jimmy name from 1970, a nickname derived from GMC itself. The first cars were full-size K5 Jimmys, short-wheelbase two-door trucks with removable roofs, built for work and recreation in roughly equal measure.

1994Chevrolet Blazer-rear · Rich Niewiroski Jr. · CC BY 2.5

Design and engineering

The name mattered more in its second life. From 1983 the compact S-15 Jimmy, twinned with the Chevrolet S-10 Blazer, arrived just as American buyers began moving out of estate cars, and it sold through two decades in two- and four-door forms with rear- or four-wheel drive and a choice of four-speed automatic or five-speed manual gearboxes.

1st-GMC-S15-Jimmy-2door · IFCAR · Public domain

In production

It was replaced piecemeal rather than directly: the GMC Envoy took over its position in the range, the mid-size role passed to the Chevrolet TrailBlazer, and the compact crossover market that eventually absorbed these buyers went to cars like the Equinox. North American production ran to 2005.

95-97 GMC Jimmy · IFCAR · Public domain

At a glance