The worlds most interminable collection thread...?

[Rightnider]

What a beast! Nice!

[HMC]

Love these. I feel theres some sort of federal agent vibe with them even when not black. Lovely.

[Mrcento]

Absolutely epic! Well bought.

These must be about as close as is possible to 'peak truck/tank'.

Somewhere in my head, it's a 'brilliant' idea to buy the even bigger Ford Excursion, but think that would be quite sketchy RE weights, given the Diesel of them sits bang on the 3.5ton and the petrol alternative, whilst slightly lighter. is generally a V10 that peaks at about 12mpg 😂

This must be about as big as you can go with that era of SUV and still have some useable carry weight.

[High Jetter]

Big build up, sudden death. Top buy tho, well played

[hairnet]

too busy creaming himself

 

[Imhotep]

I was wondering myself until I saw the tailpipe pointed at the floor and then I twigged it. What a thing 😎

I realise that’s really not the point of these cars at all, but out of interest what does it do to the gallon?

[hairnet]

6 hours ago, Imhotep said:

 

 what does it do to the gallon?

yank

[mat777]

On 03/11/2025 at 18:21, Pieman said:

That is INCREDIBLE.  I want to buy that and live in it!

It's certainly big enough, you could probably host a family Christmas dinner in it😅

 

On 03/11/2025 at 19:08, Schaefft said:

Awesome, I still think this is my favorite generation of Suburban, they just look so good in my eyes, especially in black, with some decent factory wheels. Nice to see much of the addon stuff already getting removed as well!

Hopefully this will be as bomb proof for you as they are known for. For many this is peak GM truck.

I'm kinda torn between this and the GMT400 with it's classic square lines (and the Barn Doors!). The 400 was actually available mainstream as a Diesel, with the Detroit 6.5 - but they have a somewhat less than stellar reputation for power, refinement and maintenance.

Ta! This is not just any Duramax, it's an LBZ which is renowned as the high water mark where earlier problems were fixed, but later emissions and economy crap hadn't yet been added . 

 

On 03/11/2025 at 19:57, 320touring said:

Suitably epic and lame at the same time.

 

Cap duly doffed!

 

So what's the gen on these engines then? I'm ok with Cummins 6BT and early Powerstrokes, but don't know nuffin about these Duramax(?) lumps.

 

Apart from the name sounds like a condom brand...

Well, if you have a Power Stroke then you'd better be careful where you Cummins unless you're wearing a Duramax..... 🫣

In all seriousness though - it's GM's 6.6 V8 answer to both of the above, it has pretty legendary tunability but most of all it's a damn sight lighter than them too - a  Silverado Duramax 2500 is a good 200kg lighter than a Ram 2500 Cummins and about 400kg lighter than an F250 7.3! 

 

On 03/11/2025 at 21:47, Mrcento said:

Absolutely epic! Well bought.

These must be about as close as is possible to 'peak truck/tank'.

Somewhere in my head, it's a 'brilliant' idea to buy the even bigger Ford Excursion, but think that would be quite sketchy RE weights, given the Diesel of them sits bang on the 3.5ton and the petrol alternative, whilst slightly lighter. is generally a V10 that peaks at about 12mpg 😂

This must be about as big as you can go with that era of SUV and still have some useable carry weight.

As per my above comments on high water marks and weight

A petrol Suburban in 2500HD (replacing the SUV underpinnings and 6 bolt axles of the 1500 with the thicker chassis and 8-lug axles of the related trucks) and 4X4 flavour is about 2.7 tons, the Duramax and Allison drivetrain with the diesel specific diffs adds about 250kg on top of that. The vehicle MAM is 3.9 tons, so down plated to UK 3.5T limits still leaves me some usable load (actually about equivalent to my 2.3 ton empty/ 2.8 to MAM Discovery). 

As you say, the similar sized Ford Expedition in Power Stroke form is too heavy - 3.5 tons empty and a 4.5 ton MAM makes it absolutely useless over here! Those 7.3 engines are silly - I have one in my F250, luckily being a truck without rear roof and glass means it's a few hundred kg lighter.

 

8 hours ago, hairnet said:

too busy creaming himself

 

Unfortunately not, merely catching up with work. They take a dim view of that kind of thing in my office 🤣

 

7 hours ago, Imhotep said:

I was wondering myself until I saw the tailpipe pointed at the floor and then I twigged it. What a thing 😎

I realise that’s really not the point of these cars at all, but out of interest what does it do to the gallon?

I believe it does low to mid 20s when trickling along unladen. With the 160l fuel capacity it's good for about 800 miles on a tank.....

I'm actually expecting it to me more economical than the Discovery for my towing - because 360hp of grunt and a 6-speed auto with a super-sharp TC lockup isn't going to be at all fazed by the trailers that have my 120hp, 4 speed slushmatic panting like a dog up the slightest of inclines! 

 

Aaanyway, I decided to take it to work today for shits and giggles. This highlighted several things:

- The combination of width and LHD make it quite a menace on the narrow B-roads that make up part of my commute 

- The combination of LHD and centre cubby box option instead of front bench seat also doesn't help when the security gate card scanner is on the right 

- The length doesn't help when trying to swing into a normal parking space without making a 5 point turn 

My colleagues, however, thought it was hilarious...

Driving in the dusk for the first time also gave me a chance to show off my favourite feature of all American trucks (and something I wish was a thing on pickups over here!) - the amber roof lights

The rest of the American style front lights do need some attention pre MOT, though. Currently the front side lights are amber but the indicators flash a bit of white headlight. I think some judicious swapping of connections will be happening there! It also appears that the LED side repeaters built into the mirrors are dead, and that you can only buy complete mirror assemblies. A quick and dirty solution for the MOT will be some amber side markers cut and glued into the existing led lenses, until such a time as I can find the proper lights from a breaker.

Unfortunately the rain and darkness prevented any further playing tonight!

 

[reb]

Hero.

[mat777]

6 hours ago, reb said:

Hero.

"To an Autoshiter like you, a Hero is some type of weird sandwich, not some nut who takes on importing a full size Suburban...."

Oh. Wait....

Sorry, as you were

[stuboy]

you did well

[Cookiesouwest]

That is bloody glorious. Well bought.

[comfortablynumb]

On 04/11/2025 at 22:44, mat777 said:

The combination of LHD and centre cubby box option instead of front bench seat also doesn't help when the security gate card scanner is on the right 

Adopt 'hero' mode

Go in backwards!

Will confuse the hell out of security too! 😁

[barefoot]

3 hours ago, comfortablynumb said:

Adopt 'hero' mode

Go in backwards!

Will confuse the hell out of security too! 😁

I used to do that in my much, much smaller Trabbie at NatWest bank & MacDonalds. Actually won't confuse security after the first day, but will always fuck with everything following because they'll think you're a twat, have been round the wrong way and are trying to get out.

[Pieman]

In a weird coincidence I saw one of these parked up in Coventry last night - you can see it parked in the same place on Google Flaps.

[Zelandeth]

This really did seem to be an era where GM especially in that sort of area of the market, really had got their act together.  Their products might not have been exactly exciting, but they did the job well and they had some pretty bullet proof platforms.

This would have followed me home back in 2014 if I'd been able to get the funds together.

It had been picked up by our in-laws specifically for our visit so we could get everyone in one car for a couple of trips and for one other job shortly afterwards (moving a Victorian era printing press).  

Is it exciting?  Not really.  However it's a stupidly comfy and utterly low stress way to just waft around - and with a 4.6 litre V6 up front rather than the asthmatic 1.9 diesel or whatever you'd expect over here it could bloody shift if you put your foot down (and make a glorious noise while doing so - I think our exhaust was missing some baffles based on the gurgling noises it made on light throttle combined with that howl at the top end.

Ridiculously practical - you could have all three rows of seats in and still have room for the dogs in the back, or take one row out and you've got room to host a small dinner party.

It makes me laugh comparing that to a Transit Torneo which would have been the equivalent here...There really is no competition in terms of...well everything I care about!  Especially comfort.  Note I am specifically saying "comfort" rather than perceived luxury - which I think is somehow people miss the mark with on a lot of US motors - I'll take the soft long travel suspension, deep squishy seats and finger light controls that seem to be more the norm there over a bunch of fake wood, cardboard like leather and an obsession with track lap times any day of the week.  

It wasn't even ruinously bad on fuel, probably because the engine barely had to come off idle in normal driving.

I was gutted that we just couldn't make the numbers stack up (we had literally just bought a house aside from anything else!), as I'm pretty sure it would still be on fleet today if I had.

I've looked at a few over here but I think I've probably run onto similar issues to you in that the spec I really want just doesn't exist here.  Literally every Astro I've seen has either been the over-the-top leather everywhere day vans or actual panel vans - the "standard" domestic ones like the one I miss from our trip there is bloody hard to find.

Edit: I lie.  I did find ONE now I think about it, but it had been 3/4 dismantled to convert to a camper before they discovered a bunch of rust and abandoned it under a tree for ten years...and had lost half the bits that were removed...suffice to say I walked away from that!

Few vehicles I can think of could give my current Volvo a run for the money in both the practicality AND comfort stakes, but this would do it.  We must gurgled our way through the best part of 1500 miles over the couple of weeks we were there, and there haven't been many cars I've felt that sad to hand the keys back for. 

Especially given this one had clearly lived a fairly charmed life rather than being run into the ground as often tends to happen with van shaped things.  It drove absolutely spot on - even in a state with absolutely no periodic roadworthiness checks...which still scares me!

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

(moving a Victorian era printing press).  

What happened to that?

[Zelandeth]

34 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

What happened to that?

It is now in their basement.  Along with about 10 others and god only knows how many tens of thousands of plates and type.  That's their mad hobby.  

Sure I have a couple of photos somewhere.

[High Jetter]

21 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

It is now in their basement.  Along with about 10 others and god only knows how many tens of thousands of plates and type.  That's their mad hobby.  

Sure I have a couple of photos somewhere.

That was game world changing tech, for the time. Share the pics, if you find them

[LightBulbFun]

On 02/11/2025 at 21:36, Zelandeth said:

Admittedly I have just automatically assumed it's something old...which is a bit silly given that one of the things I was trying to import was a 1998 Chevrolet Astro...

I'd still like to get that as it would be an absolute perfect all rounder for me in my view.  Does everything the Volvo does but in even greater comfort.

let me know when you do finally find one to import, so I can fill it to the rafters with F90T17's

[Zelandeth]

9 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

let me know when you do finally find one to import, so I can fill it to the rafters with F90T17's

Realistically that's not likely to be an option I reckon.  For a start justifying chucking something between ten and twenty grand into something like this makes little sense.  Secondly given this isn't something I'm likely to just stumble across (especially as everyone I know over there is in areas where rust tends to be a major issue) so I'd likely have someone else sourcing the car for me.  So the ability to round up a bunch of stuff to cram it full of would be limited.

If I do end up in a situation where I could give it more realistic thought I would probably look to pick the brains of the OP though as it's a very similar situation we're in...THAT is the car we want, and it simply just doesn't exist over here in the spec we want.  

[Rocket88]

On 03/11/2025 at 19:34, Zelandeth said:

Worthy!

Last car I tried (and failed) to import was also diesel - albeit with a rather worse reputation for reliability!

GM diesel from the seventies?

[mat777]

On 06/11/2025 at 10:31, comfortablynumb said:

Adopt 'hero' mode

Go in backwards!

Will confuse the hell out of security too! 😁

On 06/11/2025 at 13:54, barefoot said:

I used to do that in my much, much smaller Trabbie at NatWest bank & MacDonalds. Actually won't confuse security after the first day, but will always fuck with everything following because they'll think you're a twat, have been round the wrong way and are trying to get out.

As amusing as it would be, I would get absolutely bollocked by security/ elf n safety at my place....

As it's a 24 hour manufacturing site with shift zombies always staggering around, no one is allowed to reverse anywhere on site, and cars have to be parked nose-out of parking spaces, all in aid of not running people over. 

 

On 06/11/2025 at 14:17, Pieman said:

In a weird coincidence I saw one of these parked up in Coventry last night - you can see it parked in the same place on Google Flaps.

That's a GMT400, the previous model - poor thing looks slightly neglected

They're meant to be a nice enough steer but I'm told my GMT800 is night and day better in terms of refinement and comfort 

 

On 06/11/2025 at 16:57, Zelandeth said:

This really did seem to be an era where GM especially in that sort of area of the market, really had got their act together.  Their products might not have been exactly exciting, but they did the job well and they had some pretty bullet proof platforms.

This would have followed me home back in 2014 if I'd been able to get the funds together.

It had been picked up by our in-laws specifically for our visit so we could get everyone in one car for a couple of trips and for one other job shortly afterwards (moving a Victorian era printing press).  

Is it exciting?  Not really.  However it's a stupidly comfy and utterly low stress way to just waft around - and with a 4.6 litre V6 up front rather than the asthmatic 1.9 diesel or whatever you'd expect over here it could bloody shift if you put your foot down (and make a glorious noise while doing so - I think our exhaust was missing some baffles based on the gurgling noises it made on light throttle combined with that howl at the top end.

Ridiculously practical - you could have all three rows of seats in and still have room for the dogs in the back, or take one row out and you've got room to host a small dinner party.

It makes me laugh comparing that to a Transit Torneo which would have been the equivalent here...There really is no competition in terms of...well everything I care about!  Especially comfort.  Note I am specifically saying "comfort" rather than perceived luxury - which I think is somehow people miss the mark with on a lot of US motors - I'll take the soft long travel suspension, deep squishy seats and finger light controls that seem to be more the norm there over a bunch of fake wood, cardboard like leather and an obsession with track lap times any day of the week.  

It wasn't even ruinously bad on fuel, probably because the engine barely had to come off idle in normal driving.

I was gutted that we just couldn't make the numbers stack up (we had literally just bought a house aside from anything else!), as I'm pretty sure it would still be on fleet today if I had.

I've looked at a few over here but I think I've probably run onto similar issues to you in that the spec I really want just doesn't exist here.  Literally every Astro I've seen has either been the over-the-top leather everywhere day vans or actual panel vans - the "standard" domestic ones like the one I miss from our trip there is bloody hard to find.

Edit: I lie.  I did find ONE now I think about it, but it had been 3/4 dismantled to convert to a camper before they discovered a bunch of rust and abandoned it under a tree for ten years...and had lost half the bits that were removed...suffice to say I walked away from that!

Few vehicles I can think of could give my current Volvo a run for the money in both the practicality AND comfort stakes, but this would do it.  We must gurgled our way through the best part of 1500 miles over the couple of weeks we were there, and there haven't been many cars I've felt that sad to hand the keys back for. 

Especially given this one had clearly lived a fairly charmed life rather than being run into the ground as often tends to happen with van shaped things.  It drove absolutely spot on - even in a state with absolutely no periodic roadworthiness checks...which still scares me!

15 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Realistically that's not likely to be an option I reckon.  For a start justifying chucking something between ten and twenty grand into something like this makes little sense.  Secondly given this isn't something I'm likely to just stumble across (especially as everyone I know over there is in areas where rust tends to be a major issue) so I'd likely have someone else sourcing the car for me.  So the ability to round up a bunch of stuff to cram it full of would be limited.

If I do end up in a situation where I could give it more realistic thought I would probably look to pick the brains of the OP though as it's a very similar situation we're in...THAT is the car we want, and it simply just doesn't exist over here in the spec we want.  

That van looks absolutely awesome, if they did a 4x4 version with a decent towing weight then it'd been even more ideal for me! As you say, and as with mine, it's a thing that sadly just doesn't exist over here - barring the odd JDM Elgrand and the like.  It's a crying shame you couldn't import it, for me it sits in the same basket of really having to want one as the "Dustbuster" Pontiacs of fame on here. Or, it could be said, my Chevy! 

My situation was seemingly simple but entailed a lot of work behind the scenes in my behalf. I'd seen the car for sale on a Facebook group for the owners and modifiers of them, obviously a yank-centric group. I messaged the seller, and asked if he would be amenable to me buying it to export, given the difficulties of dealing at a distance. To his eternal credit, he didn't dismiss this weird Limey as a dreamer/time waster. Despite a steadily growing queue of second-refusal buyers in America, he stuck with me as I engaged United Exports US of Houston, who I'd seen with good reviews on various UK American Car groups. After some introductory calls, UE took over liaising with the seller, and arranged a remote inspection from a company called Lemon Squad. This £300 lookover led to a 120 page report with an in-depth mechanical description, test drive and hundreds of photos. 

After that, I sent the asking price plus shipping costs to UE, who paid the seller, and had the car trucked to New York port to be containerised. When it was about 2 weeks out, I was then contacted by UK agent Kingstown Shipping to sort the paperwork (declarations, instructions, landing fees,.etc) ahead of the arrival in Southampton. Once unloaded I had a few day's grace before it then cost £12 a day storage until I could pick it up. 

Overall, I'd say the first key point was that I sought out the car and then set the agents going from there. Looking at adverts for cars that have already been picked up by agents is a hiding to nothing unless you want to pay over the odds for a commonly imported model. 

Secondly, this is not something to engage with if you have any hopes of profiteering from it. I've bought this car as a keeper, as you would be doing with the van. With the exchange rate and the economic downturn, unless you're dealing in 6/7 figure supercars and collector classics then it won't work as a business.

 

10 hours ago, Rocket88 said:

GM diesel from the seventies?

I did wonder that... A Cadillac Seville Diesel, perhaps the most Autoshite of all Autoshite cars? 

 

Anyway, today saw my first trip up to the workshop with it, stopping on the way to swallow a huge workbench table and some filing cabinets very kindly given to me by @Hertz 

Glad I decided not to chance the Discovery for this, they would never have fitted! 

I also got the first chance for a proper look underneath with my car creeper. It's a weird mix underneath, there's plenty of surface rust on the chassis after its 10 years in Minnesota (having been a California car originally) but no structural rots and even has the original part number stickers on a lot of bits! Happily, despite what I had thought, the vast majority of the chassis is actually open C channel with only the front and rear extremities being box. This will make it Infinitely easier to rustproof, I shall now be doing it myself by painting with Buzzweld rather than shelling out for waxoyl and cavity injection. 

Bonus points for who can guess what the propshaft - looking items on either side of the chassis are....

 

I then set about removing the 3rd row seats for maximum loadspace. Again I was pleasantly surprised - expecting to have to unbolt them, it turns out they're latched at both ends for quick removal, if somewhat awkwardly large and heavy once out! 

As for the loadspace now...well....

 

[Matty]

10 hours ago, Rocket88 said:

GM diesel from the seventies?

One of the established lads on here from when i joined who doesnt seem to be on anymore had a 70s/80s diesel yank saloon but i cant remember his name. Scottish lad. @dome do you remember?

[comfortablynumb]

12 minutes ago, mat777 said:

Bonus points for who can guess what the propshaft - looking items on either side of the chassis are...

Torsion arms?

[dome]

29 minutes ago, Matty said:

One of the established lads on here from when i joined who doesnt seem to be on anymore had a 70s/80s diesel yank saloon but i cant remember his name. Scottish lad. @dome do you remember?

I know who you mean but can't for the life of me remember his username. It was someone further up north than me, perhaps @Supernaut will know?

[loserone]

Was it not @drum?

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, mat777 said:

As amusing as it would be, I would get absolutely bollocked by security/ elf n safety at my place....

As it's a 24 hour manufacturing site with shift zombies always staggering around, no one is allowed to reverse anywhere on site, and cars have to be parked nose-out of parking spaces, all in aid of not running people over. 

 

That's a GMT400, the previous model - poor thing looks slightly neglected

They're meant to be a nice enough steer but I'm told my GMT800 is night and day better in terms of refinement and comfort 

 

That van looks absolutely awesome, if they did a 4x4 version with a decent towing weight then it'd been even more ideal for me! As you say, and as with mine, it's a thing that sadly just doesn't exist over here - barring the odd JDM Elgrand and the like.  It's a crying shame you couldn't import it, for me it sits in the same basket of really having to want one as the "Dustbuster" Pontiacs of fame on here. Or, it could be said, my Chevy! 

My situation was seemingly simple but entailed a lot of work behind the scenes in my behalf. I'd seen the car for sale on a Facebook group for the owners and modifiers of them, obviously a yank-centric group. I messaged the seller, and asked if he would be amenable to me buying it to export, given the difficulties of dealing at a distance. To his eternal credit, he didn't dismiss this weird Limey as a dreamer/time waster. Despite a steadily growing queue of second-refusal buyers in America, he stuck with me as I engaged United Exports US of Houston, who I'd seen with good reviews on various UK American Car groups. After some introductory calls, UE took over liaising with the seller, and arranged a remote inspection from a company called Lemon Squad. This £300 lookover led to a 120 page report with an in-depth mechanical description, test drive and hundreds of photos. 

After that, I sent the asking price plus shipping costs to UE, who paid the seller, and had the car trucked to New York port to be containerised. When it was about 2 weeks out, I was then contacted by UK agent Kingstown Shipping to sort the paperwork (declarations, instructions, landing fees,.etc) ahead of the arrival in Southampton. Once unloaded I had a few day's grace before it then cost £12 a day storage until I could pick it up. 

Overall, I'd say the first key point was that I sought out the car and then set the agents going from there. Looking at adverts for cars that have already been picked up by agents is a hiding to nothing unless you want to pay over the odds for a commonly imported model. 

Secondly, this is not something to engage with if you have any hopes of profiteering from it. I've bought this car as a keeper, as you would be doing with the van. With the exchange rate and the economic downturn, unless you're dealing in 6/7 figure supercars and collector classics then it won't work as a business.

 

I did wonder that... A Cadillac Seville Diesel, perhaps the most Autoshite of all Autoshite cars? 

 

Anyway, today saw my first trip up to the workshop with it, stopping on the way to swallow a huge workbench table and some filing cabinets very kindly given to me by @Hertz 

Glad I decided not to chance the Discovery for this, they would never have fitted! 

I also got the first chance for a proper look underneath with my car creeper. It's a weird mix underneath, there's plenty of surface rust on the chassis after its 10 years in Minnesota (having been a California car originally) but no structural rots and even has the original part number stickers on a lot of bits! Happily, despite what I had thought, the vast majority of the chassis is actually open C channel with only the front and rear extremities being box. This will make it Infinitely easier to rustproof, I shall now be doing it myself by painting with Buzzweld rather than shelling out for waxoyl and cavity injection. 

Bonus points for who can guess what the propshaft - looking items on either side of the chassis are....

 

I then set about removing the 3rd row seats for maximum loadspace. Again I was pleasantly surprised - expecting to have to unbolt them, it turns out they're latched at both ends for quick removal, if somewhat awkwardly large and heavy once out! 

As for the loadspace now...well....

 

Thanks for that, really useful information.  

I suspect that finding the right one in the first place would be the biggest headache here then!  Oh, and paying for it!

I know an all wheel drive variant of the Astro did exist, no idea what the towing weight would have been though - not a patch on your beast though I'm sure!

The most recent target was an *astonishingly* rust free, original and not hacked to death 1981 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Diesel.  This had a lot going for it from a logistical perspective as well given that the car was close enough to where I've got family in the Lansing area that it would have been entirely feasible to have them buy it and get it delivered to them - which would obviously have given us a lot more breathing room in terms of actually sorting export arrangements, and back at that point it wouldn't have been beyond the realms of possibility for me to include inspecting it with a visit to the area prior to committing all the funds to the export arrangements.  Sadly despite several attempts none of my messages to the seller were ever returned so that came to nothing.

I still want a Delta 88 - and still kick myself for not jumping faster when the blue one appeared for sale locally a few years back so I missed it.  Both of those were targets of opportunity though rather than a hell of a lot of thought as was the case with the Astro where I just found myself realising that it was simply the optimum solution to essentially being "the only car I would ever need."

ULEZ expansions etc notwithstanding of course...

[stuboy]

i was eyeing up a big gmc on facebeak but missus said it wasnt practical...

[Matty]

47 minutes ago, loserone said:

Was it not @drum?

Yes it was!! Racking my brains for the last hour. And ive remembered it was an Oldsmobile 88 i think.