1996 Chevrolet C/K Pickup GM's big haulers power up for '96. By Don Fuller, New Car Test Drive .com

Thanks to the tough-guy look of the new Dodge Ram pickup and the rounded mod-squad

shape of the even-newer Ford F-Series pickup, the Chevrolet--and cousin GMC--C/K

full-size pickups are suddenly looking like the old kids on the block. Yet, in truck

years, the General Motors full-size pickups aren't really that old. The design was

first introduced in 1988 as a completely new offering inside and out, and even today

it looks clean, crisp and contemporary.

Stylistically, it offers truck buyers an alternative to the newer Dodge and Ford

models, an alternative that is traditional without necessarily being out of fashion.

And in a market segment where product cycles are often measured in decades, eight

years tallies up as just getting started.

In 1992 the line was rounded out with the addition of a Crew Cab model and a 6.5-liter

turbodiesel V8. In 1995 the interior was redone, including the addition of a driver's

airbag.

For 1996 there is really big news under the hood. The so-called "Vortec" technology,

which was used to such positive effect on GM's 4.3-liter V6 truck engines, has been

extended to all the C/K's gasoline V8 engine offerings. The 5.0, 5.7- and 7.4-liter

V8s all deliver a lot more power and a lot more torque. In horsepower, the 4.3 V6 has

more than the previous 5.0 V8, the 5.0 has more than the previous 5.7, and the 5.7 has

more than the previous 7.4. Across the board, torque figures are up between 20 to 25

lb.-ft., depending upon the specific engine.