What Does C/K Mean On Chevy Trucks And Which Years Were They Made?
Chevrolet is one of the oldest brands in the auto industry, with a history dating back to 1911. Chevy has brought us eight generations of the beastly Corvette, and the Suburban's uninterrupted run of 90 years and counting makes it the longest continuously produced model in automotive history. The full-sized SUV is now in its twelfth generation, and the 2025 Suburban and Tahoe were redesigned on a platform shared with the SIlverado 1500 pickup.
The Silverado was the second-best selling vehicle of any kind in the United States during 2023, trailing only the Ford F-series pickup. The Silverado name had been in use for years as a trim level of C and K series pickups, and stepped in as a standalone replacement model in 1999 alongside the GMC Sierra. The C and K trucks had been in production since 1960, and hung around through 2002 alongside their younger cousins. The C label designated two-wheel drive trucks, and the K tags went on four-wheel drive models.
There were four generations of C and K series trucks
The C and K series of Chevrolet trucks were divided into four generations over 40-plus years, with the last two lasting longer than the first two. The first C and K trucks appeared for the 1960 model year as replacements for the late '50s Task Force series, and the model designations indicated capacity as well as drive type. C10 and K10 trucks had a half-ton payload, C20 and K20s were 3/4 ton, and the C30 and K30 designations went on one-ton trucks.
The first major update came for the 1967 model year. For the second generation that ran through 1972, C and K10 trucks and most 20-series models got coil springs at all four wheels. Big changes to the body came for the third generation in 1973, but despite the newly rounded corners, this iteration of the C/K series was dubbed the "square body" for its sharp corners and rectangular wheel openings. One-ton models were offered with a dually option, and the first Crew Cab appeared on C and K trucks during this generation as well. The fourth-generation trucks that appeared in 1988 all got an independent front suspension, and a high-horsepower 454 SS pickup was introduced for the 1990 model year.