Shop Turns GMC Sierra Into Modern Jimmy SUV, and You Can Buy One
One shop is turning straightforward donor GMC Sierra pickups into a modern Jimmy SUV—and they’re surprisingly easy to build, its creator tells us.
It's that time of year when the internet is awash with goofy SEMA builds that you can never, ever own. But this modern interpretation of the GMC Jimmy is different because it's no one-off gimcrack show truck: It's a professionally built single-cab short-bed that its creator aims to sell by the dozen—though you'll have to get in line soon if you want one.
While we've previously covered the truck as a work in progress, this time we talked to the brain behind them, Rob Hester, owner of Flat Out Autos about how they're built. Hester told us he's building them from new 2022 GMC Sierra long-bed, single-cab pickups, which are the cheapest on which you can get a V8 (the 5.3-liter variant). He said shortening the frame was more straightforward than you'd expect and involved not haphazard cutting, but merely grinding out factory welds. The rear frame extension can then be slid inward and re-welded, preserving the factory mounting points for the suspension, tow hitch, spare tire, and so on.
From there, it was merely a matter of cutting down the driveshaft, and fitting the 5-foot-8 short bed from the crew cab, which Hester said lines up perfectly with the single cab. Though the 5.3-liter is the only factory V8 option on the donor trucks, Hester said he'd throw in any drivetrain a customer was willing to pay for, and mentioned someone had ordered a supercharged 5.3-liter just this morning.
While these new Jimmys (Jimmies?) may be short, their prices are tall and start at a whopping $130,000 (though that includes the cost of the donor truck). The black truck shown here, which will be seen at SEMA, has optional extras like Fox shocks and BDS suspension components, while power steps and roof racks will also be available. It's already been sold, as have six others, though that still leaves most of the 25 build slots for 2023 still open. Hester said he's gotten some 50 inquiries since sharing pictures of the black truck last weekend though, so he suspects they'll all sell out before SEMA. As that's just two weeks out, that gives you a deadline to scrape together the 130 grand you need for a new Jimmy—though you could probably afford an original at that price too.
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