Vin Help For A C3

squidchief · January 13, 2011

Hello all - I recently got a 2001 GMC Sierra C3 AWD. Seems to be a great truck so far. Very capable with several special heavy duty parts that were not seen in other 1500's.

Anyway I'm told it's a pretty rare truck. I found this out myself when after 2 months of ownership, I have yet to see another one on the road. Also I was going to go junk yarding just to get "stuff" and after calling 15 yards between Missouri and Kansas, NOT ONE had a C3. I know it's body and hardware is very similar to the Silverado or 02 Denali but that's not the point.

Out of just pure curiosity at this point I've been trying to find out how many C3's were actually built but keep hitting brick walls. Dealerships, insurance companies, carfax, the DMV all say they can't help. Surely someone with access to the appropriate database could do a simple search query of the first 8 or 11 numbers of the VIN with the remaining numbers as wildcards (VIN# 12345678******) and come up with X number of matches.

All the press releases or articles I've found from 2001 do not provide this info.

Thanks!

Stevens03 · January 13, 2011

I've seen several. Most have been quad steers. You can enter your vin number in the link below and it will tell you how many were built similar and the same.

http://www.compnine.com/vid.php

Pyggy · January 13, 2011

Hello all - I recently got a 2001 GMC Sierra C3 AWD. Seems to be a great truck so far. Very capable with several special heavy duty parts that were not seen in other 1500's.

Anyway I'm told it's a pretty rare truck. I found this out myself when after 2 months of ownership, I have yet to see another one on the road. Also I was going to go junk yarding just to get "stuff" and after calling 15 yards between Missouri and Kansas, NOT ONE had a C3. I know it's body and hardware is very similar to the Silverado or 02 Denali but that's not the point.

Out of just pure curiosity at this point I've been trying to find out how many C3's were actually built but keep hitting brick walls. Dealerships, insurance companies, carfax, the DMV all say they can't help. Surely someone with access to the appropriate database could do a simple search query of the first 8 or 11 numbers of the VIN with the remaining numbers as wildcards (VIN# 12345678******) and come up with X number of matches.

Definitely rare - they were only made for 1 year (then essentially renamed as Denali), and they were expensive. I doubt that many were made. I found what is supposedly a C3 VIN - 2GTEK69U311351449. I believe Y91 is the option code (says "Luxury Edition"), and it says there were 9,858 vehicles built with that RPO code. There are 27 other RPO codes on that VIN with 9,858 matches, for things like Body Coloured front and rear bumpers, DIC, accoustical insulation, body side moldings, floor mats, mirrors, 6.0L engine, 4L60E/4L65E transmission, all-wheel drive, wheels, tires, grille, etc. Many of those are C3-specific, such as the 6.0, AWD, DIC, so I'm guessing that's your number, if compnine is correct.

I've seen several. Most have been quad steers.

Far as I can tell, quadresteer wasn't available on the C3, only the Denali (Yeah, I get it's the same truck just a different name for the different model year, but the OP specifically said C3s and NOT Denalis)

squidchief · January 13, 2011

Thanks for the info! The C3 did not have Quadrasteer. It was a luxury limited edition AWD 1500 that had HD parts in it not normally put in a 1/2 ton.

Going by the Compnine website (thanks for the link) and matching up the RPO's with what this truck has I've determined (like pyggy said) that there were only 9,858 C3's made.

Wow. No wonder I can't find or see others out there. Assuming 90% of them are still on the road, that averages out to only 177 C3's per state.

What is strange is that compnine had this on the page:

Rarity

There are 2 2001 SIE 1500 EXT CAB STD BOX vehicles (0.001%) matching your exact options list. There are 2 (0.001%) with at least as many options.

I can't see how there are only 2 C3's out there according to compnine's "summary"

I wonder if there is any way to break out those numbers by state.