Modern pickup trucks have more trims, option packages, and special editions than there are stars in the sky. Chevrolet is adding two more to this nebula to commemorate a century of building hard-working, dependable pickup trucks. The first Chevy trucks with a body were sold in 1918 in the form of the 490 Light Delivery. Since then, the American brand has sold more than 85 million pickup trucks according to Automotive News.
The Centennial Edition of the full-size Silverado and the mid-size Colorado pickups are throwbacks to an earlier time in Chevy history while retaining modern engineering, design, and technology. The new special editions debuted on Thursday at the Texas State Fair, a rather appropriate venue.
The most notable difference in these pickups is the vintage-looking bowtie emblem found throughout the trucks. This is reminiscent of the bowtie Chevy used for much of the first half of the 20th century with the word “Chevrolet” and two horizontal stripes inside the iconic logo. The front grille, tailgate, and front doors all get the special bowtie along with tasteful chrome exterior trim and some subtle wood interior trim. These special trucks also come with an exclusive Centennial Blue paint job, bigger wheels, and a spray-in bed liner, which features more old-school bowties.
The Centennial Edition is also sort of a swan song for the third-generation Silverado. It’s likely the final of many special editions to grace the truck before it’s replaced by a refreshed 2019 model set to debut in 2018.
These trucks aren’t cheap. The Silverado Centennial Edition is only available as a crew cab LTZ Z71 and starts at $53,465 while the Colorado Centennial Edition can be had as either a crew cab or extended cab Z71. As of this writing, we’re not able to price a Colorado Centennial Edition on Chevy’s website, so we can’t confirm its price at this time. Our best guess is around the $40,000-mark.
The Centennial Silverado will be available next month and we'll have to wait until November to get the Centennial Colorado. Are these fancy trucks with retro flair worth paying the premium or do they go against Chevy’s traditional “Great American Value” philosophy?