Rare Rides: One-of-One 1984 GMC Gypsy Street Coupe Is on the Move

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Those of you who are regulars of the Rare Rides series will no doubt remember the thrashing we gave another similar-era Jimmy a while back. And if you’re not regulars of Rare Rides, then you’re doing TTAC incorrectly and your life is a shambles. Fix it!

Anyway, this Jimmy here is a custom vehicle, a one-off General Motors’ idea that didn’t make it to production. So come along now as we explore the rare wonder of the Gypsy Street Coupe.

That’s right, the full name for this is the GMC S-15 Jimmy Gypsy Street Coupe. Found here on Craigslist, it’s actually for sale by its owner in Boise, which is in Idaho. That’s sort of in the middle part of the United States, south of Canada.

I’ve only been able to find one ad clipping, which looks like it was meant for dealers. I’ve hurt my eyes zooming in on this so you don’t have to. Here are the special features of this “Traffic Builder.”

First, the exterior: It has silver-colored rocker panel extensions, two-tone stripes, and a raised hood.

The hood is one of the more interesting features, as according to the brochure image, these STREET COUPE letters are cast, rather than decals, “to add a touch of class.” And we all know when you specifically call out something as having class, it definitely does.

There’s also a unique, wrap-around rear spoiler, which follows the C-pillar across the roof and down the other side. I think that’s my favorite feature here, if I have to pick just one.

Moving on to the interior, passengers are presented with this rainbow Gypsy logo on the glove box. Once they pry their eyes from the lid, they’ll also see the special cloth seats, to “travel luxuriously to sports events, or errands about town.” Formal occasions are also in the mix, and you’ll understand why when you look just below here.

Think of your significant other in their formal wear, examining the comfortable passenger seat. They’ll see the word “truck” repeated over and over, and will certainly not think twice about plopping their bum right next to you. You get the feeling GM really thought of everything for this special edition.

The back seats carry on the sporting and stylish motif, and look unused in this 33-year-old vehicle.

The exterior shows some signs of wear (it does have 103,000 miles), but unlike the old Jimmy that was the subject of our other Rare Rides, the owner of this one is only asking $4,000.

Seems like a reasonable enough price for a rare piece of custom, not-meant-to-be General Motors history.

[Images via Craigslist]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • Chaseme7412 Chaseme7412 on Nov 26, 2018

    This vehicle is not one of one. I personally have seen 3 out in the world and a blue one on the TV Show “Riptide”. My mom owned one from December ‘83 to June ‘95 and I actually still have the dealer invoice sheet for it and several pictures. I have been searching for a while to find out the build history of this vehicle. We lived near Oakland and saw a black one there, our which was red and the third one which was a 4X4 version of our red one. I never understood how a “street couple” like the one shown in this article could be a 4X4. I did want to buy it off my mother when she traded it in and put in a fresh 4.3L instead of that 2.8L, but I never got a chance.

  • John Ruffner John Ruffner on Feb 14, 2023

    ive got a 1982 gmc s-15 gypsy with a very unique truck cap 89,000 miles no rust,beautiful paint

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