Please help me!

[takkotime]

Hello folks.

I am an avid GMT-400 Platform fan, I currently own 8 different GMT-400's. I have had others as well now sold over the years.
I say that because I am not a newbie or unfamiliar at all with the platform.
I was in South Africa over the Christmas holidays, where while I was on a Marlin fishing trip I saw - parked on a beach in Sodwana A GMT-400, red in colour (not that that matters) crew cab with the single headlight 'rubber' type grill; 6 bolt lug 4x4- but get this, it had an odd box- like the super short ones on the Colorados or other double cab trucks, where the front opening of the rear tire ends right at the front of the box.
It had fender flares and a basic interior; I got a really close look at it and took pictures. it had '2500' on the side but I'm pretty sure it was a half ton.
Anyway, 3 days before coming back I was stabbed and robbed and they took my phone so now I have no pictures.
It's driving me crazy; I searched South American (they never sold this in South Africa for sure so it has to be imported from somewhere, maybe the middle east?) trucks on Google etc. but can't find this odd model anywhere. It was also a left hand drive, so it wasn't a Holden from AUS. I'm not crazy and noticed the odd box right away; the box looked completely stock (taillights / tailgate / shape / etc) but was short. It was like the cab was put on a shorter frame. It looked really cool.
Can anyone help? I know what I saw. I would go as to far there is no way it was modified by anyone as it looked like it came from a showroom; it looked totally factory. Mods like that are also unlikely in South Africa where there are basically NO gmt-400 trucks (I've seen 5 in my lifetime) - the platform there is giant compared to what they call 'trucks' or 'Bakkies' in Afrikaans. (typically mini trucks here like Rangers / Mazdas / etc)
Can anyone help?
Crossing my fingers....

Will

 

[90chevstepside]

The only thing I can think of is that they did like Devs93 (I think it was him) did/is doing by putting a crew cab body on an extended cab frame and cut/shortened/ and put back together the bed. That's all I can think off.. And it might be possible that that's the case since there aren't many gmt400's regardless and if they wanted it bad enough to have it, they would be a likely candidate to modify it in their own way...

 

[takkotime]

Yeah I totally know where you're coming from but I'm as certain as can be that this one wasn't a mod like that. It would be prohibitively expensive.. It has to exist somewhere. It also had the funky tails with the orange in them and side reflectors on the front fenders. Urg it's been bugging me.

-Will

 

[90chevstepside]

Well maybe someone that's been into gmt400's and their history longer than I, can step in to help. Good luck!

 

[Mean Green]

The tail lights must have been the euro versions, as they looked similiar to the GMT800 tails. The truck you described sounds like a conversion, that may have been imported. It sounds like it was an ext. cab frame that was used, and then a crew cab was set on it and they shortened the box to compensate for the added cab length, which would bring the rear fenderwell almost to the edge of the. To my knowledge there was never a GMT400 with a box any shorter then the short bed. It is odd that it had the W/T grille on it, but that was the grille used in some markets!

 

[takkotime]

Yeah I know that everything screams conversion.. I just don't think so; it wasn't hatched together. I know it sounds bizarre (my family thought I was mental for making everyone stop so I could check it out ha ha) I wish I could have spoken to the owner! I had never seen a box shorter than the typical shortbox. I just know that in order to do a conversion here it's crazy expensive, and we have parts and resources to do it. They really do not, so the chances of it being converted are almost nil.
I'm searching google like mad again tonight but no dice again.

-Will (Thanks for all of your replies!)

 

[Mean Green]

Would it be possible that it was imported in the current condition? It sounds like a european import almost!

 

[takkotime]

Yeah based on my experiences over there (lived there) I'd say its 100% been brought over from somewhere else. You couldn't ever buy a GMT400 from a dealer there. That's what is odd as well; it didn't look OLD. It was in new shape.. I can't see someone converting it (and if you were going through all that trouble it wouldn't be a base model you'd think) then just getting rid of it - unless it's a special order from somewhere then brought over. I dunno.. I forgot to mention it was a diesel as well.

 

[90chevstepside]

Well I mean if I did a full restoration (pretty much would have to be done to put a cc body on a ext cab frame) I would keep it looking brand new too..

 

[takkotime]

I totally agree with you; but over there they dont have any parts for conversions. Everything has to be ordered in .. unlike here where you can Frankenstein things together from salvage, etc.