Thursday, May 18, 2023

Evolution and Devolution of the American truck

 "We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." - Immanuel Kant

 I recently read a brief article (which I can sadly no longer locate and link), about the evolution of the US light pickup truck.  The article described how the basic American truck has recently evolved from a humble vehicle for hauling cargo, into the family sedan.  New trucks now typically have a tiny cargo area, a huge cab that can seat six, and (strangely) an intimidating front profile. 

To show the nature of the changes which that article discussed, I picked a few images of US trucks at 10 year intervals. 

1919 Ford Model T truck.  Not intimidating.

1930 Ford Model A truck

1940 Plymouth truck

1950 Chevrolet truck.  Great lines.  Rugged and simple.  For hauling cargo, not passengers.


Two 1960 trucks - one Chevrolet, one Ford.  I'll be discussing the 1960 Ford in a coming post.

1970 Chevrolet C-10

1980 Ford F-150

1990 Chevrolet Silverado standard

And here is where we see the start of devolution - of the practical cargo-hauling truck becoming a family car.  There had long been crew cab work trucks - International Harvester sold a four-door truck in 1961.  However, standard trucks had always come with two doors, a bench seat, with a 6 or 8 foot box behind.  This began to change in the late 1980's, it accelerated through the 1990's. 

2000 Ford F-150  Note the larger cab, and the smaller box.

2010 Chevrolet.  For that one time you had to bring a big-screen TV home. 

2020 Chevrolet.  Imposing as it looks, it's likely just a soccer dad vehicle.

 Below:  Where exactly do you put a 4'x8' sheet of plywood or drywall?  Do you have to rent a trailer for stuff like that???  This thing barely qualifies as a truck - it's a man's version of a minivan.  Half of these have bed covers anyway.

Below:  Both of these rigs have the same bed length, but only one of them is a truck.


 All that said, I too own a an extended cab diesel truck, which I stupidly once commuted in.  I'd love to see how well the above truck would manage a load with 8ft lumber and 10ft treated 4x4s.  Or a couch.

I'd imagine if this trend continues, the family truckster in 2040 will look something like below, LOL.







1 comment:

  1. Interesting read and pictures. I did notice you did not include the smaller trucks. So, in my defense....I chose to buy my Toyota 4x4 crew cab so I could fit the wife and I and our daughter. Also put the dog in the back seat when driving anywhere with him. My last Toyota, and first 4x4, lasted me 25 years and 219,000 or so miles. If I can get the same out of my 2015 truck then I likely won't ever have to buy another vehicle. I do agree the back/bed is small and wish I had gotten the longer one.

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