Air conditioning?I saw an old International four door pickup truck in the cars thread and it reminded me there have been four door trucks for 70+ years, why the explosion in the last twenty that huge majorities are four door trucks. What made them cool after years of existence?
A couple years ago I was talking to a salesman about this and he believed it was pretty much this.There are no more full sized sedans. If you need to carry full sized American people, you are forced to use a truck.
( This shows the poor design of the CAFE rating systems that led to the loss of large cars. You cannot buy anymore usable sized 24 mpg sedans because CAFE demands higher, but I can buy a 4 door truck that gets 15. More of that brilliant wisdom found in Washington )
More posersI saw an old International four door pickup truck in the cars thread and it reminded me there have been four door trucks for 70+ years, why the explosion in the last twenty that huge majorities are four door trucks. What made them cool after years of existence?
My Ram 1500 (DT) is pretty darned cushy, and it's just a Bighorn. The back seat has limo-legroom which means that my adult kids fit easily.I think the Kenworth inspired Ram really put pickups in to pop culture, then the huge increase in ride quality from coils. Forced the other makers to compete. Interiors got nicer. SUVs moved up scale, the trucks the were based on profited as well.
That "Kenworth styled" Dodge pickup really showed how out of touch I am on what style sells. When they first brought that truck to market, I commented "who would buy that goofy looking thing?" Then within a short time, it was the best selling truck they ever had and eventually Ford and GM used that as their styling influence.I think the Kenworth inspired Ram really put pickups in to pop culture, then the huge increase in ride quality from coils. Forced the other makers to compete. Interiors got nicer. SUVs moved up scale, the trucks the were based on profited as well.
I think this is true. As was stated the big comfy vehicles are few because of government interference.It certainly has changed in the last 10 years. You can hardly find any 2-door pickups anymore. I theorize it's because so many people have decided to treat pickup trucks like cars instead of like trucks. IMO, the important part of the truck is what you can fit in the bed, not the cab... And the 4-door trucks add nearly useless back-seat room at the expensive of the all-important bed of the truck.
Until relatively lately, crew cabs were only available on 1 tons, and then 3/4 tons much later. Then, they were usually available with 8' beds. Try parking that in a regular garage...even with a 6.5' bed. 1/2 ton crew cabs weren't really available until 2001/2002.
A 1/2 ton rides better and makes a much more comfortable family vehicle. With a 5'6" (or thereabouts) bed, it fits in a regular garage, if just barely.
This is also true. There are trailers of all kinds everywhere, types that were not even available 50 years ago. Built in brake and lighting controllers, hitches, engine and transmission coolers were not as common back in the day. Seems likely todays trucks will pull more than they ever haul. Because they are so expensive and used for family as well as work using a trailer helps keep the truck nice. Avoiding things like chucking a piece of firewood through the back window. (Don’t ask!). LOLMaybe trucks are used more for pulling than hauling in todays traffic?