Today's pickups

That said, father-in-law bought a standard cab 4x4 Tundra about 2 years ago. He's a Toyota fanatic, and wanted to get a larger truck. Like you, he hated the fact that it had to come with velure bucket seats, fancy carpeting etc. I understand his concerns, because this truck was going to get used on his swamp trap lines and such.

Here it is some two years later. Lots of muck and mud have gone into that truck, but surprisingly, it still looks good. It washes out just as easily as straight vinyl, and is a whole lot more comfortable.

Driving it, it's a pleasure. Smooth ride, decent handling, etc. That's quite nice.

Single strong gripe, and it's a real one, is the flimsy bed. It's the same bed as either Ford or Chevy uses, and it isn't made for working. I've bent it with my bare hands, and that's pathetic.

My son bought one almost identical, except his is a gasser (hemi/auto)

6 months later, he got a company truck. ('05 Dodge 3500 diesel)

Then my wifes car got wiped out in a wreck. We bought Jasons truck from him for the Mrs. to drive.

Both trucks are loaded. Before that, I always bought the plainest, cheapest truck I could find.

I wouldn't trade backwards for love, nor money!

I average around 55,000 miles per year on my truck. I spend a LOT of time in it. WHY NOT HAVE A NICE ONE?

I use mine as a truck. It drags around a 25' gooseneck, with a usual load of about 10,000LBS. Nothing like having a COMFORTABLE ride that'll do what a truck should do.

We take trips in the winter. A couple of the grandkids usually go along. The bigger cab is nice to say the least. If I didn't have the 4 door cab, I'd need a car to go along with the truck. How would that be any cheaper?

All in all, I'm pleased. I don't expect EVERYONE to run out and buy a $45,000 "cowboy cadillac", but I plan on buying ANOTHER someday when this one is tired and ready to be put out to pasture.

I LIKE power steering, power windows, delay wipers, cruise control and a decent radio.

I have 3 pickups. One of 'em is a "truck", a 1989 Chevy K3500 with a 454 and a TH400 automatic. It tows, it plows snow, it gets rode hard and put away wet, and it keeps on ticking. I live right on the ocean in Maine, not many tougher environments for rust problems, and it's got a little surface rust where the paint has been chipped, and that's it. Pretty remarkable. I'd have expected the cab corners and wheel wells to be rusted out years ago. Love that truck, hate putting gas in it, wish it had power windows and cruise.

My wife's vehicle is a '88 Dodge Dakota, V6 2wd shortbed with a cap. Nice grocery getter, good mileage, wish it had delay wipers and cruise.

My "car" is an '01 Dakota Quadcab 4x4 with ALL the bells and whistles, except it has cloth seats. Middlin' acceptable mileage, fun to drive, comfy, and completely $(%*ing useless as a "truck". No payload, 5' bed so it won't haul more than a few sacks of feed, if you try to tow anything bigger than a lawnmower trailer it feels like you're dragging the Queen Mary and the mileage reflects it. As long as I remember that it's really a "car with a REALLY big trunk" I'm fine. If I forget and try to use it like a truck, I'm always disappointed.

I bought it because the price was right, I needed 4wd, and with my screwed up back, I can't get in and out of these modern low-slung cars.

Now I ain't saying I wouldn't drive a $45,000 longbed crewcab diesel with 6 way power ashtrays, GPS, OnStar, a Bose sound system that costs more than my house, Personal Theatre, heated leather seats with built in massage, zoned climate control and my very own deeded patch of the Alaskan Oil Fields...

I've got a '95 Chevy 3/4 ton p/u, long bed, extended cab, 4x4, 454, towing package and absolutely no rust. It's a Silverado. Great truck.

Late last year, I decided to buy an old truck, fix it up and sell the '95. (I like old stuff.) So, I bought an old chevy, fixed it up and started driving it. Put the '95 in the picture truck ad paper. Got two people who looked at it. Left it in the paper for 5 months. Dropped the price to $200 over TRADE IN value. No one called. So I said the heck with it and i'll drive it until the wheels fall off. Which should be a long time since it's only got 90,000 miles on it now. So it's funny that you are wanting a truck so close to what I have, but I wasn't able to sell the one i've got!

Keep looking, someone out there has the truck you want for sale. It took me months to find the one i've got.

OK-AL

Could always put yourself together one stout junk yard dawg, and paint her up nice. Registering them gets sticky though. Could call it a tractor down at DMV, I guess.

Mark

Mu son's explanation was that if your parents hate it and can't understand it, it must be really cool.

R

If anyone's looking for an old truck to have around, check out the Truck Trader magazines or online, and look in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. There are lots of simple old long bed trucks out there looking for a farm to live on. Ebay can be good also, especially if you can come across a truck that's nearby.

Sorry, couldn't resist that one.

In 1970 how much did people make per year? How much did a base model truck cost?
Today a recent college graduate can expect to make over $30k a year, and a base model truck costs a third less than that...

Well, this is interesting, I have been trying to trade this one in on a 2 wheel drive, extend cab truck, around here. This truck does work for a living most of the time, and I pull a trailer with it some. The dealers keep telling me there is no market for a long bed truck like this one is, around here. Very good truck, just has a good amount of miles on it, and everthing works, loaded to the gills with options. I have been looking for a 2000 or 2001 Ford F-150, about all I can find is the ones with a V6 or a 4.6 V8 in them, kinda looking for a 5.4 Triton in the next one.

Anyway my Great Uncle Reg bought a Chevy 1/2 ton new in '76. By '86 it had rusted "all the way to the windshield" as we say in Maine. He had the cab welded back up and found NOS doors and a bed. By '91 the bed was falling apart, one door fell off and the cab rusted around the plates they'd welded in... He junked it and bought a used '88 GMC 1/2 ton which I still have. The cab corners rusted out on that and were replaced along with one fender on the bed. Theres a fair bit of rust now but considering its age I think its done real well. When it was junked the 350 in the '76 was fair at best. One big reason he didn't replace the body is because he figured the engine needed a rebuild. It had just under 100,000 miles. If I get up to the farm a couple more times this year the '88 will roll 100,000. Starts and runs fine, burns a little more oil than I'd like but I suspect thats because it sits alot now.
The '76 rode like a work truck, the radio sounded like you were inside a tin can if you could hear it over the wind noise. The '88 is quiet and comfortable and gets about twice the gas mileage if you can stay out of the go pedal (I've pulled 16mpg with it driving real easy, Dad held the record on the '76 at 8mpg). Both trucks were about equally good in the woods. I might give the nod to the '76 but we had to gas it up EVERY SINGLE DAY during hunting season...

I will agree that long beds are hard to come by in that configuration, but we eventually found one. For example, does ford even offer an f-150 crew cab with long bed?

I don't feel embarrased . . . just can't afford to have tons of cars on the road at the moment.

I would suggest looking here

Wife keeps hounding me to sell it but when I need a truck with some "GRUNT" this truck does it. Wish it had a Diesel but it has 454 which does the job.

Now, you know why today's PU's have 300 horsepower, comfortable seats, ac, power steering and brakes, towing packages and a radio capable of receiving something other than the Hootin' Holler Trio brought to you by the makers of Bag Balm on WHIC AM radio. I don't begrudge my fancy PU, new JD tractor or anything else they make today. especially medicines. How many kids you hear of dying from whooping cough nowadays? measles? typhoid fever? Pneumonia? And best of all, no more trips to the stinkin' outhouse when it's 10 below!

Hurst

1988 - Chevy Cavalier base model was 9800$.
1988 - Chevy 1500 W/T 2wd base model 11,000$.

2005 - Chevy Cavalier base model is about 16,000$
2005 - Chevy 1500 W/T 2wd base model list 24,995$

Do some math there and you'll see why I'm pissed. Both have gone from no air bags, no abs, simple fuel injection to all the new fancy expected stuff. The car did it for less than double, the truck has more than doubled.

I read a good article a couple of years ago on Chysler. At the time a Grand Cherokee cost them less than 500$ more to make than the Neon. They profit margin on the neon was less than 500$ for the Corperation. The margin on the Grand would have been 8000$ or something like that. It was all about demand in the market.