A pickup truck, conceptually, is a vehicle that provides a space for the driver and a passenger, but its PURPOSE (as opposed to a car) is to provide space and capacity to haul large, heavy stuff, and to tow heavy stuff. The traditional bed lengths are 6-1/2 feet and 8 feet. A "full size" truck will fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood/drywall between the wheel wells with the gate closed, and with the gate open for the short bed. Even a short bed truck can be used to haul mulch (the suburbanite's main "truck" need), because the loaders that load the mulch normally have a 6' bucket, which makes everything work fine.
There used to be a class called, "compact" pickup trucks, which were basically the size of a mid-sized car (about 190"). They had either a 5 or a 6 foot bed, and could accommodate a sheet of drywall, sitting on top of the wheel wells, and extending off the end of the bed. The manufacturers sometimes made arrangements for this normal load, by putting indents in the sidewalls of the bed for 2x4 braces, so that a sheet of drywall could sit flat on those 2x4's.
"Mid-Size" pickups were, as you might imagine, somewhere between standard and compact. The classic mid-size was the Dodge Dakota.
Special mention should be given to the Honda Ridgeline here. This marvelously-designed truck, while stuck with a bed that is under 6', it still allows comfortable transport of plywood, because it is 49" BETWEEN the wheel-wells - the only mid-size truck ever to have this capacity. It had/has many other unique features as well, but they are not relevant here.
The grandfather of today's pickups, the Ford F1, remains the prototype. Coming with either a 6-1/2 foot or an 8 foot bed, the overall length was about 190 or 205, depending on bed length. Drywall would lay flat on the bed, between the wheelwells.
For comparison, today's standard family sedans (Honda Accord, Chevy Malibu, etc) are about 190" or a little more. The Europeans are more efficient with space, and they run a little shorter.
Most modern garages can accommodate a vehicle of 190" fairly comfortably. When you go over 200" it gets tight.
The gargantuan full-size pickup trucks of today - the ones that generate the most sales and profits for the manufacturers - are four-passenger, 4-door, short bed absurdities. At about 230" long, very few garages will accommodate them, even if the roof will clear the garage doors. If you order the one with an 8' bed, you are more than a foot longer, and it will either live outdoors or have a dedicated garage. Most of these monsters are traded in without ever having got their beds dirty. Fucking pretenders.
Because full-size pickups sell so well, and are so profitable, the "Big Three" dropped their mid-size pickups a few years ago. But then GM brought back a gussied-up new Colorado, and Ford will shortly follow with their new Ranger, which has been selling overseas all along. The U.S. Ranger will be a little bigger than the old one was - about 211".
But these mid-size pickups, being more than 210" long, and with a relatively short bed (less than 6' long) are near worthless as trucks. So you have an expensive truck that is almost too big to fit in a garage, but lacks any real cargo capacity.
What's the point?
Somebody should bring back the compact P/U. 190-195" long, with a full six-foot bed.
There used to be a class called, "compact" pickup trucks, which were basically the size of a mid-sized car (about 190"). They had either a 5 or a 6 foot bed, and could accommodate a sheet of drywall, sitting on top of the wheel wells, and extending off the end of the bed. The manufacturers sometimes made arrangements for this normal load, by putting indents in the sidewalls of the bed for 2x4 braces, so that a sheet of drywall could sit flat on those 2x4's.
"Mid-Size" pickups were, as you might imagine, somewhere between standard and compact. The classic mid-size was the Dodge Dakota.
Special mention should be given to the Honda Ridgeline here. This marvelously-designed truck, while stuck with a bed that is under 6', it still allows comfortable transport of plywood, because it is 49" BETWEEN the wheel-wells - the only mid-size truck ever to have this capacity. It had/has many other unique features as well, but they are not relevant here.
The grandfather of today's pickups, the Ford F1, remains the prototype. Coming with either a 6-1/2 foot or an 8 foot bed, the overall length was about 190 or 205, depending on bed length. Drywall would lay flat on the bed, between the wheelwells.
For comparison, today's standard family sedans (Honda Accord, Chevy Malibu, etc) are about 190" or a little more. The Europeans are more efficient with space, and they run a little shorter.
Most modern garages can accommodate a vehicle of 190" fairly comfortably. When you go over 200" it gets tight.
The gargantuan full-size pickup trucks of today - the ones that generate the most sales and profits for the manufacturers - are four-passenger, 4-door, short bed absurdities. At about 230" long, very few garages will accommodate them, even if the roof will clear the garage doors. If you order the one with an 8' bed, you are more than a foot longer, and it will either live outdoors or have a dedicated garage. Most of these monsters are traded in without ever having got their beds dirty. Fucking pretenders.
Because full-size pickups sell so well, and are so profitable, the "Big Three" dropped their mid-size pickups a few years ago. But then GM brought back a gussied-up new Colorado, and Ford will shortly follow with their new Ranger, which has been selling overseas all along. The U.S. Ranger will be a little bigger than the old one was - about 211".
But these mid-size pickups, being more than 210" long, and with a relatively short bed (less than 6' long) are near worthless as trucks. So you have an expensive truck that is almost too big to fit in a garage, but lacks any real cargo capacity.
What's the point?
Somebody should bring back the compact P/U. 190-195" long, with a full six-foot bed.
It’s about time, said Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer.
