When I was a Yoot in the 50's and 60's, NOBODY in my urban environment had a pickup truck as a "family" vehicle. Dads who had small businesses that required a truck had one, but that was it. When a kid had to drive the truck he was NOT happy about it. Pickup trucks typically were vehicles with a small cabin having one vinyl bench seat, an in-line six, and three on the tree. The box was 8 feet long. They were very quick to rust, got lousy gas mileage, were terrible in snow, and of course the handled like trucks.
Later there came a time when some married men decided that they wanted a truck, for no particular reason. Wives hated them. They often didn't fit in the garage, but the drawbacks were not addressed. An acquaintance of mine bought one in the '71-72 timeframe and we talked about what he DID with it. Basically, nothing. He confided that when they took the truck for groceries, the groceries were packed in the truck and he had to sit in the bed (his wife drove). Nice. LIke it or not, when you got a truck you instantly got a number of new "friends"...guys who were moving, buying furniture, or moving "stuff" around and wanted to borrow your truck, or - worse - wanted you AND your truck to assist with the project.
In the late 60's and early 70's, when fast cars were in vogue, a truck was the opposite of what most people wanted. No matter how much HP you put in your truck it was still slow, compared to the ponycars and muscle cars that people were driving at the time. And of course the mileage was even worse than a muscle car.
Fast forward 40 years.
Trucks have lost most of their utility. Most of them have four doors and a puny-ass 5' bed, which is nearly worthless for lumber, drywall, or plywood. You can't even get a load of mulch with them, because the front-end loaders at the nursery have 6' buckets. Not that anyone today would want to get the bed dirty. How vulgar.
Most manufacturers have produced mega-expensive trucks that have gi-normous engines, intended to make these monsters go fast." Why you would buy a truck when you want to go fast is beyond me, especially considering how horribly trucks handle. And they all have expensive hyper-luxurious models (e.g., "Denali"), and again, why would you buy a TRUCK if your desire is to drive a comfortable vehicle? Cars are more comfortable, period.
They still get miserable fuel economy (except for the Diesels, which are priced to overcome any possible fuel cost savings). The handling is still dreadful. In standard form, they are still slow, compared to most standard, 4-cylinder cars.
Interestingly, the biggest single reason for the popularity of pickups today is the technology that has allowed oil companies to find and extract so much crude oil that gas prices appear to be stabilized at an acceptable level for the foreseeable future. Without that, nobody would want a vehicle that gets an honest 13mpg in normal driving.
To the extent that they are used as "family" vehicles, trucks and large SUV's are a pox on the landscape as far as I'm concerned. They make driving more dangerous for everyone who is not driving one.
Maybe if Biden is elected he will figure out a way to get rid of them (for everyone but The Rich).
Later there came a time when some married men decided that they wanted a truck, for no particular reason. Wives hated them. They often didn't fit in the garage, but the drawbacks were not addressed. An acquaintance of mine bought one in the '71-72 timeframe and we talked about what he DID with it. Basically, nothing. He confided that when they took the truck for groceries, the groceries were packed in the truck and he had to sit in the bed (his wife drove). Nice. LIke it or not, when you got a truck you instantly got a number of new "friends"...guys who were moving, buying furniture, or moving "stuff" around and wanted to borrow your truck, or - worse - wanted you AND your truck to assist with the project.
In the late 60's and early 70's, when fast cars were in vogue, a truck was the opposite of what most people wanted. No matter how much HP you put in your truck it was still slow, compared to the ponycars and muscle cars that people were driving at the time. And of course the mileage was even worse than a muscle car.
Fast forward 40 years.
Trucks have lost most of their utility. Most of them have four doors and a puny-ass 5' bed, which is nearly worthless for lumber, drywall, or plywood. You can't even get a load of mulch with them, because the front-end loaders at the nursery have 6' buckets. Not that anyone today would want to get the bed dirty. How vulgar.
Most manufacturers have produced mega-expensive trucks that have gi-normous engines, intended to make these monsters go fast." Why you would buy a truck when you want to go fast is beyond me, especially considering how horribly trucks handle. And they all have expensive hyper-luxurious models (e.g., "Denali"), and again, why would you buy a TRUCK if your desire is to drive a comfortable vehicle? Cars are more comfortable, period.
They still get miserable fuel economy (except for the Diesels, which are priced to overcome any possible fuel cost savings). The handling is still dreadful. In standard form, they are still slow, compared to most standard, 4-cylinder cars.
Interestingly, the biggest single reason for the popularity of pickups today is the technology that has allowed oil companies to find and extract so much crude oil that gas prices appear to be stabilized at an acceptable level for the foreseeable future. Without that, nobody would want a vehicle that gets an honest 13mpg in normal driving.
To the extent that they are used as "family" vehicles, trucks and large SUV's are a pox on the landscape as far as I'm concerned. They make driving more dangerous for everyone who is not driving one.
Maybe if Biden is elected he will figure out a way to get rid of them (for everyone but The Rich).
