None enjoyed anywhere near the sales volumes of Datsun and Toyota. Dodge and Plymouth didn’t get on the bandwagon until the late ’70s and early ’80s with the Mitsubishi-sourced Dodge D50 and Plymouth Arrow. Not to be left out, Chevrolet introduced the LUV (Light Utility Vehicle) from Isuzu that same year. Arriving in 1972, Ford’s Courier was a thinly disguised Mazda, which brought over its own version the same year. Those numbers were too big for domestic manufacturers to ignore, leading to the introduction of so-called captive-import pickups from their overseas subsidiaries. Datsun and Toyota reaped the benefits, with combined sales of roughly 100,000 units per year. Today, crew cabs are available with interiors rivaling those of a luxury car, and they’re the configuration of choice for families.īy the dawn of the 1970s, the compact-pickup-truck craze was in full swing, led by those trendy Californians and their fondness for modifying pickups with wider tires, custom wheels, and other personal touches. The movement was well underway by the time General Motors started building Chevrolet and GMC crew cabs in 1973. But as the metamorphosis of trucks into family haulers got going in the late 1960s and ’70s, crew cabs moved upmarket with nicer interiors and the amenities of passenger cars. The first crew cabs were bought almost exclusively by utility companies and contractors, and they were designed solely to get workers and their gear to and from the job site. Production moved in-house in 1964, and Ford brought out its own four-door pickup a year later. Dodge joined the party in 1961, although its earliest examples were converted by an outside contractor. ![]() A three-door design with a full back seat and room for six, the Travelette didn’t sprout a fourth door until 1961. The now defunct International Harvester introduced the first crew-cab pickup, the Travelette, in 1957. Here’s a look at some of the milestone models that have led to the choices we have today. Ram alone offers 12 different trim levels, and all the major manufacturers let buyers choose among at least three different cab sizes, several bed lengths, and two- or four-wheel drive. is the Ford pickup, and it’s been that way for 35 years.Īs trucks' popularity has grown, so has the variety of models and equipment available, enabling buyers to choose anything from a basic work truck to a rugged off-roader to a four-door family hauler to feature-laden models with all the comforts of a luxury car. America’s love affair with the pickup has blossomed to the point where the bestselling vehicle in the U.S. Once the most basic of basic transportation, embraced only by farmers and tradespeople, pickups today are often as likely to be loaded up with options as cargo, and they have become the personal transportation of millions of individuals and families-many of whom never burden their trucks with more than a few bags of groceries or a bicycle or two. It would be hard to argue that any type of vehicle is more uniquely American than the pickup truck.
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