Remember When A Pickup Was Basic? What Happened?

zelinadc · April 5, 2011

Remember the bench seat with a cowboy blanket cover, stick shift, wing windows, more likely than not 6 cyl 2WD truck that did all you asked - no matter the brand? I had an 80s F150 XL, plain jane 300 six with stick (granny gear). Not the fastest, most powerful... etc.. but simple and always got the job done. Im sure GM had a similar set up. You sat on the seat and the dust flew. Now we have a bunch of luxury trucks, arguing about most power, 0-60, and on and on... consumerism. Tech is nice and all, but I guess Im sorta old school (though not real old) :-)

Stevens03 · April 5, 2011

Thats why they make the "work" truck for those who still want it

zelinadc · April 5, 2011

Thats why they make the "work" truck for those who still want it

Doh! Yeah.. good point.. that was a not so well thought out post.. oh well. Just thinkin back to the "old days"

Georgebaumann · April 5, 2011

Evrythings getting wAY to computeristic and less mechanical.

Stevens03 · April 5, 2011

No... It was well thought out and delivered. You stated you liked it when a truck was a truck.. and you can still get it that way... so whats your point?

ernster500 · April 5, 2011

It pretty much started in the late '60s with the "glamour trucks" which is when they started offering all the frills ... that has evolved to the denalis escalades and lincolns of the day.

Baffeling to say the least!

zelinadc · April 5, 2011

No... It was well thought out and delivered. You stated you liked it when a truck was a truck.. and you can still get it that way... so whats your point?

Point being... "back in the day" trucks were not thought of as they are today. Deluxe meant you got a/c. My dad had a 67 GMC that was a light blue with me sitting on the hood.. then I recall him having one of those weird van front end and truck rear end things... dont recall who made it. Ah, and I recall gas tanks in the cab.

While the point was an examination of trucks and effects of consumerism on their original purpose, its evoloved to my own walk down memory lane and trucks my dad had... that's all. Im sure all of us have similar memories.

Superperv23 · April 5, 2011

Even the later of the GMT400 trucks were fairly nice inside thought so it has been happening for a while.

jro909 · April 5, 2011

i actually went out of my way for a base model, less shit to break lol

tanked_darren · April 5, 2011

i actually went out of my way for a base model, less shit to break lol

Me as well. A truck is a truck, if I wanted options like heated seats and crap like that I would have bought a cadillac! I roll my windows up, screw that motorized junk.

[email protected] · April 5, 2011

To me, having simple things like Power windows/locks, tilt, cruise, and AC are necessary for a daily driver. Maybe not as much for a company truck, though.

GM Guy 1 · April 5, 2011

I own trucks with power windows and automatics...but they reside in my junk fleet out back!

My running truck fleet consists of manual transmissions, windows, and locks, and rubber floors. only options are tilt/cruise/ and a/c, and that is only on a few. one doesnt have any of the above, the other only has a/c for options.

The only exception is my diesel suburban. it has PWDL and cruise and a/c. and carpet.

As far as new truck optioning, the thing I miss the most is the manual transmission.

Nytemare · April 5, 2011

Evrythings getting wAY to computeristic and less mechanical.

The addition of computers didn't change the drive train man....its still an engine that drives a diff through a trans....cant get much more mechanical actually.

The computer just monitors things, and won't let you do anything stupid.

Other than the geometry, there is no difference in the LS series engines and a 1960's 350 small block.

Its just its supporting systems, like charging, fuel delivery, etc that has changed.

And transmissions are shifted with solenoids to keep the shifts uniform as opposed to holes in a piece of metal sandwiched between a couple pieced of cast steel.

A standard shift trans is almost exactly like it was years ago.

MikeNH · April 5, 2011

My last Silverado was a base model and I'd likely never do that again so long as I can afford to buy vehicles that are actually nice places to spend time in. Manual mirrors suck, adjusting them is far to drawn out a process. The locks were ok being manual and the "simpler" manual windows still had the regulator fail on the rarely used passenger side. Manual t-case sucked, it never wanted to shift in motion like it was supposed to.

Stevens03 · April 5, 2011

To me, having simple things like Power windows/locks, tilt, cruise, and AC are necessary for a daily driver. Maybe not as much for a company truck, though.

AMEN! I'd never go back to the earlier trucks if I can help it. I enjoy the "creature" comforts of today's modern truck. Every truck I've owned in succession has had more "options" than the last because I like them. I see 99% of the people on here trying to upgrade their base/lower model trucks all the time. There adding dic controls, swapping seats, removing the center seats for consoles, installing rear sliders, adding sunroofs, upgrading wheels/tires, stereos, adding dvd players, using caddy parts on chevy and gmc trucks... why? you ask..... because they like those modern day comforts. If you didn't like doing that, most people wouldn't be here and there'd be no need for forums like this. My truck does everything a truck is intended to do but with more comfort than the earlier trucks ever offered. When it gets dirty, I clean it up. Why do you think they sell so many of them? To say you miss the poor running, gear grinding, horrible riding trucks of "yesterday" is just plain stupid in my mind. If your trying to say you miss the day when you didn't have to clean the inside of your truck as well as the outside.. well that's still your choice. The "good'ol days aren't always better" in my opinion.

I could find two dozen posts in just a few minutes about people complaining how stiff the ride is on their new truck, or the little vibration they get between 35-40mph, or the little noise the dash makes while going over a bump. Go drive a 1960-mid 80's pickup and then come back to your 1999-up and see which you like better. There's no comparison.

And lets face it, most fleet trucks are ordered the way they are because it's cheaper. Management buys more trucks with fewer options, because that just makes business sense. To order fewer trucks with more options is just stupid, so I don't think that's a good argument.

Just My opinion...