My idea of double bass
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They would look even bigger if your arms were longer…lol
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Well, mom’s liked them and still should. In my opinion the Toyota Previa may have been the best of the lot, a number of them went 3-400,000mi. and they were RWD. The whims of fashion are another matter, but this type of vehicle still seems to be popular in Europe.
@ken2116. I would bet that in 5 years or so, pickup trucks won’t be fashionable and go back to being work trucks.
I have had colleagues trade in vehicles that had plenty of service left because they weren’t in style. I lived through the 1950s where there was little or no technological improvement in cars, but the body style was changed and a car was traded in because it looked “out of date”.
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Speaking of the '50’s, do you think mohair will make a come back? It was comfortable hot or cold and seamed to wear forever. At a parking lot car meet a few summers ago I poked my head into the open window of an early '50’s Buick and breathed deeply of that lovely, organic pre-vinyl odor - brought up memories of drive-ins.
"ken2116
Speaking of the '50’s, do you think mohair will make a come back? It was comfortable hot or cold and seamed to wear forever.
We can only hope anything is better than vinyl.
Too late, my high school mohair sweaters are long gone.
@ken2116. I had forgotten all about mohair seats. I know my parents 1939 Chevrolet and 1947 Dodge had mohair seats. When the fabric wore out, my dad installed fiber seat covers. He liked these seat covers because they were cooler in the summer than plastic seat covers.
@Renegade. I agree with you about vinyl seats. One of my specifications when we buy a car is that it has cloth seat upholstery.
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Minivans are still around and infinitely more practical than SUVs. Sliding doors are easier to get in and out of, especially if you’re putting a kid in a car seat. They have far more cargo space and more useful space. The deck is lower, making it easier to get in and easier to load, and the generally handle better and get better gas mileage than SUVs.
Our family of 5 was on vacation a while ago and I rented a full sized SUV rather than a minivan because it was signficantly cheaper. The rental company ‘upgraded’ us to a Nissan Armada. The thing was gigantic - I felt like I was driving a battle ship, but it barely had enough room for the 5 of us and our luggage. The trunk area in the back was about 3 feet off the ground making it difficult for my short wife to load. It advertises ‘3rd row seating,’ but the 3rd row is so cramped that it’s unusable and if you use it you have no cargo space left. In contrast, we fit 7 people with their luggage in our Honda Odyssey.
You can try to do that, but the fact of the matter is that cars are a fashion symbol for most people. Minivans are seen as frumpy and un-cool and many people won’t even look at them. Of course everyone I know who has one loves them. Go figure.
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A homeless guy was sleeping in car at store by me. I drive by on way to work. Always there. Ford Taurus. Last month a corolla took its place. Sheesh, even more cramped. Why not buy a dodge minivan? So cheap on cL. And roomy.
And on the subject of practical utilitarian vehicles I was very impressed with the Chrysler K series wagons
I doubt it. The number of people who buy pickups and really need one is a small percentage of all pickup sales. It’s been that way for decades.
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They were so unreliable. My brother-in-law was plant manager for Chryco at the time…He thought they were complete junk. He refused one as his company car.
@MikeInNH. When I was of driving age in the late 1950s, the farm kids my age didn’t want to drive the family pickup truck on a date. They took the family car. When these kids bought a vehicle of their own, it was a coupe’. The pickup.trucks back then were work vehicles. When I was transferred from the country school to a city school in the wealthy section of town, nobody had a pickup truck. The families had two or more cars, but no pickup trucks.
As far as the Chrysler K-cars are concerned, the university where I was employed had at least 10 in its fleet. The head of the motor pool didn’t think they had any more problems than the other cars in the fleet. I drove the K cars quite a few times to conferences and also to an extension class on a military base 60 miles away. I actually preferred the K car to the Ford Tempo that I owned. I bought the Tempo instead of the K car because I got a better deal on the Tempo. However, the K car had more room than the Tempo. I traded the Tempo after three years for a Taurus because the Tempo lacked the roominess in the passenger compartment.
The F150 pickup has been the biggest selling vehicle since 1982 (almost 40 years).
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What’s interesting is that except for one year in the 1950s, Chevrolet sold more than a million cars each year in the U.S. I believe Ford only reached one million F 150s in one year. The population of the U.S. has certainly increased since the 1950s. Yet, Chevrolet sold more cars per capita than Ford has ever sold F 150s. I know that part of this is that cars wore out more quickly back in the 1950s. Also, there are more types of vehicles to choose from today. We also didn’t have the Asian makes in any great numbers back in the 1950s.
I don’t think the present F 150 could do the work that my 1950 Chevrolet 3800 one ton pickup could do. I could put the truck in first gear and stretch fence. The bed was big enough that I could haul 50 bales of hay at a time. I would buy hay right out of the field for the horse we had. On the other hand, the F150 could outrun the old Chevrolet 3800 on the highway. The speedometer didn’t work on my truck, but I would bet that the stovebolt 216 cubic inch engine would have been hard pressed to get the truck over 60 mph.
There was sign on the dashboard that one of the previous owners of the truck, probably the water works had posted that read “No Joy Riding In This Vehicle”. Someone had scribbled below the sign “Ain’t That The Truth”. I guess today’s F 150s are for joy riding.
I once loaded and hauled 48 bails on a LWB early 60s Chevrolet @Triedaq. And I had to pull about 8 bails off the top and walk them under a bridge, then reload. I have thought for years that could have beena Guiness record that no one would ever beat. My hat’s off to you.
BTW, that was 48 bails loaded without side planks or ropes.
I think it can indeed do more work than the one ton Chevy.
In the list of F150 specs there are versions, with various engines that will tow as much as 12,000 lbs, carry 3000 lbs (1.5 tons) in a bigger bed than your 3800 had, run 100 mph without a breaking a sweat, and get 20 mpg on the highway. The 10 speed automatic and the extra weight of the F150 would stretch fence AND drag your granny-low 216 6-banger all around the farm. Plus it would run 7500 miles on an oil change and not need plugs and points every 12K miles.
Memories of the past are always better than the reality.
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@Rod-Knox I had a couple ropes around the stack of hay bales. I would buy enough hay to last through the winter
@Mustangman My Chevrolet 3800 was a long bed–I believe it was 10 feet. The bed on these F-150 4 door pickup trucks aren’t 10’ long. The GVW of the Chevrolet 3800 was 8800 lbs.
Probably a better comparison would be with the Ford F-350.
I do know for pulling a horse trailer complete with horse, that the F-250 I rented was more up to the task than the F-150 that I also had rented to transport the horse.
In my country days, we matched the pickup truck to the tasks it was to perform. I would rather have owned a Ford F-250 back in the day when I had the Chevrolet 3800. However, for my budget back in 1972, I couldn’t be choosey for $120–the price I paid for the 1950 Chevy one ton pickup.
A friend who is a contractor had to replace his very worn out Ford F150 several years ago. Despite preferring Ford trucks, he bought a Chevy Silverado because he was able to get it at a huge discount. But it has turned out to have hugely more problems than the old truck. Everything from transmission issues to interior trim that started falling apart almost immediately.