Question for the group: Why do you love your truck?

I've driven 4x4 trucks for years and wouldn't know what to do without them. I use a truck for truck stuff daily. When I had something more fun to use as a DD, there was always a truck in the driveway to use as a tow vehicle or to haul with, Current DD is a Jeep Gladiator and is actually fun to drive. Not a great pickup, not a great 4 seat vehicle, not a powerful tow/haul vehicle, but the best convertible 4-door pickup out there. It's 18 months old and has 28,000 trouble-free miles.

Previous daily drivers:

- Ram 1500 quad cab 

-Toyota Tundra Limited 4-door

-Toyota 4 Runner

-Jeep Grand Cherokee

-Isuzu Trooper 2-door

-Ford F-150 extra cab

- S10 Blazer

-Jeep Cherokee 2-door

That just about gets me back to college days..............

Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself said:

My dad bought a new '70 Chevy C20 pickup when he stopped drag racing.   Camper Special, 4.10 gears, jet black with red interior.  It was our family's only vehicle once the brakes went out on the '66 Pontiac Safari wagon and it took out a traffic light.   He bought a cab over camper and a 17' Larson speed boat and would haul the three kids, my mom, and our dog from the South Side of Chicago up to Cass Lake, Minnesota for vacations with it.  7-8 MpG was rough with just the factory 20 gallon in-cab tank, so he bought and installed a pair of 15 gallon saddle tanks to increase the distance between fill ups. 

When the company he worked for was sold and he got laid off, he bought a 1977 GMC G10 van in Buckskin Beige with a rear heater when he started his own vending business.   I learned to drive in the C20, and drove through high school.  Dad bought an '81 E150 with a 300 and an overdrive manual trans with that huge floor shifter.    We would use it when I would race District 17 Hare Scrambles.   We'd knock down 18-19 MpG with that thing running 70 MpH to get out to Danville, or Phrophetstown, or Peoria by 8AM on a Sunday.   Or Coal Valley, which isn't anywhere near Coal City, in case you didn't know.   We sure didn't.   And there wasn't a Google to tell us otherwise.   Trucks and vans were all I knew until I went to work with my uncle in Anchorage, AK.  And all I drove when I worked with him were tracks, as well.   Until I bought my first car, a 1971 Challenger R/T.  Well, that's what the seller told me, but who knows?

When I started four wheeling (with a Jeep Scrambler pickup, go figure), I decided I needed a truck to haul it, as I had a baaaad experience with my dad's old '85 Chevy van pulling a 24' enclosed trailer and a crosswind, a semi on the right, and a Trailways bus blasting past me on the left.   That's when I decided I wanted wheelbase, and plenty of it.    I bought a '77 Dodge D200 Club Cab long bed with a 440, and never looked back.   I have owned either a truck or a van (or more than one of each) ever since.   I'm too busy either hauling or towing something too often to go without.   With my Midcentury Modern resale business, I have to be able to pick up furniture at the drop of a hat.   Picking up a non running car is so much easier if I don't have to worry about renting or borrowing a vehicle and trailer.     Plus, I LIKE driving trucks.   Yes, even the ones people think are too big for personal use.




But I really don't understand when people feel the need to pass judgment.  No matter what someone else drives.

 

Mid century Modern resale?  Please start a thread about this over in Off-Topic.  I'd like to know more.  Love those houses.

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

What about Subaru?  Can you love your Subaru or Biturbo?

Love my Outback. I bought it for other reasons than what I use it for now but it just works really well for me.

Two different short notice occurrences meant that I needed a vehicle to pick up more than 1/3 cord of wood last night for an event tomorrow, and that could fit 6 people in it for an event tonight. The fact that I didn't have to think twice about either, because it could easily do both simultaneously, is just the latest (and timely) reason that I love my truck.

I like the new title better and pictures of folks' trucks doing truck stuff.  Here's a quick collage of my favorite appliance.

If my Honda Odyssey could tow 10k lbs I wouldn't need a truck 

Personally trucks aren't really something I like. Once I get some problems fixed with my Element, I am selling the pickup. It is useful but not so much more useful then the Element that I need one in my life. Basically I use it as a truck to get mulch once a year but the place for a little more money will deliver mulch. I may also get a utility trailer to tow behind my wife's SUV.

I see why some people like them but I don't need one in my life.

However if one of these came into my life I wouldn't kick it out.

AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) said:

So you can love your truck, Miata or race car?  Heck yeah!  Carry on!  This just got a whole lot better.

 

What about Subaru?  Can you love your Subaru or Biturbo?

Only a masochist can love a Subaru. 

I'm not sure I love my truck. I think it's a vehicle that was evolved to meet its users needs, and very well so. The Big Three US automakers really only take trucks and minivans seriously, and you can tell. There are lessons learned all over the place inside this thing, from loads of storage to an onboard inverter to a center console you can use as a desk.

It's a stick, has cloth seats and no screens inside. But it has an integrated trailer brake and a compression brake (ish) and it loves to pull. It's a 6'4" bed but that's good enough to carry a big load of gravel or a few sets of race tires and tools. Basically, it's a really, really good tool. I take care of it and it does what I ask without complaint. It's towed race cars across the continent from Newfoundland to Socal.

(note, in the second picture it's loaded up with a bunch of wheels and tires and suspension and brakes and everything you need to do a weekend upgrade from stock to track ready on a Miata)

I appreciate it and I like it and I wouldn't be able to get by without it. But I'm not sure I love it, because my identity isn't tied up in having it and I'm not going to go out and buy a bunch of Cummins stickers or t-shirts.

My reasons are similar to Keith's.  I'm not a "truck guy", I own one as a tool not as a toy.  It's a tool that is supremely capable of doing the things I need to do to support my racing hobby.  First and foremost it tows the trailer with aplomb:

It will haul a huge number of tires to the tire store for mounting and balancing (mounting six new tires for the trailer here):

While an engine might technically fit in the back of a minivan, you'd have a hard time putting it in there with a forklift.  It's also much better for the inevitable oil spills:

And finally the interior is a nice, comfy place to be, with a good sound system and a radar cruise control system that makes handling California traffic jams way less stressful, even while towing.

After my divorce, I moved from a large house with 3-car garage to an apartment in the city with one covered parking spot. It was about the same time as I got really serious about racing.

Leased a Ram 1500 for $400/month for 3 years. Kept the racecar at a friends garage and rented a UHaul trailer for race weekends. Daily drove the truck, which was a lot nicer than I had expected: smooth ride, quiet, comfortable, great iPhone integration, pretty good "road holding" lol, and good visibility. It wasn't much fun to drive and really sucked to park in the city. But not nearly as bad as I had expected.

I returned the lease this summer. Couldn't justify buying it out at 8% or whatever; I didn't like it THAT much. This season I've been renting both trailer and pickup from UHaul. It's much cheaper than truck payments, insurance, maintenance, and 19 mpg efficiency year-round for something I really only "need" 4-5 times per season. But I do miss being able to haul tires, tools, engines, parts, etc. on a moment's notice.

I love my truck because it's a simple, fun, usable, project. Parts are (relatively) cheap, it satisfies my apparent need for a V8, and it just looks good. Funnily enough this "full-size" truck is only 6 inches longer than a Maverick and weighs less than a Challenger. Sure the ride isn't the smoothest, and it lacks pretty much ALL convenience features, but that's what the ATS is for

(Truck and Dad's Challenger at ZMax on Powertour this year)

Everyone loves my truck.

I mean, what's not to love?

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:

Everyone loves my truck.

Seeing you do dynamic pulls using what looked like the trailer ball made me wince. They're known to fail and launch, which turns them into a small cannonball. 

If you weren't using the trailer ball, ignore me.

 

Hey! That looks like my truck.

In reply to LanEvo :

I have a 4cyl, 5spd Tacoma. It's mint.

In reply to bobzilla :

Well we all know what a lot of people around here think of me :p :).  Have a nice day Bob.

Maybe I should post a photo showing all my Blipshift Subaru T shirts along with my old car on a few shirts too.  

I have 2 trucks. Both F150s. Both crew cabs. Both about 10 years old. High trim levels. One has a 5.0L, one has an EB. 
 

My girlfriend has been driving the EB for a week or so. She normally drives an Audi Q7.  Yesterday she told me she wants to buy the EB F150 from me and get rid of the Q7.

Truck love continues...

I like my truck because it's an enabler - a tool to get projects done more efficiently. Like many here, I have a bunch of projects going on and need a way to keep them moving. Buying an engine is a perfect example - you want to go get it now - not wasting time figuring out how to tie it down in the back of the SUV, or worse, having to listen to the wife - forever - complaining about the oil stains you left in the back.

Because Border Collies love trucks. All my dogs love the truck.

I think the short answer is my truck makes my life easier. Sure I could make a different vehicle work for some tasks, or rent one for others. But neither of those options is as easy as just grabbing the keys to the truck, which has done whatever I have asked of it for almost 20 years without fail. 

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) said:

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:

Everyone loves my truck.

Seeing you do dynamic pulls using what looked like the trailer ball made me wince. They're known to fail and launch, which turns them into a small cannonball. 

If you weren't using the trailer ball, ignore me.

 

Clevis on 1/2" thick plate that is the center of that bumper. Heads up appreciated. People were reasonably far away, but as always, things could have gone wrong....

Truck earned it's keep doing truck things today.

200km hauling another truck on my flatbed. Charging $2 per km.

Other truck is at my shop to get fixed and sorted out for it's owner.

I love my truck because it does truck things.

In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :

I used to think our 7.3 Powerstroke was noisy.

Then my tenant dragged home an old 12-valve Cummins.

Like two cheese graters fornicating in a garbage can.