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Why!!!! Hipsters!!! Why!!!!!

Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
The answer to that is an older, honest, piece of American steel.

I tire of the My Ford is better than your Chevy is better than your Dodge, over and over.

I have a buddy who has a new Chevy truck, and it's great, if you want a pretty little plywood hauler. They just don't seem well-built. I've noticed it with all the new ones. Lots of plastic stuff that looks easy to break.

My old '89 Dodge takes a wolliping and ever gives up, same with my Dad's '52 Ford and my Mom's '92 Silverado.

I know you were being facetious, but I had an answer :p

So, I have to ask:

Which IS the best pick up truck?

As for Coffee, doesn't anybody drink a cheap house-brand. I buy Wal-Mart's Great Value brand. It's like 3 bucks a can.
 

MisterCairo

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,005
Location
Gads Hill, Ontario
Tom,
you say the plastic looks breakable.
Have you in fact driven and used a new truck? My inlaws are farmers and they don't use 1980s vintage vehicles and they seem to do fine with the 2000-esque models they use and abuse.
You do know the stuff that's hauled goes in the all-metal back, and not in the plastic cab, right?
Sorry if I sound sarcastic, but not everything new is crap, and not everything old is great.
 
Tom,
you say the plastic looks breakable.
Have you in fact driven and used a new truck? My inlaws are farmers and they don't use 1980s vintage vehicles and they seem to do fine with the 2000-esque models they use and abuse.
You do know the stuff that's hauled goes in the all-metal back, and not in the plastic cab, right?
Sorry if I sound sarcastic, but not everything new is crap, and not everything old is great.

Not everything new is crap---just most of it. You can't possibly argue that planned obsolescence intrinsically makes things made today more reliable and long lived because they expect you to throw away the old one and replace it with a new one in a very short time. For vehicles it is supposed that every five to ten years is the lifetime of a vehicle. This might be a bit different in your neck of the woods though.
The bad economy is really turning some of these ideas on the planners though. People are keeping cars longer but they do get to a point where they are just not worth repairing anymore......
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
Some of the farmers have them, I used to use one for a Construction Company and on a Farm I worked on a few years ago, all the plastic inside is usually broken. As a work vehicle, they need to take a beating in and out. They're all yuppie trucks now, they're not built for that like they used to be.

While I haven't witnessed it myself, yet. I hear some of the (I think Dodge) trucks aren't built with a full frame style, but more of a frame/unibody hybrid, and that you have to purchase a 2500 or larger to get the traditional rear build. I can't imagine something like that would be better for hauling a hay wagon or anything. It's all for fuel mileage and ride-quality. If those are your concerns, I suggest a Prius.

Even my sister's truck, it's a 2000 is just falling apart, especially inside. The backs of the seats are ripped to shreds, the passenger door doesn't open and shut right. It hasn't even lived a rough life. It was an old guy's truck. He more or less used it to putz around. You know the types, topper, 2-wheel-drive, not a lot of hauling ability with what are called 'grandpa trucks' around here, so they're usually bought up by those who know they've lived an easy life. Pretty sad when even those are falling apart.

My buddy had a 2000, too, not a F-150, but a Silverado, and as is typical of that body style, the wheel wells, cab corners, etc were so rotted out that you'd poke it and it'd just fall apart. Remember the 80's Toyota trucks that were prone to that? Yeah, it's like that. I know all vehicles get rust, but the older ones don't seem to fall apart so easy.

I could go on, but this isn't the place. Bottom line, trucks used to be built to be trucks, a midpoint between a Tractor and a Station Wagon, now they're built so the yuppies who move out to the country, or are trying to look like some other blue-collar person, and want to have a toy with all the charm and grace of an econocar. I for one ain't buying it, and don't plan to.

Go figure, someone on a site such as the Fedora Lounge wouldn't buy into the modern styles. Who'da thought, right?

Tom,
you say the plastic looks breakable.
Have you in fact driven and used a new truck? My inlaws are farmers and they don't use 1980s vintage vehicles and they seem to do fine with the 2000-esque models they use and abuse.
You do know the stuff that's hauled goes in the all-metal back, and not in the plastic cab, right?
Sorry if I sound sarcastic, but not everything new is crap, and not everything old is great.
 
Some of the farmers have them, I used to use one for a Construction Company and on a Farm I worked on a few years ago, all the plastic inside is usually broken. As a work vehicle, they need to take a beating in and out. They're all yuppie trucks now, they're not built for that like they used to be.

While I haven't witnessed it myself, yet. I hear some of the (I think Dodge) trucks aren't built with a full frame style, but more of a frame/unibody hybrid, and that you have to purchase a 2500 or larger to get the traditional rear build. I can't imagine something like that would be better for hauling a hay wagon or anything. It's all for fuel mileage and ride-quality. If those are your concerns, I suggest a Prius.

Even my sister's truck, it's a 2000 is just falling apart, especially inside. The backs of the seats are ripped to shreds, the passenger door doesn't open and shut right. It hasn't even lived a rough life. It was an old guy's truck. He more or less used it to putz around. You know the types, topper, 2-wheel-drive, not a lot of hauling ability with what are called 'grandpa trucks' around here, so they're usually bought up by those who know they've lived an easy life. Pretty sad when even those are falling apart.

My buddy had a 2000, too, not a F-150, but a Silverado, and as is typical of that body style, the wheel wells, cab corners, etc were so rotted out that you'd poke it and it'd just fall apart. Remember the 80's Toyota trucks that were prone to that? Yeah, it's like that. I know all vehicles get rust, but the older ones don't seem to fall apart so easy.

I could go on, but this isn't the place. Bottom line, trucks used to be built to be trucks, a midpoint between a Tractor and a Station Wagon, now they're built so the yuppies who move out to the country, or are trying to look like some other blue-collar person, and want to have a toy with all the charm and grace of an econocar. I for one ain't buying it, and don't plan to.

Go figure, someone on a site such as the Fedora Lounge wouldn't buy into the modern styles. Who'da thought, right?

You have a point there. There are trucks that hipsters and such drive and then there are trucks made for work nowadays. They sort of have two tiers now. In order to get real work trucks now, you have to buy the Super Heavy Duty models. The regular ones just won't cut it. Of course that doesn't mean that the body and interiors won't fall apart. It just means the running gear is beefier. :p
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
The Super Duties and the like are sharp looking trucks, but they mostly look like rich peoples' playthings to me. A real truck should have lots of metal, inside and out, an engine you can actually SEE, not plastic guards everywhere. A BENCH seat, wing windows, preferably, metal bumpers (without the little plastic trims on them), and even better if they're a single-cab, with an 8-foot box. One of my best friends has a 2008 Dodge Ram, the thing's a 4-door for goodness sake and he bought it as a 'family car.' Nice vehicle? Absolutely. What comes to mind for a work truck? Absolutely not.

You have a point there. There are trucks that hipsters and such drive and then there are trucks made for work nowadays. They sort of have two tiers now. In order to get real work trucks now, you have to buy the Super Heavy Duty models. The regular ones just won't cut it. Of course that doesn't mean that the body and interiors won't fall apart. It just means the running gear is beefier. :p

THIS is a work truck.

$T2eC16VHJF4FFkr1jgJ(BR,(JncwO!~~_4.JPG


This is a toy.
266669d1347324147-my-truck-my-boat-hooked-up-006.jpg
 

Pompidou

One Too Many
Messages
1,242
Location
Plainfield, CT
My 95 S10 lasted me till June, 2012. I replaced it with a functionally identical 2012 Silverado. It's small, but the cafe doesn't need heavy duty. It just needs more than a car trunk.

As far as coffee goes, I'm a huge fan of fresh ground, medium roast, fair trade, organic Equal Exchange, a worker cooperative, offerings, done French Press. 24 cups a day keeps the doctor away. Coffee is something I'm insanely passionate about, and hope to offer coffee tasting classes at some point.
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
They're great for stuff like that. My co-worker has an S10, a 1985 or so, it's ugly, it's rusty, but it won't die, and all he does is haul a little wood with it.

I just don't think most of them would hold up to the stuff they show them doing in the commercials, these days.

My 95 S10 lasted me till June, 2012. I replaced it with a functionally identical 2012 Silverado. It's small, but the cafe doesn't need heavy duty. It just needs more than a car trunk.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,755
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The fact is, let me say that again, the fact is, modern cars last far longer than the steel good 'ol vehicles of yesteryear. Another thread has a flame war on this subject. People confuse ease of personal repair (oh, a can of WD-40 and a screwdriver and I can tune up my old 1975 Chevy Whatever in 12 minutes) with "better".

I think the point is that those who use trucks as actual *working vehicles* as opposed to parking-lot peacockery, would consider ease of repair to be a definite "better." You don't see too many modern "sport" vehicles around here hauling lobster gear.
 

1961MJS

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,370
Location
Norman Oklahoma
Hi

One of the 4H parents had a Cadillac Pick up truck. Personally that's blasphemy. Pick up trucks shouldn't even be made with carpeting on the floor, it just holds the pig crap smell in the truck. Fortunately, a lot of the bulky stuff hauled in pickups isn't that heavy and a light duty truck can handle it (like lobster gear).

later
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,755
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
One lobster trap is light. Fifty lobster traps are not.

To say nothing of the havoc being wrought on engine electronics by constant exposure to salt water and salt air. In such circumstances a simple carbureted engine is far superior to anything the moderns have come up with, and any working-truck owner around here will tell you so. These aren't people who have the money to spend on dealer service and such -- they have to be able to keep their vehicles running as cheaply and efficiently as possible. They do their own work because they have no choice. That's why you see all these '70s/'80s trucks still hauling, even though the owners have to register them with antique plates to avoid annual inspections.
 
Last edited:
One lobster trap is light. Fifty lobster traps are not.

To say nothing of the havoc being wrought on engine electronics by constant exposure to salt water and salt air. In such circumstances a simple carbureted engine is far superior to anything the moderns have come up with, and any working-truck owner around here will tell you so. These aren't people who have the money to spend on dealer service and such -- they have to be able to keep their vehicles running as cheaply and efficiently as possible. They do their own work because they have no choice. That's why you see all these '70s/'80s trucks still hauling, even though the owners have to register them with antique plates to avoid annual inspections.
Out here you see some REALLY old trucks still being used because rust is not a problem and the engine AND bodies last forever. You will see me still hauling from a couple yards of bark for the yard to a few hundred pounds of crushed stone in my 57 GMC. It still hauls with the best of them and I can fix whatever ails her in a short time. And we must remember that Hipsters would say a carbureted engine is "naturally aspirated." :p
 

1961MJS

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,370
Location
Norman Oklahoma
One lobster trap is light. Fifty lobster traps are not.

To say nothing of the havoc being wrought on engine electronics by constant exposure to salt water and salt air. In such circumstances a simple carbureted engine is far superior to anything the moderns have come up with, and any working-truck owner around here will tell you so. These aren't people who have the money to spend on dealer service and such -- they have to be able to keep their vehicles running as cheaply and efficiently as possible. They do their own work because they have no choice. That's why you see all these '70s/'80s trucks still hauling, even though the owners have to register them with antique plates to avoid annual inspections.

50 lobster traps aren't as heavy as a truck load of hay bales or a truck load of gravel though is what I was getting at though.

I agree with the rest. Yearly inspections are a pain, in many states because it's done at a dealership or mechanic's shop who use it to drum up business. Don't ask how I know...

Later
 

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