America's Love Affair With The Pickup Truck

Baseball, apple pie, and pickup trucks - three symbolsloan farmers money to buy them. Sales skyrocketed
of the down-home American heartland. Americansand the modern pickup became a staple of growing
tend to love all things American and the pickup truck isAmerica. While pickups were prevalent all over the
no exception. The very first pickup truck debuted,country, Texans became particularly fond of them.
thanks to Henry Ford, in 1925. Although a bit lengthy forCalling them "rancheros" because of their importance
today's marketing standards, Ford described it as ato Texas horse ranches, the state is sometimes
"Ford Model T Runabout with Pickup Body." It wasreferred to as "the land of pickup trucks." And rightfully
surprisingly similar to current pickups with an adjustableso. The state of Texas actually offers a lower tax on
tailgate, a large cargo box, and heavy-duty springs inpickup registration than it does on any other vehicle.
the rear. Throughout the United States' short history,Portrayed as a rough and rugged symbol of the
the pickup truck gained popularity and continued toultra-masculine American man, pickups began to make
evolve. Three years later, Ford replaced the Model Tappearances in Hollywood movies from neo-Westerns
with the Model A - which was the first closed-cabto the preferred vehicle of tough guys like Clint
pickup and included new features like roll-up sideEastwood in "Every Which Way But Loose," and John
windows and a safety glass windshield. Capable of aTravolta in "Urban Cowboy." And when a symbol of
whopping 40 horsepower (impressive at the time), theAmerica emerges, politics are right behind, ready to
Model A sported a four-cylinder engine andexploit it. In a campaign speech, presidential nominee
three-speed transmission. By 1931, Chevrolet steppedhopeful Fred Thompson even described his opponent's
up and offered its first pickup model in an effort tofaults by saying, "He hasn't spent enough time in a
compete with Ford. But Ford wasn't going anywhere.pickup truck," suggesting his opponent had trouble
They countered the following year by releasing anconnecting with the "real" America. Even President
even more powerful pickup with 65-horsepower andGeorge W. Bush - a proud Texan - has been
the Ford flathead V8 engine, a strategy that provedobserved driving around his ranch in a pickup. Pickup
profitable to say the least. By 1936, there were threetrucks are no less popular today. Car companies find
million Ford trucks on the road and the pickup led thethat while car sales in the U.S. are less stable, the
industry in sales. When the Great Depression hit,pickup truck holds its own. Even companies like Isuzu
farmers needed to scale back and could no longernow offer only high-performance pickup trucks (two
afford a truck for their farms and a car for theirmodels - the i-290 and i-370) and a single SUV model.
families. Thus, the need for a passenger-ready pickupAlthough people tend to love their SUVs and their
was born and an Australian Body designer at Fordflashy sports cars, pickup trucks continue to hold on as
Australia designed the "coupe utility" -- the precursor toone of the best selling American vehicles. And from
today's full cab pickups by marrying the front of a carwhat we surmise, apple pie isn't going anywhere either.
body to the rear of a pickup body. The result wasLooking for a new SUV? Isuzu has you covered with
successful worldwide and because they werethe all new 2008 line-up. Get an SUV price quote right
designed for work, American banks didn't hesitate toonline. Takes just a few minutes!