What happened to small trucks?

[Birdhunter1]

I bought this one new from the Ford Salesman (who was my dad) on May 30th, 2007. 3.0 V6 auto 4wd, couldn't be happier with this truck. I've hauled home about 30 deer with it, could have heaped the bed 10 or 12 times with the pheasants and quail it's hauled, ran a mowing route, built my shop and house, and the list goes on.
Hit two deer and rolled it once, it was repaired each time.

I can also count the repair parts I've had to buy in it's 134000 miles.

 

[kcflhrc]

Ever since I read this post I see small pickups everywhere now. Saw 2 Rangers this morning and a couple of Mazda's.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Speaking of obsessions ....

You are safer with more airbags. People walk away from wrecks today that would have been fatalities or lifetime disabling years ago. It's hard to find the evil in that from any perspective, from economic to simple human compassion.

A lot of these crash safety items are driven by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's real test results.
IIHS-HLDI: Crash Testing & Highway Safety

My youngest daughter fell asleep driving home from college in a Toyota Camry we bought used with 100k on the odometer. She hit a stone wall that had been the foundation of a grits mill and landed on the old penstock pipe just a few feet from the river. The air bags and seat belts gave her some crash rash and a bloody nose. that scared the BeJesus out of the people that came on her when she climbed out the back doors ( the fronts were crumpled too much to open) and up the stone wall in the dark and got up to the edge of the road. That would surly have been a fatality when I was a teenager.

 

[DrRod]

View attachment 431416
I bought this one new from the Ford Salesman (who was my dad) on May 30th, 2007. 3.0 V6 auto 4wd, couldn't be happier with this truck. I've hauled home about 30 deer with it, could have heaped the bed 10 or 12 times with the pheasants and quail it's hauled, ran a mowing route, built my shop and house, and the list goes on.


30 deer in 8 years. Hmmm - just what are the game laws in Illinois? Or are you just providing friendly helpful transport for deer on vacation?

 

[California]

My solution - Back when I worked as a carpenter, it was always a problem to secure my tools in my pickup. My other vehicle, a Willys Wagon, then other enclosed SUV's (Wagoneer) (Trooper) were better for keeping tools secure at an urban jobsite. Starting since then I've used trailers when I needed to haul something.

Here's a couple of examples. My 4x8 trailer behind the 4x4 Subaru Outback or the Focus Wagon (30mpg, towing) has met my modest needs in the past 10 years. These vehicles tow rating, and the trailer's capacity, are all 2000 lbs, similar to a small pickup. I realize this isn't the solution for everyone but it serves my application.

Thinking back over the years I've rented a U-haul once in 1978 (moved), once in the 80's (camping with several guests) and then one other time, 2003 to bring home the first Yanmar (when I had the Trooper to pull it with). Owning a full size pickup for all those years might have cost enough more that I would have had to work another year or two more before I could afford to retire. Sure, I'm cheap! Reducing costs this way allowed me to retire at 54. 15+ years later we're still comfortable, it was the right choice.

And the trailer is more broadly useful than a pickup in my application, maintaining an orchard.

 

[Birdhunter1]

View attachment 431416
I bought this one new from the Ford Salesman (who was my dad) on May 30th, 2007. 3.0 V6 auto 4wd, couldn't be happier with this truck. I've hauled home about 30 deer with it, could have heaped the bed 10 or 12 times with the pheasants and quail it's hauled, ran a mowing route, built my shop and house, and the list goes on.


30 deer in 8 years. Hmmm - just what are the game laws in Illinois? Or are you just providing friendly helpful transport for deer on vacation?

Some were mine, some were given to me, some belonged to others but we were hunting together. I should also add three hunting trips to Central Wyoming in which 9 Antelope were hauled home.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Some were mine, some were given to me, some belonged to others but we were hunting together. I should also add three hunting trips to Central Wyoming in which 9 Antelope were hauled home.

I expected that that was your answer. Anybody that is really into hunting will max out what their home state provides plus dip into what the neighboring states provide for non residents. I can't say as I have ever taxed any states limites but it is not for lack of trying.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Well Wyoming isn't exactly a neighbor state of mine. I used to quail and pheasant hunt alot which is the main reason I wanted this truck when I got it as alot of my driving when quail hunting was country roads at lower speeds, alot of stopping for small old homesteads then drive another mile down the road and do it again. I have a dog box that weighs about 200 lbs then toss in three Brittany's and off I went, 19 mpg doing that kind of driving for days on end.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I'm so happy that my taxes can help subsidize his lavish life style.
If only I could do more ...

Your taxes aren't subsidizing his lavish lifestyle. Depreciation of an asset lowers his already substantial tax burden but it doesn't push it below zero by any stretch of the imagination. More likely his taxes subsidize your modest lifestyle by paying for the biggest share of the roads and schools. Don't envy him, emulate him.

 

[MacLawn]

I have a '93 Dakota that has been the very BEST vehicle I have ever owned. It's the 3.9 V6 2WD extended cab. I bought it in '97 with 43,000 miles, the odometer broke about 12 years ago at 120,640 miles, so I change oil/filter by time now. Must have way over 200,000 miles now, uses nary a drop of full synthetic oil, tight with no rattles, no rust even though it came from Ohio, but was treated when new with that Zeibart stuff (it must work!). I get 22 mpg on highway doing 70-75. It's the kind of square front style, which to me is just the real TRUCK look! I love that thing! If Dodge still made one just like it, I'd go buy one today. It's bigger than the tiny Japanese Tacomas, and Frontiers, but smaller than full size. I also have an '02 F150 SuperCrew Lariat, 5.4. Also a great truck. Other than a company '12 Camry we drive, that's it. So my newest vehicle is wha', 12 years old now.I just love trucks. Never seen (that'd be, "I have never seen...") one I didn't like.