What happened to regular cab pickup trucks?

Bermy said:

Shame you can't get what you want.

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Thanks, Fiona. Yes, it is a shame. But like I said up front, I know there's not much I can do about it. What totally amazed me is how this type of truck has disappeared off the face of the earth. Particularly the used car market. Where'd they all go?

I just don't get the short open bed. I can see carrying four people, if that's what you do (I don't), but wouldn't you just get a Suburban, and have an enclosed dry/secure back area for your groceries? And, you still could carry that 10' piece of pipe, if needed. What would be ideal for me is a midsize truck with an 8' bed. It would have the ability to carry the archetypal sheet of plywood or drywall (4 feet by 8 feet) flat in the cargo bed, rather than at an angle, like in all the new trucks, and hopefully get better gas mileage than a full size truck. Plus, it would be easier for me to drive and park. The Dodge Dakota came out with all that in 1987, but try to even find one of those on a used lot. Good luck.

The used dealers say IF they get one in, it sells fast. But the new dealers say they can't sell 'em. The Toyota guy told me they haven't sold one in a couple of years, and when they did have them, they just sat on the lot for months. Still scratching my head on that one.

Thanks all, for your comments and suggestions.

It's not just trucks, it's getting hard to get anything that was just ordinary these days. You can't even but a small can of plain tuna without searching through all the ones with pesto, tomato & onion, basil or fifty more.

Hope you end up with something like what you want.

La becasse said:

Willard, on the thread of trucks that we loved, here's my old hi lux, first decent vehicle I ever owned.

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The Hi Lux was the start of it all, people started getting soft then. I had a couple of Stouts, tough as nails you couldn't kill them. Well unless you got t-boned by a female asian, but even then they put up a good fight.

Mine was like this one but they came with the ute/pick up back as well. Backhoe put a camphor laurel stump on it one day, it went exactly 2 tons on the tip weighbridge. The dozer driver laughed, he'd seen me with some loads on but this was hanging over everywhere except the cab. He pushed, I dropped the clutch and must have jumped two foot of the ground, people were quite amused.

My first truck was an 85 Toyota SR5 ex cab with a 5 speed and 22RE engine. THAT truck was a modern marvel. It had the bucket seats and power everything and a sunroof.

Our Isuzu D Max brand new before the form ply and raised sides, then after!

Very nice!

La becasse said:

Willard, on the thread of trucks that we loved, here's my old hi lux, first decent vehicle I ever owned.

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Mick, very nice. My brother inlaw had a 1982 or so Toyota 4X4 that he bought brand new and today still only has about 25,000 km on it, in mint condition.
Here is my very first pickup, never took a pic of it though. I had 2 first was a red 1978 , second a green 1980. Both identical with the 2.3 L. engines ,5 speed transmissions and long box
Only 2 wheel drive but with tire chains on the rear and a load of firewood they would go almost anywhere.
Toughest trucks I ever owned.

Tucker943 said:

My first truck was an 85 Toyota SR5 ex cab with a 5 speed and 22RE engine. THAT truck was a modern marvel. It had the bucket seats and power everything and a sunroof.

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My first truck was an 83 Toyota regular cab, longbed 4x4 with the 22R engine, 5 speed manual and 32" mud T/A's. fun until the gearbox went.

My first work truck was like this (in yellow) an early ford p100 made in South Africa I believe. Not powerful enough really, clutch couldn't handle towing and specifically reversing a trailer.

Bermy said:

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Our Isuzu D Max brand new before the form ply and raised sides, then after!

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Wow! Nice looking truck. What size is the bed? 7'?

I might have pics of my first Toyota. It was cherry. It was 15 years old when I bought it and garage kept. Still had the window sticker in the glove box. I'll dig them up later. Not that it really matters but I was damn proud of that truck. I worked my ass off for that truck. Packed up at age 15 and flew west to Colorado for a summer to work on a ranch and saved up.

bstewert said:

Wow! Nice looking truck. What size is the bed? 7'?

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Bed (we call it a 'tray') is 6'x 8'6"
It is the largest we have come across of all the comparable single cab 1 tonnes. that's why we got it, as well as being diesel 3 litre. Manual too.
And it was still on the lot a month after we first saw it, used as the demonstrator, then got discounted for end of year runout for 2011. Some other guy didn't want it because he wanted a red one...it was meant to be ours!

No trays here...

https://www.google.com/#q=bedliners+for+pickup+trucks

I didn't read the whole thread, my bad I know...sorry, OP. But I could see the trends, I think.

The reason you have a hard time finding what you want is ME! I'll never own a standard cab p.u. again...personally since 1990, and workwise, since 2001. The vastly inproved utility of having increased interior space makes it a no-brainer to me. And since most of the p.u. buying public is of the same opinion, you lose .

Now the idea of those full double cab, 4.5 to 5 foot bed trucks doesn't appeal here...6.5' at least for a personal rig, 8' is a must for the type of work I did, imo. There we agree, Bob. But for some others in my field, the extended cab w/ shortbed was a good choice...less need for bulk carry capacity, generally, but still needing the back road capabilities a full sized 4x4 p.u. offers.

Long cab, long bed.

Long parking space, too .

You just use two.

I really miss my Dodge, But I really need more motor and I really would like 4wd

Dave Shepard said:

You just use two.

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Don't I know it .