Better vehicle design than a long bed, regular cab pickup?

October 04, 2020, 08:23 AM

Bassamatic: Bravo!!!

That's damn close to my dad's 73 Camper Special. Various family members drove it regularly until 18 months ago, when the most recent owner managed to somehow drive it without oil. He was heart broken & has served penance for the tragedy.

Good news rumors are he intends to rebuild the 454 & pass it on to a young nephew....

I put many miles @ 10-11mpg rolling thru the back country of Oregon/Idaho/Montana.

October 04, 2020, 09:03 AM

egregore

Even for a single guy like myself, the regular cab is a bit of a pain. An extended cab, provided it has suicide doors, is a lot handier for carrying groceries, guns to the range, etc. With jump seats, you can carry passengers in a pinch. Add this to a long bed, however, and it becomes pretty unwieldy. A 6- or 6½-foot bed with this cab is a good compromise between cargo carrying and drivability. This length of bed will easily carry my work tool boxes. A 5-foot, like often found on crew cabs, might, but is pushing it.

quote:
Originally posted by Bassamatic:

Here is a pic of my 1979 C10 with a 454.

I - and before that, my brother, so it remained in the family until 2001 - had an '84 C20. It passed everything but a gas station.

One thing it had that you also don't find on new trucks is a big, wide and flat bench seat. It wasn't very supportive, and if not for seat belts and power steering you'd roll around on it like a marble in a mixing bowl, but what it was great for was catching Z's on a long road trip. I could sleep on it comfortably.

October 04, 2020, 08:44 PM

Bassamatic

quote:
Originally posted by egregore:
Even for a single guy like myself, the regular cab is a bit of a pain. An extended cab, provided it has suicide doors, is a lot handier for carrying groceries, guns to the range, etc. With jump seats, you can carry passengers in a pinch. Add this to a long bed, however, and it becomes pretty unwieldy. A 6- or 6½-foot bed with this cab is a good compromise between cargo carrying and drivability. This length of bed will easily carry my work tool boxes. A 5-foot, like often found on crew cabs, might, but is pushing it.

quote:
Originally posted by Bassamatic:

Here is a pic of my 1979 C10 with a 454.

I - and before that, my brother, so it remained in the family until 2001 - had an '84 C20. It passed everything but a gas station. One thing it had that you also don't find on new trucks is a big, wide and flat bench seat. It wasn't very supportive, and if not for seat belts and power steering you'd roll around on it like a marble in a mixing bowl, but what it was great for was catching Z's on a long road trip. I could sleep on it comfortably.

Yup. Mine also has the huge bench seat. I kind of like them, when I take my dog with me he has lots of room and easy to pat on the head.

October 04, 2020, 09:28 PM

egregore

quote:
Originally posted by P220 Smudge:

It ['86 Chevy] had the infamous exploding saddle tanks, so no matter which side you got hit on, it was bad news bears.

They weren't that bad. You may recall NBC News trying and failing to get several to blow up, so they rigged one with explosive charges. The previous generations had the tank right in the cab with you.

What they were bad for was getting them filled up. Sometimes you could find a pump with a hose long enough to reach across to the other side, but if not, you had to turn around to fill the other tank. Often, a driver waiting behind you to use the pumps would - through no fault of their own - dart into and take your pump. Ford did dual tanks much better, with both fillers on the same side.