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Lifted pickups - what's the point?

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
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You know me - old as dirt.

Back in the Ancient Days, guys bought pickup trucks for work. They were often dirty, dented, and pretty much "plain".

View attachment 47978

Over the last couple of years, I've seen a *lot* of pickups on the road, in suburban driveways, etc, that are "lifted", on big off-road tires. Way up off the ground. Like:

View attachment 47977

But they're never dirty, and I never see them with anything in the rear (except maybe a couple of ATVs or an extra tire.

So what's the point?

Now the guy across the highway from me is actually modifying pickups. Two or three show up every few days, close to the ground. When they leave, they're up about one or two feet. And now have some embarrassing and/or hateful words painted across the tailgate, a new rifle rack across the rear window, and often a dozen new LED lights added to the exterior.

What am I missing?

TM
 
One could easily ask what's the point of little British cars that leak oil. It's a thing some people enjoy.
 
That's an excellent point. We all definitely have different preferences.

I guess I'm a bit sensitive to the noise and activities that seem to accompany those trucks. I know I'm not alone, but seeing my town change from rural working families with kids on trikes, to people without jobs, teens who just play video games and screech tires, living in houses that are going downhill, and the rise of drug dependencies, is becoming overwhelming.
 
I bought a new Chevy 1/2 ton 2 wheel drive with standard height. It is about 12 inches higher than my old truck. Has to have bars along the side for steps to get in and out of it. Makes no difference what make you buy, their all the same. I had to have a standard size truck to pull trailers, so a little pickup was out of the question. I have no idea why the factory jacks them up so much as it's not needed. Plus the fact that they are fully computerized. I hope Microsoft had nothing to do with the software in this thing! If I got a new truck, the wife wanted a bigger cab so we could take the dogs with us if we went anywhere in the truck. I did like my old truck better :encouragement:, but gave it to my son and he won't give it back! :highly_amused:

Old truck,
View attachment 47979

New with guard dog!
View attachment 47980
 
Hey Paul - at least the dog can't be computerized!
 
For me...I like my pickups clean and low (easier to load the bags of birdseed).

 
and one of the first F-100's...while mine is one of the last F-1's.
 
I live in a rural area & am always hauling something.
Also I do love to drive my rather beat up 2010 Ram 1500 5.7 & when I hit the gas I know it & I suspect those around me do too.
(at my age not to often anymore, thankfully)
but I do not like replacing those big expensive tires & I really do not like to park the thing in parking decks.

However, I think once you've owned a truck, it's hard not to own a truck, (somewhere in your lineup)
 
We've got two families on our street - first one had a '90's Dodge 1500,
single cab 4WD.Then they bought a new MEGA Cab (crew cab) 1ton 4WD,diesel,& then
a new Chevy 3/4 ton,4WD,crew cab.They only use the crew cabs for hauling (usually one)
kids to school & to go grocery shopping.The wife is really short,& has to climb up into it.
Second ones have a Mazda extended cab 4WD B4000,& a Ford 1 ton,crew cab-
diesel,4WD used the same way as the first family.The wife just went out & bought a Ford-
3/4 ton,4WD,crew cab.She just dived it to work,haul kids,& go grocery shopping.
These monsters also take up at least two parking places.I have a '95 Dodge-
Dakota,extended cab,4WD automatic,that I use like a truck.
I have no desire to own one of those monsters,even if I could afford one.
 
I've sounded off before about the aggressive owners who drive these things but a new low yesterday. Driving on Central Sarasota Parkway, a large pickup truck pulled up behind me then passed me on the right with his two right=side wheels on the grass. WAY on the grass, in a cloud of dirt. And I was driving almost 50 mph - apparently too slow for him. Maybe he was on crystal meth or cocaine. Crazy.
 
This guy was texting, and eventually crashed into a church van, killing 13 people yesterday.

 
My truck does what it needs to. I use it in snow, as it is very stable. We used to drive all sorts of logging roads with it.
Last engine got a Merc crank and slugs, so it's a base 255 versus the 239 of the Ford version (same block, same rods, heads bolt up, inlet and exhaust). You can never tell what it is without a teardown by the casting numbers on the heads. This one is "8RT" which is 8 cylinder, truck.
Oh, and it IS a flathead, six volt, positive ground, three on the floor (factory).
Duals with glaspaks. Even found an original oil bath air cleaner and installed it (fits the flanged carb top versus the straight on passenger cars).
 
pdplot said:
I've sounded off before about the aggressive owners who drive these things but a new low yesterday. Driving on Central Sarasota Parkway, a large pickup truck pulled up behind me then passed me on the right with his two right=side wheels on the grass. WAY on the grass, in a cloud of dirt. And I was driving almost 50 mph - apparently too slow for him. Maybe he was on crystal meth or cocaine. Crazy.
Click to expand...

I don't see it as a "people who drive trucks" problem as much as a "people who are idiot drivers" problem, regardless of what they are driving; at least where I live. Here I have many (maybe majority) of my neighbors who have big trucks, but most of them are responsible drivers. I see as many, if not more, idiots driving regular-sized cars. In fact the vehicles I see driving recklessly more than any other type around here are the little souped-up Honda's,Subarus, etc., with the coffee can mufflers. They are usually driven by some young kid behind the wheel, usually wearing a baseball cap sideways. IMHO idiot drivers are not limited to people who drive pickup trucks.
 
pdplot said:
I've sounded off before about the aggressive owners who drive these things but a new low yesterday. Driving on Central Sarasota Parkway, a large pickup truck pulled up behind me then passed me on the right with his two right=side wheels on the grass. WAY on the grass, in a cloud of dirt. And I was driving almost 50 mph - apparently too slow for him. Maybe he was on crystal meth or cocaine. Crazy.
Click to expand...

my first thought was.......these drivers are just fools, that happen to be in trucks.

but, maybe not, a big powerful truck does give one a sense of power on the road, I think.
a formerly nice kid who lives down the lane from us just got a big tricked out (& loud) jacked up tundra for his 15th Bday.
Now that he roars past our place, he doesn't seem like the same kid.

cause & effect?
 
Lifted trucks are hot in pop culture in right now. I don't get it either, but then again, these guys look at my little Sprite and think I'm the one who is nuts.

There's more than a few pickup trucks out there that probably never see anything of significant size placed in their beds, just as the earlier SUVs based on 4 x 4 trucks probably seldom left the pavement. Newer crossover SUVs are a bit of a different animal -- they really don't have an off road capability, and are more like the 70s era station wagons or 80s era minivans with an all wheel drive capability. Although, I was a bit more than surprised at how much off road capability the Nissan Rogue I recently purchased actually has.
 
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