Jalopnik Snap Judgment: PickupTrucks.com speculates the truck Raser plans to convert is a Chevy Silverado, mostly due to the drivetrain's similarities to the Chevy Volt. We're inclined to agree with our good buddy Mike Levine over there if only for the reason that the internal drawings look just like a Silverado. We've also got to admit, a full-size truck capable of 100 MPG, even if they only make a few of them at a very high price, would be an impressive proof-of-concept for investors or OEMs. Hint, Hint.

[Pickuptrucks.com]

The Champ and its smaller brother, the Tiger Star, were both designed by China-based Chongqing Changan, and are shipped to Oklahoma as partial knockdown kits. Tiger sources the remaining parts stateside and completes assembly at a facility in Poteau, OK, with the capacity to build about 35 units a day.

Tiger plans to skirt the "collapsing Chinese vehicle" problem by certifying the Champ as legal only for off-highway use, and only usable on public roads in Oklahoma — the latter courtesy of Ward's friend, Gov. Brad Henry.

With 28 HP and 45 lb-ft of torque, the Tiger Champ (35 HP and 54 lb-ft of torque for the Tiger Star) isn't going to break any land speed records, but the truck should provide a fuel-saving way for farmers to get around rural areas and run from tornadoes. Technically, one can purchase a Tiger Champ outside of Oklahoma, but the vehicle will be governed to a maximum of 25 MPH; inside Oklahoma, Champ speeds are unregulated, so we're looking forward to future rural Tiger hoonage courtesy of the Sooner State. Tiger vs. Unimog, anyone? [Automotive News (Sub. Req.)]

I'm sure I could find many more mid-70s F-series trucks on the island, since they hold together pretty well and are still able to earn their keep these days.


This truck lives on one of the most DOTS-centric blocks in Alameda. Not only does the '66 Mercedes-Benz 250S we see in the background of this photo live nearby, so do the Double Cab '71 Chevy pickup and 1975 Chevy El Camino.


I'm pretty sure the current level of crazy gas prices won't keep this 3/4-ton beast of burden away from the job sites, but we'll see what happens if oil hits 200 bucks per barrel.

This is an extreme shift for Ford, an automaker planning on offering only V8 engines for the 2009 Ford F-150. While the 4.6-liter V8 at the bottom of the current truck's range supposedly delivers more horsepower and torque with the same fuel economy numbers as the outgoing 4.2-liter V6, it's still huge. Is it true? We're not sure yet. What we do know is that EcoBoost technology better be damn good to deliver the same HP and torque..

But, the numbers PickupTrucks.com is hearing indicate 250 HP and 300 lb-ft of torque on this new EcoBoost four-banger. Our thought is that'll be plenty of power — as long as it's getting fuel economy somewhere above 20 MPG. We guess time will tell. We hope Toby Keith doesn't mind things getting smaller in the engine compartment. [via PickupTrucks.com]

Hey Jalops

User Crazygutgut here.
I was driving down 19th Ave (in San Francisco) on Saturday July 5th when I spotted the "Escachero." I wonder if the guy is a fan, cause he spraypainted Escachero on the doors.

Most of the car is a 90ish Ford escort. the back of the cab seems to be made from a 60's Chevy or Ford pickup. the fins I'm not sure what those came off of, they looked pretty rough, but he did have "Coupe de Ville" scripts on the fins.

I still gotta get picks of the 1977 Honda Civic-amino that is driving around my hood, too....

We sort of actually admire what Toyota is trying to do here, and we don't disagree with some of their suggestions. But the whole exercise reeks of marketing. The thing is, in this age where "going green" is the flavor of the day, they're marketing better than the competition.

Consider it like this: Toyota is promoting conservation strategies in a direct, forthright manner on its corporate blog at the same time Chrysler is offering to subsidize your conspicuous gasoline consumption. This, despite the fact that equivalently-equipped current Toyota Tundra and Dodge Ram pickups get almost identical mileage (16 MPG combined vs. 15 MPG combined — although we hear the new 2009 Dodge Ram supposedly blows those numbers out of the water). But who's going to win the perception game in the era of $4-and-up gas? After all, perception is everything. [Open Road Blog]

As you can see, Alameda is quite close to downtown San Francisco; as the crow flies, it's about five miles away. If you're not a crow and decide to drive your truck over there, however, it feels like about 100 hellish bumper-to-bumper miles. Fortunately, there's a ferry from Alameda to SF, and they sell beer on board.


In '68, you shelled out $2,541 for a base GMC 2500 pickup, versus $2,547 for the Chevy equivalent. Either way, the standard engine was the tough 250-inch inline six, with the 292 six and a variety of small- and big-block V8s available for those with extra bucks. I'm thinking the 292 with three-on-the-tree sounds like a good setup.


Even if gas prices hit 10 bucks, there will still be a place for simple, reliable pickups like this one. Houses will still need to be built and landscaping gear will still need to be hauled.

Say, how about a poll to start the week? We've seen quite a few pickups from GMC and Chevrolet in this series, and we want to know which one is the crowd favorite. Will the mid-60s trucks split the vote? Will the '71 Chevy with the rare "double cab" option take the win? Vote, and vote some more!

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In a remarkably candid statement revealing where dealerships actually make their money, Poncho Redfern, president of San Francisco-based Thomason Auto Group, said

"...you can't outrun it in F&I. There's only so much you can honestly earn in that department. This wreaks havoc on the bottom line. We see people with $10,000 in negative equity.

A dealer does not have enough room to help the customer out of it."

Thought I'd share shots of the sweet beast parked outside my workplace today. I took a whole whack of photos, but the cameraphone seems to have trouble when taking shots into the sun. Or towards the sun. Or facing west. Or during daylight, darkness, movement, moments of happiness, sadness, while smoking, while drinking, while breathing... you get the idea.

So to compensate for only supplying two mediocre shots, I included a shot of an absolutely beautiful old Saab that bumbled past us in Vancouver. I know, who cares... but the point is, this was in the middle of shooting a scene of Smallville. (If you notice in the background, there are movie-car definitely-not-RCMP-standard-issue Charger police cars as part of the scene.) The roads are blocked, the building has been redressed for Luthorcorp, the cameras are rolling.... and in the middle of it all, this Saab goes around the roadblocks and right into the camera's way. "CUT!" Nobody seemed to mind, because it sounded like it was brand new, and looked like it drove that way too. Reeeeespect.

And now it's time to listen to a tune from north of the border!



Our friends from Texas do a good version as well:

While unit-body construction would likely reduce towing and payload capacity over current GMT900 offerings, reports show that the majority of light-truck buyers rarely use the full capacity of their vehicles. Lambda would provide GM with an opportunity to provide more interior storage space and better fuel economy while still being able to offer 2WD and 4WD packages. Since we know Americans don't want to give up their pickups, moving the "commuter trucks" onto Lambda sounds like another smart choice for the General. Now let's see if it actually happens.
[Automotive News (Sub. Req.)]

These pics date back a year or two, but this yard in Phoenix is a car nut's dream (Desert Valley Auto Parts). With the absolute lack of rust (except on obviously Midwestern cars), the parts are nearly pristine. The crown jewel, in my book, is the 1957 Dodge Sweptside pickup. Yes, that's the limited production version with DeSoto wagon panels stuck to the bed. For $3500 I almost bit, but we all tell the same story with a different make/model. Here's info on the super-rare Sweptsides, which were stepside pickups with DeSoto station wagon fenders stuck on intended for the Lincoln Blackwood/Mark LT/Chevy Cameo crowd.

Those stacked headlights and monstrous turn signal lights are as 1979 as odd-even gas days. Hey, maybe we'll have those again!


Even though cartrucks aren't really set up for serious heavy hauling, this Ranchero's bed is spacious enough to really test the limits of that LTD rear suspension. How much gravel can you haul in one load? How many pinball machines? How many street-sign shooting armed drunks and associated cases of Mickey's Big Mouth? Cartruck tradition is firmly behind the "test the load limits" school of thought.


You got a 151-horse 351 when you bought a new 1979 Ranchero. Don't dwell on that fact that the '09 Camry's base four-banger gets 158 horsepower out of 144 cubes, because the Ranchero has character!

The standard powerplant for the '69 C10 was the General's reliable 250-cube inline six, but you could get the added grunt of the mighty 292 or any of the usual small- and big-block Chevy V8s.


We see another fine example of California-style rust here; it's taken nearly 40 years to get to this point. Most likely the cab interior smells like mildew during the rainy winter months, but so what? It still hauls stuff!


Though one must wonder how expensive gas needs to get before all the 30- and 40-year-old Detroit-built work pickups are retired in favor of newfangledy fuel-injected ones that have leather-trimmed cupholders and get (somewhat) better mileage. $6/gallon? $7?

Here's my junkyard find from Big M auto recycling in Williams, CA. This past weekend I drove up to Thunderhill raceway for a CSRG vintage racing event. I've lived in the Bay Area my entire life, and my mother's family is from Redding, so I know Interstate 5 pretty well. Anyway, the halfway mark between my house and my grandfather's house is near the town of Williams, which means that I've been stopping at Granzella's Deli and Sports Bar for sandwiches and bathroom breaks since I was a baby. Driving up I-5 on my own this past weekend, I got lunch at Granzella's and took the opportunity to look around Williams a little bit. Now, if you had looked off to your left whileapproaching Williams from the south, you might have noticed a junkyard filled with old American iron. Well, I assume YOU would, as would any true Jalop, and I sure as hell did. So this weekend, after getting a sandwich at Granzella's, I headed a mile down old Highway 99W to get a closer look at the junkyard I had previously seen only from the Interstate. I won't catalog the awesomeness that fills this lot, but suffice it to say that if Detroit made it between the war and the Malaise era, you can find it here. Need a flathead Packard straight-eight? They have several. Looking for a motor for your hot rod? They can hook you up with an 8BA Flathead, or a Y-block, or a Nailhead, or an early Hemi, or a small-block Chevy (of course) and they can find you as many Stromberg 97s as you'll need to feed the beast. Looking for parts for your Edsel? They have several from all three years, from Pacer sedans to Citation convertibles to Ranger wagons, in all states of decay and disassembly. I found fifteen Edsels before I stopped counting. They even have an early '30s Franklin. A FRANKLIN, for Pete's sake, the air-cooled sedan that Charles Lindbergh drove.

But one car at Big M truly stopped me in my tracks. The bulbous fenders and P-38-style tailfins told me it was an early '50s Cadillac, but this one was different. It wasn't an everyday sedan or a nice fastback or even a hearse. It was, in fact, a Caddymino. > At first I thought it was a funeral home's old "flower car," the kind that travels behind the hearse with a bed full of flowers. Some of them even had movable bed floors so the funeral home could make it look like the bed was completely full of flowers even when few people had bothered to honor the deceased. But no, the welds were obviously not done by a professional. Moreover, what was left of the floor was from a regular passenger car, spare tire well and all. This was clearly a homemade Caddymino, made by some sort of Proto-Jalop from the mid-to-late twentieth century. As a wannabe motoring journalist, I considered it my duty to share this amazing archaeological find with the world, and here it is.

Picture 1: I don't know the year, and I couldn't get the hood open to see whether the V8 was of the flathead or overhead-valve variety. But even if it doesn't have a motor, the yard has plenty of 331- to 390-inch Caddy motors that should fit right in.

Picture 2: The welds along the top of the fenders were never ground down, but it still looks like someone put a lot of thought and time into this conversion.

Picture 3: The interior is shot, but a bench seat from an old pickup will do wonders for it. The Keystone Light can is a nice touch.

Picture 6: Not the Caddymino— this Ford F1 truck apparently belonged to an animal feed dealer in Berkeley. It comes complete with a "Swingin' A's" sticker from way back when.

Picture 7: Again, not related to the Caddymino— just a sample of the awesomeness that you'll find in this lot. Enjoy! -Armand4

So I was cruising around Oakland (Temescal neighborhood) with my girl, searching high and low for an apartment, when on a side street I caught a glimpse of this beauty out of the corner of my eye. It's a Jeep FC170, and I couldn't narrow down the year anymore than '57-64 because none of the registries I could find had a year-by-year breakdown. This guy looks kind of tired, and I can't tell if it runs or not. But man oh man, is that forward control setup cool. I thought you'd all get a kick out of it. Let me know if you want more pictures of specific info about this one, because I can always swing by and take a look again.

BTW, I have a few other DOTS Oakland submissions if you'd like - a Chevy-powered FJ40, a Peugeot 504 diesel wagon, a 50's Chrysler 300, and a B-body Plymouth that has been painted flat-black and equipped with flamethrowers for Burning Man. Let me know if you'd like those. Thanks dudes, keep up the good work.

After spending the late 50s as a big, unwieldy cartruck based on the full-sized Ford Ranch Wagon, the Ranchero then became a small, easy-to-park Falcon cartruck. You could get this generation of Ranchero with a 144- or 170-cube inline six engine, or step up to the 260 or 289 Windsor V8.


This example doesn't show any 289 badges on the fenders, though it may have been fitted with a V8 since being built. Overall, it's a very solid and rust-free machine, and it's good to see it parked on the street every day.


But was the Falcon-based Ranchero too small for serious truck use? I had a '60 for a while and it did fine for my purposes, but I'm not a big hauler of large quantities of hay bales, sacks of cement, or livestock. And, yes, that's a really clean '65 Impala in the background; I'll get some photos if it I see it parked on the street.

"we have interest in the pickup truck market and light truck market, but because of oil prices the market is declining. We don't think right now is the right time to introduce one to the market. We investigated when we built the Kia Georgia plant...but in this environment we were forced to give up thoughts of the truck...neither Hyundai nor Kia will produce one...for the U.S."

Georgia will be home to

"a new small car. We are planning to have the Georgia plant create...a C-segment car with the excess production capacity."

"if the platform is right, don't rule out a Hyundai either."

The standard engine on the '65 Chevy pickup was the good ol' reliable 230-cube six-cylinder. Hey, wouldn't it be fun to swap in the Pontiac OHC version of this engine? OK, not as much fun as putting that engine in a Nova.


I had the use of one of these trucks for a while, and it was my first experience with a three-on-the-tree gearshift. Once I got the hang of it, I felt pretty cool.


It ain't a pickup if the bed ain't got no crap! Shovel, busted-up pallet- standard-issue Real Truck Stuff.

The acronym behind the Subaru BRAT's name stood for "Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter," which doesn't sound as good as "Leonamino," but we can't fault the marketers for going with the safe bet. The whole concept of sticking a truck bed on the Leone and then throwing some lawsuit-magnet jumpseats in the bed in order to claim carhood and avoid the Chicken Tax didn't work out so well for Subaru in the long run, though you might want to retrofit such seats onto this 1986 BRAT ('86 was the first year the vehicle arrived on these shores without the extra seats). One think you won't need to retrofit, however, is the T-tops, because that critically important option is present and accounted for in this truck, which can be yours simply by trading "almost anything as long as i like it" to the owner. There's rust. There are many dents. It's been sitting for a long time. You know, the usual. How about swapping in a turbocharged EJ25 and giving your jumpseat passengers the last best road trip of their lives?

We like the BRAT, but maybe your 80s Subaru Hell Project needs less cute and more weird. How about a car with TR7-esque wedge-shaped styling and an interior designed to resemble the cockpit of a 747? Yes, we're talking about the Subaru XT, which was available with a six-cylinder, all-wheel-drive setup that was pretty damn wild for its time. These things aren't easy to find, but we've done the work for you by locating this 1989 Subaru XT6 for just $500. Five hundred bucks! How can you lose? This one needs both head gaskets replaced (possible translation: both heads cracked), but it's had $2,000 worth of "recent parts" installed. There's rust. We suggest getting really good head gaskets when you start working on this project, because this car is just crying out for all the boost your wallet you can stuff into the engine!

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This might be a '42, but the short production run that year (in the month or two prior to GM switching over to vehicles that went "boom" instead of "vroom") means we're probably looking at a '41. You Chevy truck experts who can tell us more, please do so.


Either way, this truck is one of the oldest DOTS vehicles yet, either third-oldest or tied for fourth. The really impressive thing is that its owner uses it for everyday transportation; the guy who goes grocery shopping in his '45 Jeep must be jealous.


For '41, your Chevy truck came with a 90-horse six equipped with those newfangled overhead valves and a not-so-newfangled, not-so-pressurized oiling system that involved spritzes of oil aimed in the general direction of the connecting rods (actually, this system worked pretty well, but it still seems somehow wrong).

I'm not 100% sure that this Dodge is a '62; it might be a '63. Year-to-year changes were pretty subtle for work trucks back then. This example has the classic California body rust, which generally takes decades to get all the way through the sheet metal (unless you live right near the ocean, in which case the process happens much more quickly).


Sheet of plywood, air cleaner element, random junk? Present and accounted for!


The standard engine in these trucks was the 225-inch Slant Six, with the 318 A engine available for those who wanted more power. Imagine a truck this size today being sold with just 140 horsepower, two doors, and no chrome- unacceptable!

Today we're going with a somewhat different format, because today's tipster (and Project Car Hell Tipster T-shirt winner), UDMan found both cars sitting on trailers in upstate New York and photographed them himself:

I took these pictures at a Fabrication Shop called Tom's Hot Rod & Fab Shop, in East Syracuse, NY. (315) 701-4441. They were sitting on a trailer in front of the shop, and they were at a show a couple of weeks ago. I took a look at them, and there is still a lot of work to do on them, but are actually rebuildable (well, I couldn't do it, but a lot of guys on here could).

Then there's the 1937 Pontiac Sedan, with a 91 Caprice Police Package LT4, with AOD, New IFS Suspension, New Steering Column, New Power Rack, Wire harness from the Caprice, Original Lights, New Glass Included, Power Seats (Front and Rear!), Billet Dash (though I didn't take a look inside), Miscellaneous parts with the car, Shift Kit, and Rosewood Steering Wheel! Minimal Rust, needs lots of finishing. Has Title, and only $12,990 OBO.

It's a 1929 Ford PU, with a new chassis, a Mustang II Front End with Rack & Pinion Steering, Front Disc Brakes, Ford Rear End, 350CI Chevrolet, Turbohydramatic, all rust has been expelled, patch panels come with the truck. Carb will be included. It needs finishing.... $10,500 OBO.

I found this rack-equipped 4X4 parked on the same block as the '53 Packard Cavalier and just around the corner from the '74 Plymouth Satellite Sundance Edition; perhaps the presence of those two stellar DOTS heroes blinded me to the presence of this fine work truck for all these months.


Check out these fine Late Malaise tape stripes! It's true that the 22R engine in this truck might not have been the mighty bass-boat-haulin' powerhouse that truck buyers require today for their luxurious bloatmobiles, but the Toyota R's reliability was pure Warlord Grade bulletproof.


It takes very little imagination to picture an entire platoon of AK-wielding troops hanging off that rack as this truck bounces down a dirt road in (insert name of lawless Thirld World hotspt here). For now, however, this truck will continue to earn its keep hauling plumbing supplies to Bay Area job sites.

Today, the dream is realized. Starting as an '89 Isuzu, the whole body has been shaved and smoothed, of course that's the last thing you'll notice about this machine. The bed has obviously been stretched, and is now 11-feet long to accommodate the three rear axles. Under the hood is a Chevy small block 350 V8, connected to a 700-R4 transmission. Allegedly, power then goes to all six rear wheels, which would be amazing, but we're going to remain skeptical. Either way, this truck known as "Triple Play" is certainly an attention-grabber.
[Truckin', via AutoMotto, via CarDomain]

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Unlike the T-Bird and Impala, however, the F-100 gets driven regularly. In fact, this is the daily driver of the three.


The standard F-100 engine in 1964 was the 223 six-cylinder, with the Y-block 292 as the optional V8 powerplant. This truck sounds like it has the six under the hood.


Vehicles rust in extremely slow motion (and from the top down) in Alameda, so there's nothing to stop a simple, sturdy truck like this one from surviving with minimal maintenance for 40 or 50 years. I often wonder what's being stored under that heavily bungeed tarp, which has been on this truck in one form or another for as long as I can recall.