It’s no secret that most of the time when we post some bonkers unholy chimera somebody hacked together and then tried to sell on Craigslist, it’s because we’re poking fun. Because, let’s face it, we’re kind of jerks. But this time I want you to see an unholy chimera of a truck that I think is actually pretty brilliant.
I’m not exactly sure what the original goal was of this unknown pickup-visionary, but the result is that they’ve created something pretty close to what I’d consider to be the rational ideal of a pickup truck: cabover-engine, long bed, no stupid space-wasting hood.
I also like that the Nashville suburb that this truck is from is called “Bean Station,” which sounds like the title of a legume/train-based kids’ show.
This one appears to be built from a pair of early 2000s trucks: a Chevy (really an Isuzu) 3500W cabover, probably from a box truck of some kind, and a pickup bed from a RAM truck. The result is like an American-supersized version of one of those Japanese Kei trucks, and retains the Kei’s gift of extreme space-utilization.
The actual copy of the ad doesn’t get quite as worked up as me about the design of the truck, opting instead for a sort of rhythmic minimalism:
Custom built. Excellent condition. Daily driver. One of a kind. Many different uses. Head turner.
If you can get past the non-traditional look (though back in the ‘60s, Dodge A100s and Econolines were using this basic idea), you have to appreciate what a useful truck this would be. Every bit of the length of the truck is usable for either people or cargo. There’s even a separate ‘trunk’ area as well as the full-length truck bed.
Engine access, usually the Achille’s hood of cabover vehicles, is actually great, thanks to the tilt-cab design. I’m not exactly sure I’d be up to blow 14 grand on this, but I have to admit, this is the exact template that I’d like to see in a modern pickup.
Hell, I wrote about this basic idea last year, and my quick mockup looks alarmingly similar to this:
Don’t be suckered in by Big Hood and the conventionally-designed pickup! Most modern pickups have 25% or more of their length eaten up by a big, showy hood that just wastes space and makes it harder to park. This guy gets it. I hope it sells to Ford who uses it as the template for the next F-150.
It also sort of reminds me of a Centaur.