The Powell, indeed is a cool ride, but in the world series of the weird, nothing compares to the " 1963, Studebaker/Westinghouse prototype pick up truck " The company only built one. But more on the serious side, my choice is the 54 Chevrolet trucks, great lines and thick metal, custom corners, single piece windshield. I am also partial to 1956 IHC pickups. Very well built, thick metal, flat floorboards, single piece windshield, these trucks are very desirable and very underappreciated. The 1937 Studebaker coupe express, has some great lines as well.
Since I use my pickup more as a car than a truck most of the time, I prefer the "Car-pickups" (el Camino's and Ranchero's) but the ones I have had are too new for here. That being said, I sure like the earlier Hudson and Studebaker versions shown here.
That's a common problem with thirties pickups; they are really cramped. I have a friend with a nice '36 Dodge pickup that I can barely fit into to ride along. There is no way I could ever drive it for more than a few feet. He's about 5' 7" 145 soaking wet and doesn't have that problem.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the most revolutionary truck design of them all... the 1957 Ford styleside. Up until the late '40s, most truck designs were either rehashed car styling and/or very utilitarian. Ford generally used the styling from the previous year cars for their trucks, GM and Dodge did similar things. They usually tried to have some styling 'continuity' across their line. In 1948, Ford broke away from that tradition. The '48 was a clean-sheet redesign and had one feature that anticipated car styling by 11 years... headlights integrated into the grill design. This became a signature design element for Ford trucks. But the remainder was still the '40s separate fender/rounded look. There were efforts in the mid '50s to build a few sleeker models, notably the Chev Cameo and a few similar efforts by Dodge, but these were expensive top-of-the-line models, used basically 'add-on' panels over a standard box design and sold in small numbers. Serious truck buyers weren't interested in such frippery. Both GM and Dodge were still sticking the headlights on the corners of the fenders ala the '40s. Ford did another clean-sheet design for '57, and the last vestiges of the '40s styling were gone. Again, the design anticipated car styling by several years. A sleek, angular design, the 'round body' styling was gone, a full-width hood was fitted and the styleside bed design wasn't a high-cost option but available at every trim level and offered additional capacity. Sure, you could still get the step-side style bed, but it was usually relegated to buyers who wanted bare-bones or fleet sales where cost counted. As is usually the case at Ford, the first-year design is IMO the cleanest as the addition of quad lights in '58 never quite looked right. This is the truck that led to Ford's dominance in truck sales. They tried some things in the early '60s (the ill-fated unibody for one), but returned to this design in '67 and sold a zillion of 'em...
Maybe so, but both GM and Dodge ended up copying them.... LOL And coming from a guy who owns a '55 Chevy... LOLOL
This thread got me thinking that maybe the big 3 need to take a look at this thread. With the new garbage they produce today maybe they could at least throw in some styling for the money. Lots of great trucks here.
GM gave us our own version of the Chevy AD trucks, the Opel Blitz I think they are pretty cool https://www.eurotransport.de/artikel/opel-blitz-das-universaltalent-10914363.html
I have 2 Chevys, a gmc, and diamond t. But the best is a 56 Ford big window. Never owned one but love them. You want a truck that’s it. Early hod rod 32 Ford, custom car 49-51 Merc
I like most pickups. My list of trucks I don't like us shorter. My top favorites are 32-34 Ford pickups, 55-72 Chevy trucks, 48-56 Ford pickups.
The late 20s early 30s look the best. Started going down hill late 30s. Looking at the late 40s it's like, did the pick up truck designers all die in The War?
I really like the pre WWII truck body styles, but they just don't work for us big guys. I was past 150 lbs and over 6' when I got out of HS. You have to get past the redesign of the late 40s to get into something I can drive comfortably. If I can't drive it, a truck is pretty useless to me. I'm a Dodge guy, so naturally I lean towards the Dodges, but some of them have a style that has to grow on you. I like most of the mid to late 50s trucks, but those Studes have a pretty well thought out style. The box trucks of the 60s doesn't thrill me, but as far as trucks were concerns, I think they were much more useful. Since then, everyone copies a design change that seems to happen about every 10 years or so. One company makes a change, then within a couple years, they all look about the same again, until someones changes a design, then the process starts all over again. My current build is a 49 Dodge (48-53 style), but it probably isn't going to be HAMB friendly either. I will need to actually drive it with today's modern traffic. Gene
Even though I've built 4 deuce pickups if I could end with one truck today it would be a 55 Chevy 2nd series big back window pickup, lowered with late drive train, nice paint and interior and some killer wheels.
Best at what? Best at actual use as a truck, hauling loads in the bed, pulling a trailer, surviving days of work in a field, I would say the best truck is unquestionably an IH. Best Styling? Well that is subjective, but I don't think many here would pick IH pickups for best styling, especially of the HAMB era. I do like my little A pickup, and at 6' 200#'s I still fit in it. But there are so many great styles over the years, hard to choose 1 as best. 40 Ford? 55 - 59 Chevy/GMC? Plenty of others, and since I brought up IH, how about this nice 37 IH?
I have to admit there are many very nice truck designs both pre and post war, but I'm partial to the '35 Ford.
I specifically mentioned the Cameo, but a truck with fiberglass bedsides wasn't exactly a hit with real truck buyers; between that and their cost, that's why they're relatively rare today.
I like this '50 Ford that my cousin inherited from our Great Grandfather. It's one of those you would probably never restore. 33,000 actual miles.
Yup....the 55-56 Chevy pickups looked great, and they went downhill from there. Ford and Dodge never got their pickup truck styling as nice as those Chevys, unfortunately.
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