1957 pikes peak hill climb video...

[rusty ol ranger]

CHEAT!!!!!!!! Can't claim that the truck made it to the top if they had to use the WINCH to get it through part of the trip up!

Could a modern truck do it? Who cares?

I care. It shows perfectly why modern trucks arnt as great as they are cracked up to be. Espicially off road.

And big deal they had to use the winch...just says to me they were pressing limits.

My point is/was there is not a factory pickup today that could of made that. And probably hasnt been since the era of "highboy" fords and square bodied chevys.

 

[Grumpaw]

No but thats why god invented station wagons.

A country squire could. Maybe not at 90mph but no one needs to tow anything large over 55-60 anyways.

Yeah, back then, you bought a truck to use it as a truck...not a family cruiser or to carry 2 grocery bags. No bed liners, no ac, no carpet, no blue tooth. Even arm rests were options and they usually came with only a drivers sun visor.
Straight 6 with a manual with a granny first gear was the norm, V-8 were an expensive option, and auto trans were almost unheard of. No power steering or brakes...it was a truck, and those were luxury items.
You wanted to move people you bought a sedan or wagon . No one, unless your job required one, bought a truck as their main mode of transportation. No one bought a truck to use as a "second" family rig.
Farmers, construction workers, delivery people bought trucks. Not families.
As far as a 4x4, the only factory produced 4x4 at the time was the Dodge Power Wagon, and Jeep.
Chevy and Ford didn't have a factory 4x4 until around 1960. Up till then 4x4 were conversions done by several aftermarket companies like NAPCO which did most of the Chevy/GMC/Ford 4x4.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Yeah, back then, you bought a truck to use it as a truck...not a family cruiser or to carry 2 grocery bags. No bed liners, no ac, no carpet, no blue tooth. Even arm rests were options and they usually came with only a drivers sun visor.
Straight 6 with a manual with a granny first gear was the norm, V-8 were an expensive option, and auto trans were almost unheard of. No power steering or brakes...it was a truck, and those were luxury items.
You wanted to move people you bought a sedan or wagon . No one, unless your job required one, bought a truck as their main mode of transportation. No one bought a truck to use as a "second" family rig.
Farmers, construction workers, delivery people bought trucks. Not families.
As far as a 4x4, the only factory produced 4x4 at the time was the Dodge Power Wagon, and Jeep.
Chevy and Ford didn't have a factory 4x4 until around 1960. Up till then 4x4 were conversions done by several aftermarket companies like NAPCO which did most of the Chevy/GMC/Ford 4x4.

Admittingly the 50/60s trucks are out of my realm of experence. The only one i ever sat my ass in and drove was a 51 ford that belonged to my old neighbor. He broke his leg and had promised his grandkid hed pull the class float in the parade, so he asked me to lol.

It was your basic flathead halfton with a 3 speed. But definatly very spartan. Even for my tastes.

I think thats why im so fond of the 70s stuff. They still had that rough and tumble stone tool DNA but most had things like power steering.

 

[Grumpaw]

Local used dealer has this on his lot. Factory 460, auto, ac, 4x4. 1978 shortbed.
Going to go take a peek at it just for giggles.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Yeah, back then, you bought a truck to use it as a truck...not a family cruiser or to carry 2 grocery bags. No bed liners, no ac, no carpet, no blue tooth. Even arm rests were options and they usually came with only a drivers sun visor.
Straight 6 with a manual with a granny first gear was the norm, V-8 were an expensive option, and auto trans were almost unheard of. No power steering or brakes...it was a truck, and those were luxury items.
You wanted to move people you bought a sedan or wagon . No one, unless your job required one, bought a truck as their main mode of transportation. No one bought a truck to use as a "second" family rig.
Farmers, construction workers, delivery people bought trucks. Not families.
As far as a 4x4, the only factory produced 4x4 at the time was the Dodge Power Wagon, and Jeep.
Chevy and Ford didn't have a factory 4x4 until around 1960. Up till then 4x4 were conversions done by several aftermarket companies like NAPCO which did most of the Chevy/GMC/Ford 4x4.

Yeah, all my grandfather's had stripped 2wd trucks. V8's were pretty common in the 60's though. My great grandfather had a ;67 IH 1100 with a 304 and my grandfather had a '70 D200 with a 318. Yeah a 3/4 ton with a 318.

All low miles because they never went anywhere unless they needed a truck. Run to town for flour or to sell eggs... take the car. Need to get feed or haul livestock... then the truck would come out. They had a barge set up for around the farm repairs so they didn't even use a truck for things like fencing. 2wd was a non issue in winter because they never went anywhere. Big garden that was stored in jars in the basement, several freezers full of livestock and nobody worked in town so big deal, let it snow.

Totally different world. I have 180k on my F-150 which would have been mind blowing for anything back then. I literally live in my great grandfather's house so my truck is in the same environment. I work in town so heck or high water I have to get to town in the winter daily. The only time they went to Omaha was to go the stockyards, they very rarely went any farther than that even with the car. I have ran down to Kansas to pick up farm equipment with mine. The operational radius of where I need my truck to do truck things is a lot bigger than what they did with theirs. I ran out to Illinois over the summer to get a camper,the back seat was nice so we could all go as a family.

The commercial was neat for a period thing but I have no faith in it. "experienced no loss of power over the trip" Total farce, there is no way it is possible to not lose power. And I am sure they had a pre arranged deal to leave one truck halfway up the mountain... I bet it broke something. Not sure why else you would take two and then ditch one along the way...

It is neat to see 50's stuff (that is my all time favorite bodystyle of truck) but I don't really see anything that drastic. It ran over a couple rotten logs and bounced on some rocks for awhile... I don't see why something like a new Power Wagon or Wrangler couldn't do the same... while running 80+ on the interstate to get there and back home again too.

 

[Curious Hound]

I keep thinking about tires. Those would have been bias ply. I wonder if they aired down. Those rock fields would have been a horrible ride.

(Should have had TTB)

 

[G8orFord]

I didn't see anything in that video that my '17 F250 couldn't handle. Would I do it? No, not unless it was absolutely necessary. If I were to do it though, I could still pull the fiver down the interstate at 90 mph with all the family inside and I wouldn't have had to make any adjustments to fuel air ratio beforehand or afterwards. I'm fairly certain my little Ranger could handle it as well. I like old trucks, but I'm not so blind that I don't see the advantages of newer ones either.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Funny timing. I was looking at Auto Trader tonight contemplating trading the 2016 F150 for an older used F350 Super Duty. I've only had the F150 for a few months, but I don't trust it's reliability. I want something with manual hubs, stronger axles and transmission, and a diesel that will outlast a gas motor.

 

[Jim Oaks]

In 2 more years the Ranger will be 40 years old. It would be cool to do some kind of epic adventure in a 83 Ranger. If you could find a 83 Ranger...

 

[rusty ol ranger]

In 2 more years the Ranger will be 40 years old. It would be cool to do some kind of epic adventure in a 83 Ranger. If you could find a 83 Ranger...

There around. Ill keep my eyes open in my CL searches if your serious about wantin one ill send ya links.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

I care. It shows perfectly why modern trucks arnt as great as they are cracked up to be. Espicially off road.

And big deal they had to use the winch...just says to me they were pressing limits.

My point is/was there is not a factory pickup today that could of made that. And probably hasnt been since the era of "highboy" fords and square bodied chevys.

THAT truck can't even do it! And that's part of MY point. I don't give a <censored> whether or not modern trucks can do it, but that video proved that THAT truck can't do it, either!

 

[rusty ol ranger]

THAT truck can't even do it! And that's part of MY point. I don't give a <censored> whether or not modern trucks can do it, but that video proved that THAT truck can't do it, either!

Your logic is flawed.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

Your logic is flawed.

No, it's not. The truck needed help from a winch to get up part of the climb. It did NOT get up the entire climb under it's own power. Therefore, it can NOT make it up Pike's Peak.

 

[Curious Hound]

Wasn't the winch on the truck and powered by the truck?

 

[MikeG]

And we don't know if they were just demonstrating the winch, or could have taken a different route where it wasn't needed.