QOTD: Can You Build an Ideal Crapwagon Garage? (Part III: Trucks)
It’s time for the third installment of our Crapwagon Garage QOTD series. The first part was all about the hatchbacks, while the second entry focused solely on sedans.
In today’s section of the garage, vehicles with open beds fill our peripheral vision. They are, of course, pickup trucks.
Browsing through the comments section of last week’s sedan inquiry, I had some Why Didn’t I Remember That feels for this:
It’s a circa 1990 Mazda 929S, as suggested by Gtem. This sedan was on my mind a couple weeks earlier when the foundation on this QOTD series was settling. It’s so forgotten that it slips from the mind very easily. Bonus for two-tone paint and lace alloys on three-box formal sedan.
On to the trucks!
Here are the Crapwagon Garage rules by which we must all abide.
- A crapwagon must be a vehicle which is relatively easy to find and purchase using an internet.
- All vehicles in the crapwagon garage must have been sold as new, in the North American market.
- Said vehicles must be obtainable to the casual crapwagon collector (CCC). This means in clean, running condition each one asks $7,000 or less on a normal day.
- Your suggestions must fit into the vehicle category of the week. If you don’t like the category, that’s tough. We’ll get to a category you like eventually.
- There are five rules to this garage game, and that’s the maximum number of vehicles you may submit for each section. Solamente cinco.
It’s pretty obvious what “truck” means, but I’ll remind everyone that this is not the place to list truck-based SUVs or other items of that nature. Your truck must have an open bed at the rear, with a tailgate. On to my choices.
I’d love to have a later GMT400-era GMC Sierra. They had nice five-spoke wheels, lots of two-tone, and many cab configurations. I’d probably find a black-over-pewter 4×4 example that had been well-kept by an elderly owner. They’re widely available in no-salt areas; you just have to search around for the one I want.
The second garage slot goes to a Toyota T100 today. I always liked the serious, no-frills styling. The T100 was also available in many colors and configurations, and is instantly recognizable as “late ’90s Toyota truck.” There’s something both comforting and competent about it. Desirable! They run forever, so they’re still around (again, in salt-free areas).
What are your Crapwagon Garage truck picks?
[Images: Toyota, Mazda]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Can't believe I didn't see this earlier. Anyway, on to my picks. I'm excluding my 1969 F-100 (which I finally was able to get to my house this week). I would take a T-100 as a work truck, but it isn't my first choice. Toyota Stout yes I've seen these under $7k in drivable condition 1966 or older Ford F-100 with Inline 6 and 4spd 1992-6 Ford F-150 4x4 manual 300 (4.9L) I-6, like this one: https://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/d/1992-ford-150-4x4/6584694063.html (yes I know it needs a clutch and other TLC, but even completely restoring its mechanical condition would keep me way under $7k)
Way late to the game as usual. Anyway: -1979 Chevy El Camino Royal Knight -1995 Ford F-150 Lightning -late GMT400 Sierra, agree with the article on this one -Jeep Gladiator/J10/J20 in whatever configuration gets it within budget -late 90's Ram 2500/3500, extended cab/Cummins/DRW. Might as well have a tow rig for all these other crapwagons...