Our pictured truck may be unusually beefy, but jacked-up big pickups are quite common in rural parts of Washington state.
As I was taking pictures of this recent-model Ram, I wondered: How would someone from 1965 react if they could be magically shown photographs of this truck and told that someday it would be a type of personal transportation?
I doubt I would have believed that regular folks would drive such a vehicle 60 years in the future. This truck looks too much like something only the military might use. Had the U.S. devolved into post-apocalyptic armed encampments?
I might have thought that because pickup trucks were rare — and none were jacked up — in the suburban neighborhoods where I grew up. Even Jeeps were unusual, except as commercial or governmental vehicles. If people wanted to pull a trailer, they would get a big station wagon like a Chrysler Town & Country.
Things have certainly changed. A big part of that would appear to be the soaring popularity of off roading. That has apparently led to major shifts in automotive aesthetics. A basic look that may have once struck most people as drearily industrial is now considered ultra manly.
Once upon a time the ideal was to cruise down the turnpike in a glittering expanse of tailfins and chrome. Today the ideal for a meaningful segment of the car-buying public is to kick up a bunch of dirt in some back country where no lesser vehicle would dare go. King of the hill.
Our featured truck was seen in the small town of Goldendale during the weekend of the annual Oregon Trail Rally. I don’t know if its trailered truck was a participant, but the main vehicle looked capable of driving pretty much anywhere — and having a big party once it got there.
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ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- oldcarbrochures.org: Chrysler (1965)
I was only a toddler in 1965, but, if I had been older, I would have thought this was the latest California vehicular craze.
Customized pre-war Fords, and jacked-up domestic coupes with mag wheels and custom paint jobs, were the big fads of the time, and both trends had originated in California.
Hot Wheels debuted in 1967-68, and Hot Wheel cars were specifically designed with those features, in order to distinguish Hot Wheels from market-leader Matchbox.
If I recall correctly, Hot Wheels were even initially advertised as “California Customs.”