Tailgate Party: Ford Talks Truck Innovations
While this type of Monday morning PR fluff - an automaker touting its however many years of innovation in a particular field - would normally be of little notice to the steely-eyes skeptics at this site, we will always jump at the chance to run vintage photos of Detroit pickup trucks.
And, to be fair, Ford can lay claim to any number of firsts for a segment in which they’ve been the sales leader since Jesus was a cowboy. It’s held no small amount of fascination for this writer that the humble cargo box, arguably the entire reason for a pickup truck existing in the first place, has been one of the last spaces to be on the receiving end of modern innovation. Cabs have been lined with sumptuous materials, infotainment has turned into dash-mounted IMAX screens or Jumbotrons, and off-road prowess continues to skyrocket. Most brands in this sphere can also lay claim to a decent amount of innovation under the hood, with turbochargers and hybrid systems providing more power than ever before.
In fact, I’d like to posit a scenario to our readers. If someone took the driver of a 1963 Ford truck and time-warped them into the seat of a 1993 F-150, there stands a fair chance they’d be able to figure it all out: big steering wheel, analog gauges, column shifter, radio at hand to the right. Changes, sure - but not seismic ones.
But if one were to take a person out of that same ‘93 F-150 and plunk them in a 2023 F-150 - same amount of elapsed time - they’d be absolutely gobsmacked and probably a bit terrified. Everything would be alien, from the hands-free BlueCruise driving to the enormous touchscreens to the mystifying Pro Trailer Backup Assist tool. The amount of innovation and progress over an equal span of calendar years is wild.
Anyway. Enjoy this selection of trucks and other tailgate-equipped machines from years past. Nostalgia is a helluva drug - please consume it responsibly.
Here's the link to Ford's post, and you can also see the images below.
[Images: Ford]
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