The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Pickups
by Peter Henshaw
Category: Transportation

If modern automotive myth is to be believed, then America was built on the backs of a heavy-duty Mack, an International tractor, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and a Ford F-series pickup. This illustrated history of pickups, including Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, GMC, and Jeep, is a perfect addition to the library of anyone who loves the American story and the history of the working people of this nation. Pickup trucks were the workhorses of an entire nation for the best part of a centuryâ??a constant presence through American history. In the 1920's, hard-working Midwestern farmers relied on their Model Ts and Chevys to coax a living from the land before loading up and fleeing to California as fields turned to dust in the 1930s. Militarized pickups helped to win the war, though by the 1950s and ‘60s pickups were back on the farm, on the building site, or acting as carry-alls for rapidly-expanding businesses. Until the early 1960s, pickups were working vehicles but sales rocketed through the decade as they were used to haul boats and camping trailers or transport hunters into the field. It began to dawn, as two-car families became increasingly common, that two-seater pickups weren't quite as impractical as they seemed, and it was not unusual for the owner of a sedan or station wagon to buy a pickup as well.