Pickup trucks, for the most part, are bought to be kicked about a bit and abused. They’re rugged, utilitarian things, acquired to achieve a purpose, so they seldom get cherished and pampered in their early years. It’s not uncommon to see a five-year-old Amarok or D-Max looking distinctly knackered. They get loaded up with gear, bounced over muddy fields or rubbly building sites, strewn with crisps and coffee, then dumped on the site, ready to do it all over again tomorrow. No-one’s out there with the microfibre cloths making them all pretty.
These things always come back around, however. Look at the custom Americana scene. Pickup trucks are an ingrained staple of American life, and there’s a reason why so many 1950s and ’60s pickup trucks wear such dramatic andsure, manufacturers put effort into giving them alluring design features to elevate them above their market rivals, but General Motors’ marketing department in the 1950s would no doubt have been a little surprised if they’d learned that these sturdy workhorses would become desirable collector vehicles half-a-century or so hence.
