Off-road Vehicles - USA: Books - History and Models

American ½-ton Pickup Trucks of the 1960s

During the 1960s, the American ½-ton pickup truck evolved from a basic utility vehicle into a more stylish, comfortable, and capable machine. While their ruggedness, reliability, and practicality remained central, consumer demand encouraged manufacturers to add features, comfort, and distinctive styling. The decade saw pickups develop a unique identity, separate from the flashy lines of their car counterparts.

This book covers all high-volume, light-duty American half-ton pickups of the 1960s, providing engine and chassis specifications, annual model changes, and contemporary production data. It offers detailed close-ups of four of the most popular models, along with rare trucks such as the Fargo, Chevrolet Corvair and El Camino, Ford Econoline and Ranchero, Dodge and Fargo A100, and Mercury.

The work includes never-before-published images of fully restored trucks, period advertisements, brochures, and highlights the styling cues and optional equipment that defined the era. Readers gain a comprehensive view of the trucks' evolution, features, and the options that made them both practical and appealing during a transformative decade.

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Muscle Trucks: High Performance Pickups

The American pickup has always been known for its hard-working, easy handling nature, but has mainly served as a light workhorse. As pickups became more mainstream, many were created with high performance in mind.
Dubbed Muscle Trucks - the roots of these prestigious pickups go back to 1955, when Chevrolet introduced the Cameo Carrier. While not a hot rod, the Cameo was super cool and it proved that customers would buy a truck that could play as well as work.
Ford then followed with its crossover pioneer, the Ranchero, which was half car, half truck. The Ranchero inspired Chevrolet's El Camino, and both of these hybrids featured high-performance variations before all was said and done.

This book honors these hot trucks, then and now, with a selection of outstanding color photography detailing these high-performance haulers inside and out. Among others, photo subjects include the Chevy SS 454, SS 396, and SS 454 El Camino, Cobra Jet Ranchero, GMC Syclone, Chevy SSR, Ford SVT Lighting, Dodge SRT-10, the Li'l Red Truck, and the new Dodge Hemi Rams.

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American Light Trucks and Utility Vehicles, 1967-1989 : Every Model, Year by Year

The truck's role in American society changed dramatically from the 1960s through the 1980s, with the rise of off-roaders, the van craze of the 1970s and minivan revolution of the 1980s, the popularisation of the SUV as family car and the diversification of the pickup truck into multiple forms and sizes.

This comprehensive reference book follows the form of the author's popular volumes on American cars. For each year, it provides an industry overview and, for each manufacturer, an update on new models and other news, followed by a wealth of data: available powertrains, popular options, paint colors and more.
Finally, each truck is detailed fully with specifications and measurements, prices, production figures, standard equipment and more.

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American Pickup Trucks of the 1950s

Combining details of truck specifications, previoulsy unpublished images, lists of optional equipment, and industry facts and figures, this book reveals the important role played by the lightweight, high-production, and basic ½-ton pickup trick in American post-war society, a role often overshadowed by its innate ruggedness, reliability and utilitarian nature.

As the 1950s progressed, so did the evolution of the pickup truck, which added more and more style, greater comfort, and ever increasing equipment options to its burgeoning model range.
After the few drab colours first offered at the start of the decade, the pickup would assume similar styling and tri-coloured pastel paint finishes to its flashy sibling car versions.

Focussing on truck specifications, optional equipment, and industry facts and figures, this book also highlights some of the rarer makes and models, and includes never before published images, revealing cutaway illustrations, and a dedicated chapter focussing on four very different design approaches form the decade.

Covers the period 1950-1959, and Ford, Mercury, Chevrolet, GMC, Dodge, Fargo, International, Studebaker, and Willys/Kaiser-Jeep Half-ton pickup trucks. Does not include 4x4 or smaller, such as Crosley, or larger pickups such as Three-Quarter Ton, One Ton, etc.

Features:
- Engine and chassis specifications
- Covers all high volume, light duty, American half-ton pickup trucks of the decade
- Detailed, close-up looks of four of the most popular models of the 1950s
- Truck industry production facts and figures from the time
- Focuses on 1950s pickup truck options
- Includes many never before published images of fully restored trucks
- Images sourced from period advertisements and brochures
- Rare Fargo and Mercury models illustrated
- Descriptive, detailed text on annual model changes
- Highlights distinctive styling cues

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Pick-up Américains, des camionnettes de légende (Autofocus)

The pickup is the vehicle of the American heartland, where it has almost replaced the horse. After being considered a simple utility vehicle to be used at will, it has now reached the rank of icon, and many enthusiasts seek out and restore old pickups.
From the ubiquitous Ford.Dodge and Chevrolet to the confidential Terraplane or GMC, pickups have a visual appeal and a capital of sympathy that raise them to the same rank as the classics of the 1950s and 1960s and the muscle cars of the 1970s.

Discover here twelve pickups in original or restored condition, representative of American production from 1934 to 2006. Beautifully photographed, they are accompanied by detailed descriptions, historical reminders and technical sheets.

Sommaire:
1934 Hudson Terraplane
1936 Chevrolet Utility Coupé
1939 Ford Barrelnose
1951 Ford F1
1954 Chevrolet 3600
1956 International Harvester
1956 GMC 6 cylinders
1956 Studebaker Transtar
1957 Ford F100
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside
1979 Dodge Lil Red Express
1979 Chevrolet El Camino Royal Night.

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