When was the first pickup truck?

The pickup truck is part of the American way of life. In Texas, if you live in the country and don’t drive a pickup truck, a kindly cowboy with well-worn boots is likely to smile, lift his battered and stained hat, wipe his forehead with a red bandanna and explain in a slow and kindly drawl, “Well, sir and ma’am, that just ain’t done out here.” And, it ain’t.

The truck doesn’t have to be new. It’s going to be covered with gravel dust from the back roads and mud from the fields anyaways. And, it can be a bit worn itself, with some chips in the paint and the bumper not quite straight, but it should be a pickup truck. That’s just the way things work best out there in the country. No offense, sir and ma’am, they just do.

The work horse of the frontier, farm and ranch is the pickup truck. For some things, it’s still the horse, but that horse sure does appreciate the help from Mr. Ford and his friends. The pickup truck can be a Ford, Chevrolet or any another brand. Texans are wide open to new ideas and looks. Depends on what you and you’re kin are partial to. Can even be a Toyota.

Now, that’s a story, a bit of Texas apocrypha that might just be true. Years ago, Toyota only had a small pickup car, not even a real truck. The story goes that some Texans wondered about this and invited some of those Toyota executives to a Texas football game. At half time, the hosts said, “Let’s take a walk in the parking lot.” They did and as they were walking along, one Texan said to his guest, “What do you see?” Now, this was a car executive and he noticed cars, but there weren’t many cars out there in that big old lot. A puzzled look crossed the executive’s face, he thought and then he smiled, nodded and said, “I see trucks, many trucks, many big trucks.” The Texan smiled a big smile right back. Those two went back to the second half of that game and designed a nice big truck for Texas, so it’d fit right into that parking lot with the rest of those fine vehicles. Now, that’s a sight would warm the heart of any Texan, and many a Japanese too. I betcha.

But, back to the original question. When was that first pickup truck?

The first official, rolling off the assembly line, not built in the back shed, honest to goodness and you can buy it downtown at the dealership, that first pickup truck was the . . .

1925 Ford Model T Runabout with a cargo bed in the rear!

It was a beauty. The 1925 Ford pickup came standard with a front mat to rest your boots on, a jack, tire pump and a tool kit. Can you imagine? It had its own tool kit, with a screwdriver, monkey wrench, spark plug wrench, end wrench and hub cap wrench. Back in those days, you performed a lot of your own maintenance. Talk about speed. That truck had an L-head, 4 cylinder engine that exploded with 20 horsepower. A motoring monster, it sat on an extended 100-inch base, count ’em, 100 inches from front to back. A marvel, simply a marvel, and it was yours for only 281 dollars U.S. Oh, I failed to mention, it also had an adjustable tailgate, four stake pockets and heavy-duty rear springs. Did the wonders ever cease? In the eyes of the motor driven public, apparently not. 34,000 were sold that first year, and they’re still a sought after collector’s item this year.

Get ready, world, the pickup truck was on the road and drving your way. The versatile vehicle still is. It may not be the prettiest or the cleanest or the most elegant or the most outfitted, but it’s a part of the family and that’s just the way it is. You betcha.

Jump in and hold on for the bumps. We got some work to do and this old truck’s the one can do it.

Grandpa Jim