Sit back and relax and let Mr. Truck and Andre be your guide to all things truck. If you love Chevy, Ford, or Ram, if you are a longtime Toyota or Nissan guy or gal, or if you simply want to jump into the truck pool…Truck Nuts is the book for you.
Jump in, the water’s warm, the trucks are all here. Let Mr. Truck and Andre enlighten, inform, and entertain you, so that by Chapter 16 you won’t have to Google Ike Gauntlet, but instead you’ll be part of the TFL’s truck tribe.
Where do large pickup trucks roam free? America! The only place in the world where you can find pickup trucks around every corner. America is in love with trucks, and the affair is stronger than ever. We are conceived in trucks, born in trucks, live in trucks, work in trucks, have fun in trucks, and die in trucks. Is there any other way?
Mr. Truck with a B.S. in Trucknology,
my office has 4 wheels and a view of the Rockies.
Who would choose a car over a truck? Trucks give you a feeling of power and safety. You are the king of the road in a truck. Cars are vehicles you lay down in and crawl out of. Trucks are like sitting at your kitchen table, easy to climb into and slide out of. Trucks can offer benefits for your dating game.
Get close and cuddle up on a bench seat without a console getting stuck up your differential. Who needs a backseat! You can’t even reach the A/C from there. Have you ever seen a car with a rifle rack? Doubtful. You get to see a lot more scenery from your truck. You know truckers have an advantage looking down into convertibles.
Trucks are as American as baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie. Everywhere you turn, pickups are there. They are lined up at the local bar like the horses were tied up outside an old West saloon. When you arrive at the church, some of those same trucks are there as well.
There is a variety of trucks, from minis to midsize, from half-tons to heavy duties, and beyond. There are also as many unique and customized trucks as there are truck owners.
If you have the money, you can accessorize your truck with all the fancy toys cars come with. I am talking about the giant sunroof, massaging and cooled seats, heated steering wheel, and a fully-integrated smartphone interface.
You can go above and beyond with decorating your truck: huge mud flaps, headache rack, semi-style exhaust stacks, hood ornaments, bull bumper, running boards, and stickers.
When you own a truck, everyone wants to borrow it. Why not, can you haul horses, cows, compost, lawn mowers, firewood, or giant furniture in a car?
The pickup I learned to drive first was Dad’s 1953 Ford three-quarter ton. I learned to do those famous “Jack Rabbit starts” as dad would call them when I was twelve years old. I enjoyed immensely when my boys started to drive. They would help me fix fence with the dually. It took both of them to push in the clutch to start it. I would wave to them from down the fence line to bring up the truck, and I would see their little heads bobbing up and down above the steering wheel as they struggled to push in the clutch.
BRAGGING RIGHTS
Competition Created
the American Free Enterprise System
For three out of the ten years I sold trucks, I was an auto broker. Most of the time I was working for AAA Auto Club, buying vehicles for the membership; I’ve sold all the major makes and models. Most people become loyal to one brand. But it’s good to compare. Competition is what improves things. The Japanese taught us valuable lessons in the 80s on how to build cars. We as humans are such emotional buyers. We seldom do what’s best for us. And of course marketing rules the earth. That’s why the best diet in the world is shutting off the TV during commercials! Back to trucks, competition helps us in so many ways. The top brands usually alternate leadership with each new model. There is a difference in areas like diesels and transmissions.
“The Right Truck”
I learned how to buy the right truck by, you guessed it, by buying the wrong one a few times! Since my first trucks were used, I had no idea of what the manufacturer’s gross vehicle weight rating or warranty requirements were all about. I hauled 3,000 pounds in my half-ton, 5,000 pounds in my three-quarter ton, and 10,000 pounds in my tonner. Oops, that was probably a little too much. That could explain why so many u-joints, clutches and brakes had to be replaced.
It’s hard to recommend which truck without knowing what you are going to use it for. Half tons are generally used for the light work, loaded occasionally. Three-quarter tons and one-tons can be loaded all the time just like their cousins, the 18-wheeler. The heavy-duty three-quarter and 1 tons used to only ride nice when they were loaded. They have come a long way, baby. Now they all ride like cars. In the big cities, people use them as cars. When I first came to Denver, I was amazed to see five-year-old pickups with no scratches in the beds. My pickups didn’t last the first day without a scratch. After you drop the first salt block and the first big round bale, the bed just doesn’t look the same.
Our affair with the pickup truck will continue as long as the old glory continues to wave. Is there any other way to explain it?
Perhaps, there is another way to look at why we are nuts about trucks.
What is the most popular vehicle in America? Is it a family sedan or a crossover? Nope! It is the Ford F-Series truck, and it has been this way for nearly four decades, or this is what Ford will have you believe. General Motors outsold Ford trucks a few times, but who’s counting? In fact, we at TFLtruck.com and MrTruck.com are the ones counting and monitoring every breath of the pickup truck industry, as do all the manufacturers.
The main point remains the same: pickup trucks rule the sales charts in the United States. Don’t believe us? Take a quick look at the numbers! Combined, there were 1,278,941 pickup trucks sold in the United States during the first half of 2016, and nearly all makes showed positive growth. In comparison, 1,111,344 midsize sedans were purchased over the same period, while showing an overall downward trend. There may be just one other automotive market segment with sales numbers that challenge trucks: the compact crossover segment. These lifted AWD wagon-looking things are the craze in recent years.
A LITTLE ABOUT ME
I immigrated to the United States from Russia in 1992 and came straight to Colorado. This is the land of opportunity and freedom. There are very few countries in the world where any person can go from nothing to a self-made succes s story. The United States is the best environment for promoting innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. All it takes for success is hard work.
My American Dream is here and it’s still evolving, and pickup trucks are at the center of it all. I began towing trailers and truckin’ as a regular consumer in the early 2000s. Now, trucks are my life, and what a great life it is!
Andre Smirnov and Mr.Truck (Kent Sundling)
So why do pickup trucks kick ass? Why are they so popular? Why are we so crazy nuts about them? Here are the top five reasons why trucks rule!
5.
Tax Benefits
This is perhaps the least understood of all the reasons. It applies to vehicles that are used for business purposes. Vehicles with Gross Vehicle