Jeep Gladiator

 

Fully loaded sports truck.

 

40 Years Later, Wyoming Still Loves Legendary Square Body Trucks

 

40 Years Later, Wyoming Still Loves Legendary Square Body Trucks

Interesting truck box, Casper Wyoming.

 

 

Rare (And Illegal) In The U.S. Toyota Land Cruisers Turn Heads On Wyoming’s I-80

Lex Anteinternet: Friday Farming. The vehicles that changed the West.

Lex Anteinternet: Friday Farming. The vehicles that changed the West.: 

Friday Farming. The vehicles that changed the West.

I've written on this previously, but up until the end of World War Two, travel in Wyoming, in winter, and much of the West, was very limited.

Oh, sure, there were snowplows that went out on the narrow two lane highways, but off the highways?  Well, you better be pretty sure you could get back.

Now, my father only ever owned one 4x4 vehicle, and it was one he bought from me.  But we didn't go up in the high country or into the foothills once winter started.  That was out.  You stuck to areas that were relatively near a county road or that were blown off, and probably down around 5,500 feet or less. Beyond that?  Forget it.

And this was true for ranchers too.  Some men stayed up in the high country, but they stayed there. . . all winter long.  People often fed by horse drawn wagon (and in a few places, still do).

The Dodge Power Wagon changed that.  And it was a creature of the Second World War.

Lex Anteinternet: World War Two U.S. Vehicle Livery: National Museum...: 

The father of the Dodge Power Wagon, the 1/2 ton truck, a fair number of examples of which can be found in the Rocky Mountain West in spite of the small number produced, was in addition to being too light, too top heavy.

With the Power Wagon, you could now get there in winter.  Maybe not everywhere, but darned near everywhere, even up in the high country.

And that meant you didn't need to keep hired men up in the high country in line shacks all winter.  For that matter, with a trailer, you could easily feed in a fraction of the time it had taken with a wagon.  You probably didn't need hired men for that either, if you had them.

And while it would take awhile, really when NAPCO started converting Fords and Chevys into heavy duty 4x4s, it would also mean that sportsmen could get back there in the winter too.

Revolutionary.

Related threads:

A Revolution In Rural Transportation

Lex Anteinternet: A normal winter. How it used to be.

The Rise and Decline of the "SUV".

Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...So what about World War Two?

Early 1960s Studebaker Champ.

 

I"m not sure of the age, but production ceased in 1964.

1955-59 GMC Pickup Truck.

 

Union Pacific Hi-rail Truck.

 

For reasons I can't really explain, perhaps due to a fondness for all things rail, I've always thought motor vehicles adapted to run on rails are, well, cool.

This one is a Ford F350 with a utility box, spotted in Kemmerer.

Lifeguard pickup truck, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii.

 

1957 Chevrolet NAPCO Commerical

 

Truck and bably truck?

 

Blog Mirror: The true story of how Army paratroopers traded dip for a Toyota gun truck used to secure the Kabul airport Soldiers trading dip for a technical may be the most Army story ever.

 

The true story of how Army paratroopers traded dip for a Toyota gun truck used to secure the Kabul airport

Soldiers trading dip for a technical may be the most Army story ever.

Current state of the 07 D3500

We recently did some work on the now old workhorse.  

Headache rack with a light winch mounted, 50 watt GMRS radio, fender flares (to address rust), new tarp.

And no, we're not done.  Front winch comes next.

 

The Sheriff's Pickup

You see these all over the West, maybe all over everywhere.

Late model 4x4 3/4 ton pickup truck modified for law enforcement use.

Not work. . .

but at this point, I bet it feels like it.

1930s? International

 

I saw this parked on the street the other day, with a for sale sign in the window.  I didn't stop, so I don't know the year for the truck.

International manufactured pickup trucks from 1907 to 1975.

Modern Ranch Trucks in Use.

If you watch a "modern" Western, to the extent I do so, which is very rarely as they irritate me, chances are you'll find at least some of the ranchers in them driving fairly old trucks.  Maybe Yellowstone, which I haven't watched and will not watch, doesn't do this.

Anyhow, that's only partially been the case in my lifetime. When I was young, and well into my adult years, lots of ranches kept a flat fender style Dodge Power Wagon.  That's no longer the case. They didn't lose their utility, they just became collectors items, and working ranches don't use collectors items of any kind.  They sell them.

Having said that, lots of old trucks remain on ranches for specified uses, some as old as the Power Wagons that went into collectors' hands.  But for daily use, of every type, almost every working ranch has a relatively new flatbed pickup.  Here's a good selection of them from recent brandings.

Every truck depicted here is relatively new, and they're all automatic transmissions as well. Every one.

Indeed, amongst stockmen, I’m the only one I know that drives a manual and lacks an automatic transmission.

All of these trucks are, additionally, diesels. Every single one.  Mine included.

1930s Chevrolet

Recently spotted in the wild, a nice 1930s vintage (or maybe 40, 41?) Chevrolet pickup truck.

Studebaker

 

One of the old ones, still being used.

Studebaker pickup truck from the early 1960s.  Actually being used by a fisherman, much as it was originally intended to be.