That's Not Useful Anymore... (When Modifications Remove All Function)

Here at the Nation, we've made a habit of posting ridiculous looking trucks that have clearly never seen a day of work, other than perhaps moving a new couch home from Crate and Barrel. But the fact is, with so many people using pickup trucks as their daily vehicle these days, this is not at all uncommon. Most trucks you see on the road have an empty bed. And Zack and I don't really have any issues with that; we're guilty too. I mean, how often do you see this on the road?:

Hat's off to that guy. He's really probably approaching the gross weight limit in that Dakota. In reality, most of us just don't have a job or a lifestyle that requires us to, for example, lug around comically large guitars:

Most people buy trucks for what they could do with them. I mean, I find it hard to believe that there are too many pickup drivers out there who need to pull 10,000 lbs. The point is, even if trucks aren't doing work, at least they look like they could do work. That's not always the case though. These trucks would have a hard time doing any work:

I can't imagine there's too much travel left in that suspension.

I apologize for the poor quality of the picture above, but you can clearly see that this big dually has been lowered.  If you concentrate, you will also notice that he has an aftermarket rear bumper... with a bumper hitch. Not quite sure what he's towing with that, but I'm pretty sure that at this point he's got about the same towing capacity as a '98 Ford Taurus. Here's a slightly better picture:

There are other ways besides ride height to show the world that you do not intend to do any work with your truck: 

You can do things like adding an aftermarket grill... with no vents. How does that truck breathe? Perhaps the owner has calculated that his aerodynamic advantage achieved by putting a piece of chrome over his radiator overcomes his loss in engine respiration and cooling, but I doubt it.

Let this post be a reminder that even though we might not all do work with our trucks, we should at least maintain the illusion that we do.

And let me end with a quick thank you to Wes and Chuck who contributed two of the pictures featured in this post. Zack and I can't cover all of the Nation's pickup trucks alone: we need your help! Send us your photos of ridiculous or awesome trucks!

The Connecticut Truck

Greetings Pickup Nation! It has been too long, as usual. My first excuse for my absence is that I have been in Connecticut for a couple months, and I thought until very recently that Connecticut had simply outlawed pickup trucks. After sleeping in mine every night to ensure that the local police did not confiscate it, I realized that there are pickup trucks here! ...well, to be technical they are PLV's, but just as surely as there is a Maryland Truck for the Maryland man, there is also a Connecticut Truck! Here's a prime example:

Okay, I'll be honest. This isn't "an example;" it's the only thing close to a pickup I've seen with a Connecticut tag. I have seen similar vehicles for sale at Walmart, though. Here's a convertible, off-road version, presumably made in China:

Fortunately for all of us, I will soon be returning from the Land that God Forgot [to bless with pickup trucks], and there will be many more exciting posts to come! Thanks for reading and long live Pickup Nation!