I hear that President Trump is going to roll back some of the more onerous of the Obama-era fuel emission standards. It's about time.
When I bought the Kubota in 203, one of the first things I wanted to know was if the engine needed DEF or had a regen cycle. No on both counts, and I bought it.
I was alive in '75 when the standards took effect. We've suffered under these standards for 50 years and they have only become more onerous. These days, the only engines that truly breathe are built in garages by backyard tinkerers. Rolling back some of these regulations should help the industry at large.
The world really needs a good, simple pickup truck, about the size of the old F100 or the similarly sized Chevy. Put a small V8 in it, with a good standard transmission. Add air, a decent radio, and add plenty of cell chargers. Set the price at $25K and they would sell a million of them.
The Kubota is doing fine, by the way.
9 comments:
Dave of Daves Engines/Motors, Mehhh,, YouTube guy, said ditching Def is a great idea, but estimates it will kill around half of his diesel work.
Completely agree on the 'old school' pickup truck... sigh
Just saw an ad, mid 1970's, for an f 150- forget the exact details, but I did run it through the inflation calculator and it came out around 22k in todays dollars.
Yep, the simple pick-up with a bench seat and heavy vinyl floor covers is not seen much lately. Low maintenance that can be easily cleaned. Some extra cup holders would be nice though, lol.
Add cruise control.
"The world really needs a good, simple pickup truck, about the size of the old F100 or the similarly sized Chevy. Put a small V8 in it, with a good standard transmission. Add air, a decent radio, and add plenty of cell chargers. Set the price at $25K and they would sell a million of them."
I'd buy two.
I've been saying this for years.
Have a POA for a man who has a 1983 F150 long bed with the bench seat. Love driving it but he's at late stage Alzheimer's so it sits as it needs work. I don't know yet what I am going to do with 4 auto's. Throws a fit if I even mention selling.
About that truck - 2WD only, 8 ft bed ONLY (no 5-6 ft "city trucks"), air, 4-speed or auto trans, simple 280-300 CID V-8 CID engine, maybe a good radio, an electrical buss for adding chargers, owner's GPS, etc., but stop there. Keep it generic, simple, very well engineered, simple to fix, and don't load it up with "factory installed" options, make it modular enough that the buyer can add what he wants; that could mean more $$ for the dealer or plenty of 3rd party aftermarket owner-installed stuff particularly suited to the owner's needs. Heck, limit it to 4 or 5 colors. "Gimme one in blue, with 4 charger ports." Emissions standards probably require fuel injection and electronic ignition, but I'd vote for a simple 2-barrel carb and battery/coil ignition and a radiator 25% larger than the slide rule boys think is actually necessary (it gets hot here in the summer, and I know hot to block part of it with cardboard in winter...).
I doubt any American manufacturer is bright enough to figure out how to do it, maybe one of the Japanese plants could offer them. (Toyota already makes the Hilux overseas, those with the 4.0 diesel are the cat's meow, except it needs the 8 ft bed).
A good, simple, pickup the same size as a '75 F100 or C10!
I swear sometimes that modern pickups are bigger than semi-tractors when I was a kid.
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