death of regular cab pickups

[tacticalturnip]

I recall sometime many years ago Ford offered a slightly extended cab with a skinny wing door on one side. There was maybe 6-12" more cab room for folks like me to easily carry some tools. They dropped it after a couple years.

2004-2008; the single cab trucks had that weird mini door. Since then they've just made the doors long enough to allow access to the cargo are behind the seat.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

Interesting. Seems as though automakers are adding back seats and doors but making the beds shorter and that don't work for me as I use my F350 Ford pickup truck for a farm truck and I need an 8 foot bed and use it all the time. Actually, an even better option (though I don't want to spend the money) is a flat bed retrofit. I agree that the short bed 4 door trucks have their place (for soccer moms to cart groceries) but not here. Besides, I think they look corny.

I’m not a soccer mom yet I have a four-door 1 ton 6 1/2 foot box hooked to a trailer all the time so I guess some people do use the four-door’s.

I am a 2 door fan also. No matter what the vehicle. I like the look.
(Remember as a teenager you wouldn't be caught dead driving a FOUR door?)
Visibility and turning/parking is waaaay better. Cross box in back keeps the essentials out of the weather and also keeps the accumulation to a minimum.

61 years old and I don’t remember ever not wanting a four-door truck when I was a teenager.

I can see the use for both four-door or two-door but I guess that’s why we all buy what we want.

 

[ovrszd]

2004-2008; the single cab trucks had that weird mini door. Since then they've just made the doors long enough to allow access to the cargo are behind the seat.

That's the one I described. Thanks for the pic.

 

[ruffdog]

Nearly all of my trucks have been reg cabs and none have been crew cabs. I had a nice little run-around truck for a while. It was a 2008 Ford Ranger reg cab with the 7' box. It was light weight, parked easy, and got great mileage. I hauled a bunch of firewood with that thing too. It didn't haul nearly as much (or as well) as my full size truck with a 8' box though.

 

[crashz]

I had (2) F150 short bed regular cab 4x4s and loved them. Fun daily drivers that could do some work too. You can still order them this way, and AFAIK GM is bring theirs back in limited series. I saw one at the dump on Saturday. It had the Z71 package and looks pretty good.

I always had regular cab trucks until the wife came along. When we ride together she needs to bring so much stuff, that the next truck we bought had to be an extended cab. My Canyon is a crew, but no regular sized adult would be comfortable back there. Perfect for my dogs though!

 

[JMINDEN]

I love the look of a regular cab, but have never driven one except for feed pickups. For that purpose, the regular cab is indispensable since if you go cab & chassis it means you can get a 12' bed installed. I don't know that this is possible with any other configuration (though it might be).

But for practicality, and with children, the crew cab is the only thing that makes sense for me. If I were to spec a pickup it'd be a 1 ton crew cab, 8' bed.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I have a regular cab. Brother does. Neighbor does. In fact, he has a swb reg cab 4x4 Ford and it be looking right, bone stock. But I'll wait to ask about it until it gets 300-400 thousand miles so it will be in my price range.

I turned 21 in prison doing life without parole. Remember that song? That neighbor turned 18 in prison doing life without parole. They for some reason let him out about two years ago. He is 40 now, has not much of nothing. He is with my friends sister. So them two brothers and me helped them get in a nice fixed up house. He has a job in a sawmill. He knows the job because he worked woodshop for 20 some odd years in prison. Way back then, I didn't know him, but I was working the same job site with victims father. This boy was not the killer and was not present. But, he did help bury victim. I thought he was heavily sentenced decades ago. The other boy ain't never getting out.

 

[stumblinhorse]

They’ll never die because some of us keep‘em a long time…

 

[Oaktree]

What, a 4 foot bed isn't enough? Most trucks drive around hauling nothing but air and generate TONS of carbon dioxide doing it.

I own a truck to haul stuff. No a 4' bed is not enough (I don't think the bed on the 4 door tacomas is even that long, but they're more of a "lifestyle" truck anyway). Don't necessarily need a full 8' one anymore, but a 6 is about right.
Don't need a backseat...other than the wife, never have passengers so that space will be going to waste most of the time. Don't have a dog, even if I did I wouldn't be hauling it around with me.
I like extended cab trucks and don't like the fact that they seem to be going away. I like the storage space behind the seat, and the fact that there's a bit more legroom than in a standard cab.

 

[Snobdds]

To get the CAT skid steer I want, the only legal truck to haul it is a single cab F350.

It seems equipment has again outpaced the truck and trailer market...not power wise, but suspension and DOT regulations on 26K limits.