On December 19th, Ford closed the doors of their St Paul auto plant, ending 800 jobs and 86 years of history. The plant was closed as part of Ford's move to end the Ford Ranger in North America, a truck that will still be available overseas. Born of the 80s gas crisis, the Ranger has been Ford's compact truck for almost forty years. Ford blames demand for large trucks and the shrinking gap in price between the compact and full-sized truck markets, spurring concern about the future of the compact truck market in North America.
posted by Stagger Lee on Dec 23, 2011 - 93 comments

Classic Refuse Trucks. Your Home For Vintage Refuse Equipment.
posted by wobh on Aug 7, 2011 - 13 comments

That truck driver you flipped off? Let me tell you his story.
posted by nevercalm on Aug 5, 2011 - 105 comments

"They’re dekotora ('decoration trucks') and they are 'driving' me crazy with ideas." [more inside]
posted by Astro Zombie on May 16, 2011 - 10 comments

Mack Truck History. Mack Truck Photos. Mack Truck Forums. Lots and lots and lots of Mack Truck videos.
posted by Effigy2000 on Apr 1, 2008 - 11 comments

Broken Embargoes. Given the long amount of preparation required to print an automotive "buff book" (US examples include Car&Driver, Road&Track, Automobile, and MotorTrend), automobile manufacturers customarily provide them with access to concepts and new production vehicles months prior to the "official" public unveiling, requiring them to abide by an embargo on the images and data until a certain date has passed, usually to accomodate a carshow or other media event. In these cases, it was to coincide with the North American International Autoshow (NAIAS, aka Detroit Autoshow, 1/13-1/21), with the embargo lifted with either 1/7/2007 online publication or February print issues, which the buff books dropped the last week of a December. As soons as that happened, web outlets like blogs and various forums released their embargoed materials for each model. As a result, many manufacturers have had their marketing plans torn assunder (list and more background inside)...
posted by rzklkng on Jan 4, 2007 - 12 comments

Dekotora photo galleries. They're big. They're bad. They're dekotora ("decoration trucks"). [via Bifurcated Rivets]
posted by soundofsuburbia on Nov 20, 2006 - 13 comments

Oakland's Taco Trucks: cool site featuring their menus, art, reviews, and locations!
posted by fandango_matt on Aug 29, 2006 - 11 comments

Do you like pickup trucks? How about automotive history and evolution? Here are some pictures of old pickups, from the blatantly-obviously named oldcarandtruckpictures.com. And since I got complaints on IRC that the wheels weren't big enough...
posted by Eideteker on Jun 14, 2006 - 11 comments

Disgusting Trucks Can you identify any worse? Yeah and Yeah.
posted by nj_subgenius on Feb 7, 2005 - 49 comments

And they're like, it's better than yours. The automotive arms race continues -- what's bigger than a Hummer or Ford F350? The Navistar CXT. Or is this all about hauling power for people who don't just want to buy a Kenworth?
posted by namespan on Oct 23, 2004 - 17 comments

Meet the CXT. "We can see it a as a vehicle for business people who want to make distinct impression. For personal use, it's for people who want to make a statement." I think it will leave a little more than an impression.
posted by gazingus on Sep 13, 2004 - 92 comments

2fast, 2furious, 2...something. This gallery of tricked-out Japanese big rigs defies description.
posted by mathowie on Jun 9, 2003 - 40 comments

Truck-nutz? Can it get any more crude, I mean 'red', than this? (here, another brand and lots of pics - click on mugshots). Who in their right mind would hang these under thier bumper?
posted by tomplus2 on Aug 11, 2002 - 33 comments

As the biggest, burliest SUV sold in the United States -- nearly 19 feet long and weighing about 7,200 pounds -- the Excursion was attacked by social critics who accused Ford of environmental irresponsibility. I for one, will not miss it.
posted by hotdoughnutsnow on Jul 31, 2002 - 77 comments

Biometric authentication system. Starship Enterprise? No, Kenworth. Their new T800 High-Tech Truck is loaded with security features for the long haul. Could airplane manufacturers learn a thing or two from the grand-daddy of big rigs?
posted by gutenberg on Apr 12, 2002 - 4 comments