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Thread: The Family Truckster

  1. #1

    Exclamation The Family Truckster

    The Rise of the Family Kenworth

    https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2019...ly-peterbuilt/

    By eric - March 2, 2019

    Big engines are making a comeback . . . sort of.

    You may have caught my article about Ford’s new 7.3 liter V8, the biggest V8 Ford has made in 20 years. It’s not the only new big V8 on deck, either.

    GM and FiatChrysler (maker of the Ram series of trucks) also have big new V8s coming. They don’t have turbos – or even overhead cams.

    Some are made of cast iron, too.

    It’s almost like they repealed the income tax.

    But, there’s a catch.

    These engines will only be available – absent something analogous to a repeal of the income tax – in very big trucks.

    Three-quarter-tonners and up. The F250/350 Super Duty, Ram 2500/3500 and Silverado HD.

    Maybe a few super-sized SUVs built on common platforms.

    These are the latest redoubt – the last class of vehicle shy of the Kenworth class that people can still retreat to, to get what they want – as opposed to what the government demands. They are the last class of non-commercial vehicles that isn’t subject to the engine-gimping fuel economy fatwas that now apply full-force to all other vehicles, including “light duty” pick-ups and SUVs.

    Which were the previous redoubt.

    Initially – and until fairly recently – the fatwas applied much less stringently to these “light trucks” than they did to cars, which were the first to be gimped.

    That gimping taking the form of shrunken engines in shrunken cars.

    This transitioning – which was just as artificially induced as Bruce-to-Caitlyn – occurred during the mid-late 1980s and into the ’90s.

    Big cars – with big engines – almost disappeared; they were replaced by much smaller cars – with much smaller engines.

    But lots of people still wanted big cars – with big engines.

    These were still available, too . . . as “light trucks” – which became “SUVs” when seats were bolted to the bed and the whole thing enclosed with steel and glass.

    This is why trucks – and what we now call “SUVs” – have become the most popular category of vehicle – and a pie in Uncle’s face.

    Uncle’s response was not gracious. It was vengeful.

    The fatwas applied to ordinary passenger cars were applied to “light trucks” and SUVs, too. Uncle could not stand the idea that people were getting away with buying vehicles that used too much gas for his tastes.

    No one ever seems to ask why it is any of the government’s business how much gas our vehicles use – or not. So long as people aren’t being forced to buy anything – whether it uses less gas or more – there ought to be no objection.

    Or at least, no fatwas.

    But Uncle has never believed in free choice. It runs risk of allowing people to make their own choices.

    The broadening of the fatwa’s reach to include “light trucks” happened only recently – and it is the only reason for the sudden appearance of tiny four cylinder and twice-turbo’d V6 engines in half-ton trucks such as the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado 1500 – as well as large SUVs based on them, such as the Ford Expedition.

    This would never have happened absent the fatwas for the self-evident reason that it makes no sense . . . from the standpoint of the people buying these trucks. Why buy a twice-turbo’d V6 over a no-turbos V8 for the sake of “saving” perhaps 5 MPG – yes, really; that’s all the difference – at the cost of all those turbos?

    The V8 is simpler and less stressed – which generally translates as more durable as well as costs less to maintain and repair. Which usually means it ends up costing the owner less overall than whatever is saved at the pump via the “fuel efficient” twice-turbo’d engine.

    Same goes for things like aluminum bodies – also being resorted to for “fuel savings” (really fatwa compliance) reasons. Steel – like big V8s – makes more sense because it’s cheaper both to make it and to fix it. But the car companies resort to aluminum over steel because making sense isn’t the determining criteria any more.

    Compliance is.

    But as long as there is another redoubt available, buyers will retreat to it.

    The same market forces that made “light trucks” and the SUVs they spawned such a hugely popular alternative to fatwa-gimped, under-engined and under-sized cars are likely to trigger a comparably massive uptick in the demand for “heavy duty” 2500 series and up trucks and the SUVs they will likely spawn.

    Hilariously – or pathetically – depending on your point of view, the fuel economy fatwas have achieved precisely the opposite of their touted object. Much more gas is being “wasted” in jacked-up, far less aerodynamic and much heavier 4×4 pick-ups and SUVs than would have been “wasted” in the fatwa-retired but far more aerodynamic – and far less heavy – big sedans wagons once so popular with American buyers.

    (And as @acptulsa has pointed out numerous times, SUVs, "Crossovers" and "Trucklets" are much more likely to capsize due to their much higher centers of gravity as opposed to a heavy, low slung sedan. - AF)

    Many of these delivered nearly 30 MPG on the highway – back in the ’90s, without the advantages of a transmission with multiple overdrive gearing. With modern gearing and other such tech, a full-size sedan or wagon with a nice big V8 under its hood would certainly deliver better gas mileage than a twice-turbo’d 4WD truck that’s 800 pounds heavier and has 30 percent more aerodynamic drag.

    But the big sedans and wagons are gone.

    And because of the effect of the fatwas on “light trucks” and SUVs, expect lots of people to be going to something a whole lot heavier.

    In order to get something bigger.

    While they still can.

    Until it’s time to move to the next redoubt.
    Another mark of a tyrant is that he likes foreigners better than citizens, and lives with them and invites them to his table; for the one are enemies, but the Others enter into no rivalry with him. - Aristotle's Politics Book 5 Part 11



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  3. #2
    Make sure you can afford maintenance and can find someone to tow it if something goes wrong.
    #NashvilleStrong

    “I’m a doctor. That’s a baby.”~~~Dr. Manny Sethi

  4. #3
    Libertarian in 1978: CAFE regulations are an oil company plot.

    Person he's trying to reason with: You're a stupid conspiracy theorist! How could limits on fuel consumption lead to more fuel consumption?

    Same person in 2019: Damn this four wheel drive, 8700 pound GVW, Class Two Truck uses one hell of a lot of gas! Whatever happened to my Dodge Coronet wagon? It got over 20 mpg with a carburetor!

    'The fellow who can only see a week ahead is always the popular fellow, for he is looking with the crowd. But the one that can see years ahead, he has a telescope but he can't make anybody believe that he has it.'--Will Rogers
    Never mind convincing people our predictions are sound. We can't even make people see what's going on under their noses.
    Last edited by acptulsa; 03-03-2019 at 06:49 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    We believe our lying eyes...

  5. #4
    This is where we need to hold government to task. I don’t think anyone with a gas-powered car gets the mileage advertised by the manufacturers. It just does not happen. I drive a 2006 Honda CR-V. I get better gas mileage than my husband who drives a 2010 Lexus H250. Supposedly hybrids are better on gas. No, they are not.
    #NashvilleStrong

    “I’m a doctor. That’s a baby.”~~~Dr. Manny Sethi

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by euphemia View Post
    This is where we need to hold government to task. I don’t think anyone with a gas-powered car gets the mileage advertised by the manufacturers. It just does not happen. I drive a 2006 Honda CR-V. I get better gas mileage than my husband who drives a 2010 Lexus H250. Supposedly hybrids are better on gas. No, they are not.
    The only mileage numbers the manufacturers are allowed to advertise are the EPA numbers. And yes, the "driving cycle" the EPA uses to get those numbers is formulated to make hybrids look better than they are.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    We believe our lying eyes...

  7. #6
    So you can't order a F-150 with a big block anymore? I haven't bought a new vehicle in quite some time so I'm out of the loop here. In fact I'm regressing, my current work "truck" is a 1973 B-200 with a 318-three on the tree. Hauls my $#@! with room to spare and keeps it dry. I have about 6 or 700.00 into it and I'm into my second year with it.
    "The Patriarch"

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    So you can't order a F-150 with a big block anymore? I haven't bought a new vehicle in quite some time so I'm out of the loop here. In fact I'm regressing, my current work "truck" is a 1973 B-200 with a 318-three on the tree. Hauls my $#@! with room to spare and keeps it dry. I have about 6 or 700.00 into it and I'm into my second year with it.
    No.

    Biggest you can get in the 2019 F150 is a 302 small block V8.

  9. #8
    Noone really needs a big truck. It would make sense to require a permit to operate such a large vehicle.

    I'll write my congressmen.
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

    Donald Trump / Crenshaw 2024!!!!

    My pronouns are he/him/his



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by TheTexan View Post
    Noone really needs a big truck. It would make sense to require a permit to operate such a large vehicle.

    I'll write my congressmen.
    Proof once again, not a Texan.
    Pfizer Macht Frei!

    Openly Straight Man, Danke, Awarded Top Rated Influencer. Community Standards Enforcer.


    Quiz: Test Your "Income" Tax IQ!

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    The Income Tax Is An Excise, And Excise Taxes Are Privilege Taxes

    The Federalist Papers, No. 15:

    Except as to the rule of appointment, the United States have an indefinite discretion to make requisitions for men and money; but they have no authority to raise either by regulations extending to the individual citizens of America.

  12. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    Proof once again, not a Texan.
    Yah, he shot himself in the foot there...pretty objective proof...NOT a Texan

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Federalist View Post
    No.

    Biggest you can get in the 2019 F150 is a 302 small block V8.
    A few months ago I went to Tompkinsville Ky to look at a three yr old F 150 extended 4 x 4 cab like my '04 F 150 STX 4x4. I did not think to ask what size the engine was . So the V8's are all 302's now ? That is what I get for not asking , I would have assumed them all to be slightly more .
    Do something Danke

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Danke View Post
    Proof once again, not a Texan.
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Federalist View Post
    Yah, he shot himself in the foot there...pretty objective proof...NOT a Texan
    I'll have you both know that I do drive a truck.

    An electric truck, actually. It's really good for the environment and can haul my couch&recliner over 30 miles before it loses power.
    Last edited by TheTexan; 03-04-2019 at 10:50 AM.
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

    Donald Trump / Crenshaw 2024!!!!

    My pronouns are he/him/his

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by oyarde View Post
    A few months ago I went to Tompkinsville Ky to look at a three yr old F 150 extended 4 x 4 cab like my '04 F 150 STX 4x4. I did not think to ask what size the engine was . So the V8's are all 302's now ? That is what I get for not asking , I would have assumed them all to be slightly more .
    Pretty bad when you can't even get a 351. That's what's in my 91 conversion van. Drove that from Washington to Florida and back last year, did very well.
    "The Patriarch"

  16. #14
    You can still get a family truckster, just not a new one. For the price of a new rig you can get a pretty sweet older one.
    "The Patriarch"



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