Wheels: Van-based pickups

The current U.S. auto market is defined by the pickup. Through the years, manufacturers tried various configurations to satisfy the range of users from cattlemen to commuters, the latter eventually dominating and driving the market. Some were successful, like extending the cabs and shortening the pickup boxes, others languished with low sales numbers as the years passed, filling a niche or simply a preference like the car-based GMC Caballero. Yet with all the different versions of pickups out there, one effort to appeal to the pickup buying masses failed to thrive.

Set the Wayback Machine for 1960. American trucks ruled the roost and nearly any tradesman could be served by a pickup or panel truck which was a pickup with an enclosed back, sort of like a current SUV without any rear, side windows or doors. Panel trucks were a van, more or less, before vans found their niche. And speaking of vans, coming up fast from the rear was the venerable Volkswagen Type II Bus; an efficient, albeit underpowered compact carryall and suddenly the big American automakers were behind the eight ball in the light van market.