Madison Co. Virginia | Cole Sibley - 11/2/2023 13:09
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. 25 years from now, there will be more 5-6gen Ford's on the road than Tesla cybertrucks. I really think Ford will soon build a retro pickup and it will sell bajillions. Whether it is any good or not remains to be seen (but I think it will be). Perhaps Chevy will build a modern square-body first, I'm not sure, but whoever does it first: well, 'we like the stock', as the saying goes.
The styling would be the only thing the OEM's could replicate from an old truck, and even that is difficult and expensive. Part of the visual appeal of the old trucks is their slim A and B pillars. These give awesome visibility, improve the looks of the truck, but are terrible for rollover protection. The OEMs would need to use some pretty exotic materials in their cab structures if they were to meet modern rollover standards and still use those slim cab pillars. There would also have to be major changes throughout the structure of the truck for the sake of crash worthiness.
Auto Metal Direct is producing the windshield frame, firewall, floor, complete rear wall, door surrounds, doors, dash frame, roof, and hood for a squarebody cab. They're not offering all those parts welded together into a complete cab yet, but they've hinted that it won't be more than a year or two before the complete squarebody cab is available for purchase. Obviously, the entire front clip and all bed parts have been available from a variety of suppliers for some time already. You can basically start out with a VIN plate, some rectangular tubing to use as a chassis, and about $60k of parts, and assemble your own squarebody from scratch over the winter. |
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