[V8] Pickup truck technology....and all that jazz

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Yes, I know well the Toyota Previa. Nice vehicle and well executed provided
the maintenance was absolutly spot on.  Difficult to expect people to
actually want to have the floor taken up or the engine dropped when the
other options are the same old, same old, and the cost of operation and
amount of consumption of that same old same old isn't a concern.
 
But I think we in America are approaching the time when just getting a new
"something" may not be possible for the great masses, so something else that
performs the same old, same old mission may be more than just interesting,
it may be desirable.
 
The Toyota Previa wasn't exactly a heavy hauler...certainly not on the order
of a 3/4 ton GMC pickup.  I think only the concepts within the Previa are
worth considering, not the execution. 
 
But what I think is in order is not a remake of the ubiqutous vehicle
itself, merely reconfiguring it to be this or that, but an entirely new
concept of vehicle. 
 
Let's say we still need to use an IC engine or some sort, and for
simplicity's sake, let's cling to either diesel or gasoline for power.  How
about something like:
 
1. Four cylinder or six cylinder engine configuration, inline, mounted on
its side?
2. Engine mounted in back of the truck cab under the floor of the bed.  The
bed floor could be pulled up, or perhaps the bed itself is mounted to the
frame so that the bed could be removed for servicing of the engine, OR the
engine and assorted components could be dropped down for servicing.
3. Yeah, yeah, yeah....no engine collision protection I know....so, if Mr.
Obama is serious about our training new engineers, how about some brilliant
engineer coming up with an impact cage that will deflect or absorb most
reasonable frontal impact.  It isn't necessary for the front end to be five
inches from the legs of the passengers of the cab, either...just less than
six feet is desired.
4.  Pulleys for a/c or power steering?  Surely you're not serious:
shouldn't acessories like this be driven by electricity?  The exercise is to
do things much differently, right?  
5.  And so long as we are fantasizing about power and application of same to
wheels, how about providing power from the engine through an automatic
transmission that is designed along the lines of maximizing the power output
of the engine for the intended purpose.  To me that means something other
than a four or five speed automatic.  How large would a seven or eight speed
transmission need to be?  OR, failing the "same old, same old" transmission
concept, how about providing motive power to each wheel which is turned by
electric motors in some sort of arrangement not unlike a Mercedes Unimog
with its geared hubs?
6. Speed is limited.  I see little reason for a pickup truck to need to
provide high speeds or extraordinary acceleration, so if highway speed was
ignored as a design parameter, and primary concern was for
torque,multiplication at most of the "working speeds" that these vehicles
need on an hourly basis most of the time, the design and engineering issues
become less and less significant, it would seem to this NON engineering
type.
 
The most rugged and durable working vehicle that I have ever owned was my
1977 Ford F150.  That truck had a three speed manual transmission (three on
the tree), a 300 cubic inch six cylinder engine, no power steering, a heater
and a radio.  It was as simple as they got.  It delivered well more than
twenty miles per gallon overall, and on a long trip on the Interestate,
running empty it would go past twenty-five.  It could be loaded so that the
front end was almost off the ground, but still would haul and haul and
haul....only rust would stop it.  I have had three 3/4 ton four wheel drive
trucks since that Ford, as well as a bunch of other 1/2 ton trucks and none
of them would out haul that Ford.  
 
When my GMC 3/4 ton pickup burned up this past February, I got a good look
at what is inside one of those "modern" trucks, and it was amazing to see
how little is there.  Aside from the front sheet metal and the engine there
is nothing between the inside of the cab and the great out of doors, except
454 cubic inches of junk..  And for that, someone paid thirty grand in 1997?
There's gotta do a better way:  FEDEX packaging is tougher than that, I
think.
 
Roger