Gen III Tacoma Compared to a 1970 Full Size Pickup - How "small" are our trucks really?

I remember in the C10 the back window was basically the headrest

 

I learned to drive in a 68, black and white C10. As I recall,.and I may be wrong, it had wooden boards for the bed.

 

Okay, updated again with more datas and directly comparing the K10 (4x4) with an SR5

 

Looks perfect for a swap. Just drop the tacoma cab/bed on a C10 frame.

 

Yes, I would love to do this same comparison with this truck. Does anybody have any good source of artwork/data points? I am struggling finding anything.

 

Heavy duty steel frames and bodies in them old trucks,NO cheap plastic everything.

 

DO NOT LET ANYONE ON THE TOWING THREADS SEE THIS COMPARISON!!! The world will implode.

 

My '17 is 5" longer, though narrower and not as tall as my old 1994 Chevy K2500 Suburban.

 

The only thing similar between these two pieces of junk are the length.

 

I do believe Marty and Jennifer conceived their first born at the lake in that rig, am I right?

 

love the cucv.

 

The size increase is also due to EPA requirements that are lobbied against car manufacturers. Its unclear if it was an intentional result from oil investors or otherwise.

To simplify, they said If a car has a wheelbase of x or less and gross weight of y or less, it must get an average of z for fuel economy.

As a car manufacturer, you have 2 options. Develop tech to make your vehicles more fuel efficient and reduce emissions
OR
Make your vehicles just a bit bigger than x,y.

Which is why you won't ever see a light duty small pickup ever again unless it's got a hybrid/mini turbo/electric engine.

 

I found this, unfortunately it is for a Hilux and metri, but at the time it was basically the same truck

https://www.carsguide.com.au/toyota/hilux/car-dimensions/1985

 

, Science Units.

I can't be thinking with those numbers.

 

Yeah dude I've been saying this for two years and it's fallen on deaf ears.

 

Divide by 25.4 to get to inches


If you grew up metric it is hard to understand imperial, especially ounces

Gallons I'm used to but Imperial 4.4L to a Gallon not American 3.78L


The worst is if you buy wood, the size you buy vs real measured size differs as well

I needed to replace beams under the deck

I measured the rotten ones and took photos, because I know from past experience the sales guy at the hardware store hears my South African accent he thinks you are stupid and tells you they don't have what you are looking for

I said I need 1 3/4" x 5 3/4" , snotty sales guy says 2 x 6, I said NO, look at the photo
He said 2 x 6", they cut it 2 x 6" and after it is planed it comes to 1 3/4" X 5 3/4"

 

CAFE - Corporate Average Fuel Economy.

The Tacoma is marketed as a mid size, but CAFE reqs for the mid size (light duty truck) is up around 25-26 MPG.

https://ecfr.io/Title-49/Section-533.5

This was recently changed (2012) to break out cars and trucks, trucks don't need to hit the same exact requirements as cars. BUT long of the short, for "legality", the Tacoma is that size because it needs to hit the minimum footprint for the next size up to get the right fuel economy bracket for what they can hit.

Sources:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/laws-regulations/corporate-average-fuel-economy

The upcoming Ford Subaru Baja wannabe Vulcan or whatever it's called (unibody mini truck) will probably be the first actual CAFE-defined "light duty truck", unless I am completely mistaken (which, let's be fair, I could be).

 

Yeah. My semi-rural HS was all metric. Got to college and we did half and half because 'industry' was holding up the conversion. I get to work and we don't even use feet. Just inches.

It is pathetic. In HS, I could think in metric. Now, Freedom Units have me bogged down at times.


Dimensional lumber is always fun. It can be all over the place depending on size and type, esp if it is engineered lumber, like paralams and such.