[lesmore49]

Got to have the 8' bed. Otherwise where do you put plywood, drywall, sticks of conduit or pipe? I had a short bed crew cab in 2000, it had a 6' bed and regretted it until I traded it for a 2004 Duramax which I still have 320,000 miles later. If parking room or traction is an issue, we use my wife's smaller 4x4 Suburban

Lovely and useful pair of vehicles you have there. One of the few times that a Chevy Suburban would be described as 'smaller'.

[MarkJerling]

The light trucks that have an appeal to and that I have seen (films) in Australia , not sure about NZ, are the Toyota and Nissan 4WD pickup cabs and chassis with flatbeds. The flatbeds of some have short riser sides that can be dropped or lifted, according to need. They seem to be ruggedly built for an off road bias .

Toyotas, Nissans, Isuzus and Mitsubishis are all popular, but the Ford Ranger outsells them all. Flatbeds tend to be popular with farmers but most others prefer a regular (short) truck bed. Most builders prefer vans over utes probably because it provides better storage for their tools. Some builders do use double cab utes (what you call crew cab) but single / extended cabs are very rare. Probably because a double cab ute can more easily become a family vehicle on the weekend.

For the Ford Ranger, the Raptor is the top of the line model:



Here's a single cab flatbed Ranger, mostly seen only on farms or the odd drive into town:



Here's the Toyota Hilux, the second most popular truck here:



Here's Nissan's offering:



Mitsubishi:



Isuzu:



You may notice that I have not mentioned GM. (Chevy does not exist here and what Chevies we had were sold as Holdens.)
GM has decided they no longer want to compete in the right hand drive market so no GM trucks here anymore.

[MarkJerling]

Got to have the 8' bed. Otherwise where do you put plywood, drywall, sticks of conduit or pipe?

Most materials are delivered to site here because it's more cost-effective, as a builder, to have the builders building and the deliveries coming to site. Also, as drywall come in lengths of up to 6m (20 foot) and most pipe and timber comes in 20ft lengths too that's not going to fit on the ute in any event.

[MarkJerling]

Why not?

I know you are on an island, but we have smaller islands here, and I have driven and parked on most of them.

Sometimes I even make my own parking spot.

Sadly, that will not fit in a parking bay here so you'll be up for a long walk when you park it.

What's your truck? Some 6.5m long by 2.45m wide?
(Most angle parking bays are 2.4m wide x 5.4m long and parallel bays are 2.1m wide and anywhere from 4.8 to 5.5m long.)

[Serkevan]

Lovely and useful pair of vehicles you have there. One of the few times that a Chevy Suburban would be described as 'smaller'.

After seeing that New York is packed to the brim with those (typically with *one* person inside, perish the thought of carpooling ), I can't help but wonder why those things are so popular.

You guys should try the "petrol at $1.7/quart" European approach to buying cars sometime

[Racer X 69]

Sadly, that will not fit in a parking bay here so you'll be up for a long walk when you park it.

What's your truck? Some 6.5m long by 2.45m wide?
(Most angle parking bays are 2.4m wide x 5.4m long and parallel bays are 2.1m wide and anywhere from 4.8 to 5.5m long.)

I take two spaces.

Of course I also never park up by the door of whatever shop I am visiting, but rather park way out at the farthest spaces from the entrance.

I have two good legs (sort of), and the extra walk is good for the health.

[Racer X 69]

Most materials are delivered to site here because it's more cost-effective, as a builder, to have the builders building and the deliveries coming to site. Also, as drywall come in lengths of up to 6m (20 foot) and most pipe and timber comes in 20ft lengths too that's not going to fit on the ute in any event.

My Dodge has moved many tons of stuff over the last 20 years. Lumber and other building materials for whatever projects we have done. Moving furniture and household items when we moved or helped the kids move. I’ve lost count of how many trips to the dump it has made, or all the dirt and bark mulch I have hauled, and the bags of lawn fertilizer it has carried.

Then there has been the trips to races, the camper loaded, the trailer coupled behind with the race car and all the stuff that goes along to a race meet.

Let’s not forget all the camping trips, or even just drives up one lane forest service roads to explore the wilderness.

Just did the 140,000 mile service a week back. Two and a half gallons of oil, new air filter, rotate six tires and a full inspection.

Gonna need new exhaust, as it has started rusting from the outside in.

And front brakes soon, probably at 150,000 miles.

---

Last edited by Racer X 69; 01-19-2021 at 04:26 AM.

[MarkJerling]

I take two spaces.

Of course I also never park up by the door of whatever shop I am visiting, but rather park way out at the farthest spaces from the entrance.

I have two good legs (sort of), and the extra walk is good for the health.

If you can find two spaces!

Recently, Annie and I were in Wellington for a weekend away and we stayed at a very nice little hotel which happens to be in the building where the Ford Motor Company built Model T Fords a long, long time ago.

We had booked a parking so on arrival we drove into the parking garage. The lower floors were full so we drove up higher. The higher we went, the tighter the turns became until we got to the top floor and had to do about a 14 point turn to get around one corner. It was pretty stressful, this being Annie's "new car". When we finally arrived at reception, the young lass said: "Oh, sorry, the parking garage is only suitable for very small cars. Would have been nice to know that when we booked the space!

Some years back I got the Discovery stuck in a parking garage. We cleared the boom with the maximum height warning at the entrance, but at the top of the spiral ramp, we ran into the roof. Luckily I could see it was going to be "close" so I was going slow and the roof rails got a scratch or two but the roof was fine. I had to deflate the tires to continue, much to the annoyance of the three cars behind me on the spiral ramp.

[MarkJerling]

My Dodge has move many tons of stuff over the last 20 years. Lumber and other building materials for whatever projects we have done. Moving furniture and household items when we moved or helped the kids move. I’ve lost count of how many trips to the dump it has made, or all the dirt and bark mulch I have hauled, and the bags of lawn fertilizer it has carried.

Then there has been the trips to races, the camper loaded, the trailer coupled behind with the race car and all the stuff that goes along to a race meet.

Let’s not forget all the camping trips, or even just drives up one lane forest service roads to explore the wilderness.

Just did the 140,000 mile service a week back. Two and a half gallons of oil, new air filter, rotate six tires and a full inspection.

Gonna need new exhaust, as it has started rusting from the outside in.

And front brakes soon, probably at 150,000 miles.

I miss my F100. It was handy for carting big stuff around.

I do often wonder why cars don't have stainless steel exhaust systems from the factory!

[dbs]

I miss my F100. It was handy for carting big stuff around.

I do often wonder why cars don't have stainless steel exhaust systems from the factory!

Stainless steel ..... how are they going to make money if they did that ..

[Racer X 69]

If you can find two spaces!

Recently, Annie and I were in Wellington for a weekend away and we stayed at a very nice little hotel which happens to be in the building where the Ford Motor Company built Model T Fords a long, long time ago.

We had booked a parking so on arrival we drove into the parking garage. The lower floors were full so we drove up higher. The higher we went, the tighter the turns became until we got to the top floor and had to do about a 14 point turn to get around one corner. It was pretty stressful, this being Annie's "new car". When we finally arrived at reception, the young lass said: "Oh, sorry, the parking garage is only suitable for very small cars. Would have been nice to know that when we booked the space!

Some years back I got the Discovery stuck in a parking garage. We cleared the boom with the maximum height warning at the entrance, but at the top of the spiral ramp, we ran into the roof. Luckily I could see it was going to be "close" so I was going slow and the roof rails got a scratch or two but the roof was fine. I had to deflate the tires to continue, much to the annoyance of the three cars behind me on the spiral ramp.

We take the Legacy wagon or the Corolla for those trips.

I miss my F100. It was handy for carting big stuff around.

I do often wonder why cars don't have stainless steel exhaust systems from the factory!

Most do these days, at least from the manifold to the muffler. Some even have full stainless steel exhaust to the outlet.

The Dodge is stainless from the turbocharger, mild steel from the muffler back. A few months back I was walking back from the hardware store to the truck, and as is my habit I always park so when walking up to it I come from the rear passenger side, giving me the opportunity to lay an eye on the tires. I noticed the tailpipe hanging at an odd angle, and gave it a kick.

The connection at the muffler outlet had rusted through, and the pipe was swinging on the hangars. I pulled it off when I got home. Now the exhaust dumps under the bed, in front of the axle. I have a full stainless steel mandrel bent system on order, $600. Should be the last exhaust system I will ever put on it.

[robtcorl]

Hey Racer,
Do you plan to get composted?
They'll have to sift out the hardware.
"Humans tend to have a lot of unnatural materials in their bodies, though, like dental fillings, screws and pacemakers. That all has to be filtered out after the bulk of the decomposition is done, Patrick said."

Humans now being legally composted in Washington | FOX 2

[robtcorl]

humor (humuor)

Well I blew that one, I know some of y'all stick in extra U's here and there, but I stuck this one in the wrong place.
should have been humour.

[dbs]

What ... you can compost humour now............ yeah you might be right

[robtcorl]

Turn your scar into art with a tat: