"Best Truck I Ever Had"

It seems that when a guy talks about the best truck he ever had, he isn't talking about wi-fi, lovely soft interiors, or a nice quiet ride. No, sir! He's talking about a truck that withstood the most abuse. It's the brawny bulldog that has been mercilessly overloaded to twice its capacity, towed the biggest trailer, was flooded, burned and/or buried, barely maintained, and still responded with miles and miles of dependable service. FrenchyD had a great story about his trusty Chevy in the high-mile cars thread. How about the rest of you? Tell us about The Best Truck You Ever Had!

Handled like a go kart, with the air shocks in back could haul a studio apartment worth of furnishings in one trip, got 35mpg in town and was surprisingly fast.

For E36 M3s n giggles I lined up with an 85 911SC and a 93 Corrado VR6 and walked away from them in a way that shocked us all. Built up 1.9 16V on MS. I miss it all the time.

1977 Chevy C-20 454 Camper Special. Bought in the 80's, and I still have it.

Probably my 2003 F-250 7.3 (the 1st one). Low mile 1 owner before me. Not a bit of trouble, up to 25 mpg on the hwy and would do anything and everything I asked of it.

The Mighty Taco is proving to be hard to kill.

2010 Dodge 2500 diesel. Tows like a champ. Is comfy with a good ride and a quiet interior, which is important when you're towing long distances. I maintain it because I take care of my stuff.

The Tundra was a good truck and had high miles and was cheap and everything and never broke until I put it up for sale. That's the one I'm supposed to wax poetic about - but it's not as good at doing what it's meant to do. Sorry.

My best truck was a '92 Dodge 3/4 ton extended cab long bed 4x4, 5.9 Cummins and 5 speed gearbox. It always always always just worked. I drove it all over the country, hitched and loaded with various things, many of them heavier than the truck itself. Must have had 300,000 on it when I finally sold it to a friend a couple of years ago, and he promptly hitched up a huge trailer to it and drove it completely cross country. It's now banging around the Portland, Oregon area, and likely will continue to do so until the sun burns out.

76 f100, 300i6 with a 3 on the tree, bought it in late 05 for 400 bucks and had to call my dad to figure out the shift pattern. It towed a way too heavy trailer and car to muncie (about 2hr trip) every other weekend and held up to alot of general abuse. Its the reason im looking for another, i still regret selling it but being laid off i had to cut the fleet down.

My current truck is objectively the best -- 2005 2500HD Duramax. Crew cab, 4wd. Perfect for all the same reasons Keith mentioned. It now has 205k. I've put the last 40k on it. It has needed a brake hose, a wheel bearing, and a rear axle seal for repairs. Other than that, it just starts and goes.

My most nostalgic trucks are the whole host of Datsuns and Nissans I had in the past. My 98 Frontier extended cab, 4wd, 4cyl 5 speed was a great truck. I drove the everluvin whiz out of it daily. It saw the redline on every drive.

My big hairy man diesel is comfy and just gets it done, whatever IT may be. Other than parallel parking in the city.

I guess it isn't a truck, but it is body on frame - I love my third gen 4Runner. Just enough niceties to make the drive tolerable but can also stand up to anything I can throw at it. Seeing people with 300k+ on theirs just makes me want to keep mine running forever...

I will never forget reading out this one that actually drove back into town (complete with tree)

My Nissan Hardbody got the most use and abuse. Lifted. Lowered. Off-road toy. Commuter. It wore many hats.

But my favorite truck was my TRD Tundra. Ride like a Cadillac, could tow my car and trailer, comfy interior, and a nice sound system. Sold it when gas prices were insane. Miss it everyday

Obviously my 1986 Nissan Kingcab. Has around 400k miles and still kicking. It was my daily driver up until last winter, when it came up with an odd cold idle problem that I have been unable to exorcise. Now its mostly the dump truck, mulch fetching and Home Depot run truck.

Clifford the little big red truck. Basically indestructible, If the Zombies come I am getting into Clifford. Has Saddle tanks and tools int he cab behind the seat, I could darn near get anything running with it and if not tow it up a mountain if I had to. Plus lift-gate. I love my liftGate for getting tires in and out of the truck.

My current Tundra. It occurred to me as I approach 100k miles, for the first time in 3 trucks, I do not need more truck as I did when I traded the Frontier for the Silverado nor am I worried about the constant and likely future mechanical failures as I was when I traded the Silverado for the Tundra. Yup, got a keeper.

1986 toyota. it was named roscoe and had a wooden flatbed.

92 Honda Civic Hatchback. Helped someone move a one bedroom apartment entirely in two trips with that car. The rear hatch was like a pickup truck. One piece was a tailgate and the other part was the glass. I had a mattress sticking out the top back window.

My dearly departed '78 Datsun 620 King Cab.

Bought it from a scrapper in the nineties, he couldn't get it to run right, and was literally hours away from junking it.

It was bright Yellow with black trim, came from California, so it had barely any rust, and I got it for $500.

I found that the L20b engine had what I thought was a bent or sticking valve. I pulled the head and found a couple of valve seats were falling out of the head.

A local machinist was very familiar with this problem, and had it fixed better than new for a reasonable price.

Next, it ran on all 4 cyls, but I couldn't get timing right no matter how I clocked the distributor. Some careful inspection found the reluctor installed upside down: free fix aside from a couple hours of my time. It now ran almost good once warmed up.

The previous owner had butchered all the vacuum operated emissions stuff trying to fix what turned out to be bad valve seats, including the unobtainable California only carburetor.

Wouldn't you know that a Weber downdraft was cheaper than a 49 state OEM carb from any reputable rebuilder .

Along with the new Weber went the homemade , unfinished, very sketchy, long tube header that came with the truck when I bought it. The manifold flange looked like it had been cut by hand with a hacksaw and an angle grinder, and the collector was obviously salvaged from something else and held on with pop rivets. I had to clean up the manifold flange a lot to make it fit, and I had to tweek the collector angle to make it clear some stuff. Once it was in place I made a quick and dirty side dump exhaust with the cheapest super turbo type muffler I could make fit.

It was a glorious truck after that! Thanks to the yellow with black paint & trim with loud buzzing exhaust it earned the name Rumble Bumble.

I carried everything everywhere and never complained. It was an absolute Hoon Mobile when empty. It wanted to find trouble/fun.

Once all the initial problems were sorted out, the only trouble it ever gave me afterwards was a broken u-joint, and the clutch went from old age. Both were easily fixed in the driveway.

Sadly the tin worm cought up to it pretty quickly living in PA. I got about 6 years out of it before cab mounts gave way. The bed seams were all coming apart too, as were the passenger side door hinge mounts. It was sad to see it go, all the main mechanical parts were still in very good condition.

1952 Dodge B3C-116. Got T-Boned by an old man blowing a red light, so I put the '52 body on a 1987 3/4 ton Dodge frame. 360 - 727 - Dana 60 and heat! Rear bumper is from a Malibu wagon, narrowed.

Gumby. My green 74 Mazda REPU. This funky little 2wd go-kart truck is just awesome! It's smelly, noisy, oily, and rattles, but I love it in every way possible. The best part is my wife and kids love it too. My 10 year old son is convinced it will be his first car. Ain't happening! I've owned this truck now going on 14 years, and I love it just as much now as I did when I got it. It's not particularly great at doing anything in particular aside from putting smiles on peoples faces. She's got it where it counts though.

The only truck I've ever owned, purchased from the original owner in the twilight of the last century. Nineteen hundred eighty-five Chevrolet C30 Silverado Dooley. It's all the truck I need.

1958 ford f100. It was an old ma bell utility truck with a special utility box. Ran a painting business out of for a couple of years. Could not kill it. Had a sticker on the dash that said don't back into trouble.

I'm seeing a lot of Toyota's here. And to think me and Iggy drove similar trucks. I drove mine to work today. It only has 364K on it.

Best and sometimes worst depending on the day.

'89 D350. 6bt Cummins, 727 auto, Dana 70 with not nearly enough gear.

If I buy another truck, I'm fairly certain it'll be an LS powered GMT800 3/4 ton that will be better at most things than this truck, but I like this one.

Got a 3rd gen 4Runner and a 4th gen B2200. Love them both because reasons. No hotlink 'cause phone.

I've had a lot of trucks, but I think Truck Norris was the best. Cummins with Dana 60 front, Dana 70 rear, NP205 transfer case.