It wasn’t too hard to recall my first test drive of Ford’s new-for-’57 Ranchero, as I hummed along at 85-90 mph in the Explorer Sport Trac. I was once again—-though a mere 45 years later—at the wheel of a car/truck crossover. I say car/truck, because nobody had even thought up the term sport/utility at that time.
It used to be that trucks were trucks and cars were cars. You could get a fair amount of luxury equipment in a car, even back then. But a truck? Sunvisors and rearview mirrors were usually optional, and the seats felt like park benches. You may or may not have been able to get carpeting. Trucks were tools, designed for hauling racks, hay bales, and the proverbial load of manure.
So imagine how nice it was…
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MotorTrend (Digital) - 1 Issue, August 2001