Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

It's more the fact that Avalanche and Ridgeline are shit trucks, if you need a truck get a truck if you need SUV get that. Don't get something that sucks at both.

You could easily put my truck on that list as well. What the hell can someone do with a 5' bed? It's basically a Pathfinder/Xterra with the back part lopped off and a small bed fitted.

I actually spent some time around an Avalanche once. A guy I worked with had a 2500 model with a 8.1 big block. It was very neat that it had a built in retractable tonneau cover, lots of little bins to store things in, etc. He still has the truck, but he said that the hinge for the rear seats was rusted and leaking and a host of other small problems. It's a GM truck after all.

As far as the Ridgeline, never been around one, but a racer used to tow his Mustang and his kid's junior dragster in with his. Said it pulled just fine.
 
Saw one of the most idiotic things the other day. A Chevy Avalanche with a camper shell.

So they were making their own GM based 4-door version of a Ford Bronco? Doesn't sound terribly idiotic to me other than the GM part. :p
 
The 4-door bronco was more Chevy Suburban than Avalanche.
 
The 4-door bronco was more Chevy Suburban than Avalanche.

Unlike the Suburban, the back 'topper' still came off the truck on the Centurion-converted Bronco.

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If you lower the Avalanche's midgate, you basically have a GM version of the Centurion converted Bronco.
 
That's because the Avalanche was never designed to have a top other than the cancelled Aztek like tent, unlike the Bronco. I'm just saying the guy is trying to put together a 4 door, GM-made equivalent to the Bronco and that idea doesn't strike me as a bad one on the face of it other than the GM part.

To be fair, there are caps or tops that don't make the Avalanche look retarded.



Someone did eventually produce the tent for the Avalanche but the factory one got cancelled - which is a shame because it probably would have done okay unlike the Failtek:

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And then there are some that make it look worse. This one is pictured on a regular GM truck but I saw one (and I've only ever seen the one) that had been made for the Avalanche that looked just about the same. It's a conversion kit to make the Avalanche into a bigger functionally equivalent version of the GMC Envoy XUV:

p3344f11.jpg
 
You could easily put my truck on that list as well. What the hell can someone do with a 5' bed? It's basically a Pathfinder/Xterra with the back part lopped off and a small bed fitted.

I actually spent some time around an Avalanche once. A guy I worked with had a 2500 model with a 8.1 big block. It was very neat that it had a built in retractable tonneau cover, lots of little bins to store things in, etc. He still has the truck, but he said that the hinge for the rear seats was rusted and leaking and a host of other small problems. It's a GM truck after all.

As far as the Ridgeline, never been around one, but a racer used to tow his Mustang and his kid's junior dragster in with his. Said it pulled just fine.

I been in Ridgeline, it's fine inside but obviously I wasn't putting shit in the back.

I don't know maybe it's just the look of it but I always thought that Avalanche looked retarded, it's a 4 door SUV with the "SUV" part converted into a small bed. Reminds me a lot of the Subaru Baja minus the Subaru quirkiness that gives it a pass.
 
I been in Ridgeline, it's fine inside but obviously I wasn't putting shit in the back.

I don't know maybe it's just the look of it but I always thought that Avalanche looked retarded, it's a 4 door SUV with the "SUV" part converted into a small bed. Reminds me a lot of the Subaru Baja minus the Subaru quirkiness that gives it a pass.

The Avalanche bed is actually longer than mine - 5.3 feet. That's only a little shorter than the standard crew cab short bed of 5.5 feet.

No, this was the stupid one out of the alternate truck styles of that era:
Rust-master1050.jpg
 
One of the two stupid ones, you mean.

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Although...that non-removable tauneau on the Lincoln does probably take the cake.
 
One of the two stupid ones, you mean.

6a00d83451b3c669e201630246872d970d-pi


Although...that non-removable tauneau on the Lincoln does probably take the cake.

No, the Envoy XUV was an interesting idea with a not-great execution and was at least usable. I've seen XUVs hauling refrigerators and furniture.

The Chevy SSR was the runner up in the contest though.
 
So did 10 year old me.

10... wait, 15 year old me wanted a Patriot when it came out because it looked like the Cherokee, and the tailgate speakers looked kickass. I guess I should have never met my hero.

The Avalanche bed is actually longer than mine - 5.3 feet. That's only a little shorter than the standard crew cab short bed of 5.5 feet.

No, this was the stupid one out of the alternate truck styles of that era:
Rust-master1050.jpg

There are 10 on cars.com between 6.5-26 THOUSAND dollars. :blink:

One of the two stupid ones, you mean.

6a00d83451b3c669e201630246872d970d-pi


Although...that non-removable tauneau on the Lincoln does probably take the cake.


We're forgetting one.

 
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We're forgetting one.


No, we're not.

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At least those came standard with a set of rails that extended the usable space.

Pretty much this. Also, at the time the Sport-Trac's bed wasn't really all that much smaller (50.4 inches) than what you got in, say, the contemporary crew cab Frontier (56.3) or Tacoma (61.5) short beds. You couldn't get a full plywood panel or full-size motorcycle into the back of any of them without lowering the tailgate or leaving part of it outside the bed and all either had that tubular bed extender from the factory or as an extra cost option.
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They all still have bigger beds behind their rear seats than I do (36 inches). :p
 
You actually got real Opels back in the day. It was GM's import fighter, sold through Buick dealers. Most (if not all?) of them were built by Isuzu in Japan.

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Those ones were sold there as Buicks, if memory serves me right.

EDIT: dammit, ninja'd. Here's a picture of a muffin

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No, we're not.

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Pretty much this. Also, at the time the Sport-Trac's bed wasn't really all that much smaller (50.4 inches) than what you got in, say, the contemporary crew cab Frontier (56.3) or Tacoma (61.5) short beds. You couldn't get a full plywood panel or full-size motorcycle into the back of any of them without lowering the tailgate or leaving part of it outside the bed and all either had that tubular bed extender from the factory or as an extra cost option.
s-l1600.jpg


They all still have bigger beds behind their rear seats than I do (36 inches). :p

You can barely get a plywood panel in trucks now. My brother has an '01 Silverado and he picked up drywall recently. You're wedging the 4X8 sheets between the wheel humps so tight that you're damaging the edges. What's the point? if a truck bed is as the bed is 4 and a little bit feet in width, it should be fine but, in my experience, they're exactly 4' if not a little tiny bit smaller.
 
You can barely get a plywood panel in trucks now. My brother has an '01 Silverado and he picked up drywall recently. You're wedging the 4X8 sheets between the wheel humps so tight that you're damaging the edges. What's the point? if a truck bed is as the bed is 4 and a little bit feet in width, it should be fine but, in my experience, they're exactly 4' if not a little tiny bit smaller.

Not any better in the smaller trucks. Between the wheel wells in my truck is something like 42". Not to mention with the tailgate down I still only have about 6' of bed floor. So I built a device that uses 2x6s, 2x4s and other lumber to raise the bed floor so sheet goods will set flat. Worked like a charm for the two sheets of drywall I picked up earlier this year.
 
That was something I like about my flareside. The bed was a square with no wheel hump intrusion. Too bad it was painted by Cheech & Chong's cousins with interior mods by Show Trucks USA
 
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