13 Underrated Vintage Pickup Trucks That Deserve More Attention

Production Pickups were initially marketed as an amenity for the American Farmer. Industrial innovation and wartime ingenuity eventually resulted in the comfortable, stylish, and functional American pickup truck phenomenon.

We can’t think of a more appropriate real-life example of the adage that “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” than the vintage American pickup truck, some of which are still the exemplars of robust and practical American engineering.

Here are 13 vintage pickup trucks that deserve more attention not just because of their legacy but because of the ingenuity that went into them and because of their place in automotive history.

1967-1972 Chevrolet C/K

The 1967-1972 Chevrolet C/K was the vintage truck game-changer that crossed modern comfort cruising with old-school functionality on a mass scale for the first time. The Chevy C/K is certainly not the rarest vintage truck on this list, but it deserves more attention than it gets nonetheless.

The C/K was available with multiple engine options, making it one of the most cross-utilized truck concepts of the classic car world. It’s an extremely popular build, loved by car geeks and sought after by customizing wrench-wielders. First off, there were millions of units sold–it’s not hard to track down a well-kept C/K. The Chevy C/K is versatile, easy to work on, cheap to maintain, and highly customizable thanks to robust and straightforward mechanics.

1977-1979 International Harvester Scout SSII Rancher Special

The International Harvester Scout II was a bold crack at sporty 4×4 that could compete with the mainstream Jeep and Ford products of its era and compete the Scout II did. International Harvester made this generation of Scout more rugged than its predecessors while also giving it a sleek and modern style.

The Scout SSII had plastic door inserts, a roll bar, and a grill that was a way to fly for the 1970s utility truck. Only 4,000 Scout IIs were made, and depending on the package, they were stocked with a 196ci four-cylinder, a 304ci, a 345ci, or a two-barrel V-8.

1948 Willys-Overland Jeep Truck

Willys-Overland was the runner-up for most cars sold in pre-war America, second only to Ford. But Willys-Overland transitioned to a war jeep manufacturer for WWII, and after the war, the street-legal wartime Jeep market was booming.

The Dodge Wagon was the first production pickup model. The second was the military-inspired  Willys-Overland Jeep Truck, designed by engineering legend Brooks Stevens and released in May 1947 in two- and four-wheel drive packages.

This industrial-era vintage soldier of a pickup might be short in the engine specs department, but its diesel-punk-inspiring street-military aesthetic certainly deserves some attention.

1956-1957 Dodge Town Wagon

The 4×2 chassis-equipped Dodge Town Wagon hit the American Streets in 1956 as a modified version of the Town Panel. The Town Wagon took the Panel’s classic work-truck format but stuffed in some extra seats and cut out extra windows, resulting in an early rendition of an SUV. A year later, Dodge slapped a 4×4 into the Town Wagon.

Although its sport-to-comfort ratio was comparable to contemporaries like the OG Chevy Suburban and the International Travelall, the Town Wagon was ahead of its time regarding off-road capabilities. Dodge was pumping them out by 1963, with multiple government agencies making the Town Wagon their official choice for service vehicles.

1949-1953 Studebaker 2R Truck

Another post-war vintage classic that showed up ready to work is the 1949-’53 Studebaker 2R. The 2R boasts the ideal combination of fly style and rugged practicality car geeks crave when drooling over post-war trucks. The late 403/early 50s Studebaker 2R Truck was ahead of its time in design and engineering.

The Studebaker 2R influenced future design concepts, making it a necessary link in the chain of automotive evolution. The truck’s bedsides were double-walled, a revolutionary concept at the time that is still in practice. The 2R was available with different box lengths and cab capacities, another convention that’s still a mainstay of pickup truck design.

1948 Ford F-1

Ford was the originator of American car culture and, unfortunately, of many of our less humanistic industrial practices. One of the things old Henry got right, however, was the 1948 Ford F-1 — a pure half-ton of post-war Americana that marked a change in Ford’s design direction.

This is‌ the most influential item on the list. It was Ford’s first post-war factory model, and its flat one-piece windshield and increased cab size told the country that it was time to move forward. The F-1 was a staple of Ford’s “Bonus-Built” segment, prioritizing durability and functionality for the everyday person.

1962 Datsun 320

The 1962 Datsun 320 is the mini-pickup that started it all, serving as the foundation for the mini-truckin’ movement that’d follow a decade later. This is the OG–the first full-frame compact pickup that wasn’t an underground modification.

The Datsun 320 rocked a 97.2-inch wheelbase and a 72.8-inch bed on a 164.8-inch overall length. It packed a 1,189-cc Nissan E-series engine, a torsion bar/A-arm front suspension, and stocked leaf springs in the rear.

1955 GMC “Town and County” Suburban Pickup

The 1955 GMC Suburban Pickup, aka the GMC Town and Country, is a rare treat for any car geek to behold, considering only 1,000 units were made between 1955 and 1957. The Suburban is a wild-style take on the Chevy Cameo, with sleek bodywork, distinct tail lights, and a panoramic windshield.

The Town and County gets lots of attention from vintage collectors, and we understand why. Stylistically, the GMC Suburban is cutting-edge-level fly, considering it was fabbed in the mid-50s. But even so, we feel ‌a 50s-era classic pickup with a 287.2 CID V8 engine that could clap to the tune of 180 horsepower deserves more attention.

1947-1968 Mercury M-Series

The Mercury M-Series was a Canadian-produced vintage pickup truck that was essentially a rebranded Ford F-Series. Mercury produced the M-Series between 1947 and 1968 in Oakville, Ontario, and San Jose, California. These are some of the most sought-after vintage trucks due to the sheer novelty of owning a Mercury-badged vintage Ford truck.

As a testament to automotive history, the M-Series consists of the medium-duty M500, models based on many of the heavy-duty F-series trucks, and the MB-series bus build. The 1965 Auto Pact agreement between Canada and the U.S. marked the end of an era for the M-series, solidifying its place in auto history.

1964 Dodge D-100

The 1964 Dodge D-100 was a “muscle truck” through and through, deserving attention, if for no other reason, because it paved the way for the performance-truck segment car geeks know and love today. The D-100 hit the streets in 1964 with a 426-powered hot-rod engine under the hood and bucket seats in the cabin.

The D-100 came in a few different trims, and we’d love to get behind the wheel‌ of any of them.

The High-Performance Package (HPP) stocked a 360-horse Street Wedge four-barrel dual-exhaust 413 engine, later replaced by a 426 that could send 365 horses running into the wind. The Comfort Sports Special package brought black vinyl interiors, a center console, and fly 60’s-chrome bumpers into the mix.

1966 Ford Bronco

The iconic Bronco SUV gets plenty of attention, but the OG 1966 Ford Bronco “Truck” is a pioneering sport-utility vehicle that should get more flowers. The Bronco build hit the ground running, as Ford designed it to fill all voids unfilled by their lineup or from the factories of their competitors.

The ’66 Bronco rocked a shorter 92-inch wheelbase, giving it a 33.6-foot turning radius that could out-sport its contemporaries. It stocked a “Mono-Beam” front suspension with coil springs and radius rods for buttery-smooth handling.

The OG Bronco boasted the first fully synchronized transmission of any 4×4 vehicle available in the US, making it a vintage truck that every car geek should know about.

1950-1953 Toyota “Jeep”

Car geeks certainly sing songs about the vintage Toyota Land Cruiser. If we go back even further, Toyota produced a gem of a vintage pickup truck in the early 1950s that laid the groundwork for Toyota’s dominance in the 4×4 utility market the Japanese brand arguably maintains to this day.

Toyota dreamt up their “Jeep” truck in response to the Japanese Police Reserve Force’s 1950 order for a Japanese-built utility 4×4. This rugged vintage service vehicle had a 3386cc six-cylinder engine for a heart that throbbed with 156 lb-ft of torque.

Toyota reportedly thought the Jeep was a style and not a brand-specific moniker, and legal threats forced Toyot to convert the Jeep into the renowned Land Cruiser in 1954.

1989 Shelby Dakota

The Dodge D-100 may have written the book on muscle trucks, but the 1989 Shelby Dakota brought the high-performance story to the mid-size truck market for the first time with one of our all-time favorite builds. A 318-cubic-inch V8 engine powered the Shelby Dakota. It ripped 175hp and 270 lb-ft of torque.

The Shelby Dakota rocked a 0–60 of 8.7 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 16.4 at 82.6mph. Nothing in the mini-truck scene could touch this puppy in the late 80s, including the celebrated Chevy S10.