CC In Scale: Old American Pickups

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– Posted on May 23, 2025

It seems to me that these days the Great American Car is in fact the pickup. A bit contradictory, but such is the nature of life. The only American vehicles I see around here are Ram, Ford and Chevy pickups and the occasional Mustang or Chrysler 300. Oh, and an even-more occasional Tesla; I keep forgetting about them – electrics are still something of a curiosity in small-town Australia.

Anyway, we looked at some pickups last year, but only managed to get as far as 1956. Today we’ll start off from there and see how far we get. Back then I told the story of going with Dad to the fruit and vegetable market in the early mornings, while he talked business with the growers, and the impact seeing all those farm trucks had on me. I don’t go out of my way to build pickups, but some of those positively begged to be built.

Like this one. These F100s were everywhere. Nowadays it seems amazing that they tore up the cab to include the wraparound screen for only one year. Now I understand a lot more of what was involved: new cowl and dash, doors, roof, windshield, vent windows… The idea of an annual model change just seems alien to Australians, and certainly a change on this scale. Ford evidently thought it was worthwhile, and they sure seemed popular in the years that followed.

Chevy trucks of this generation seemed to be fairly uncommon here. True, Holden was flat out building enough Holdens, and the economy was not what it had been for farmers, but maybe the styling was a bit too outlandish for conservative Aussies? Just a guess. And I’m sure they would never have sent us the Cameo; stylish fibreglass panels with no more room than a stepside? While I like the looks, I couldn’t see farmers here paying a higher price for less practicality.

I don’t think I ever saw one of this generation on the road. But as a kid I had a book with a picture of one of these in it. The styling just looked so outrageous that I never forgot it. When AMT came out with the kit in ’98, it was a must-build.

Hmm….

So I built several. You’ve seen one before, the ‘Gippsland and Northern’ truck. Here are the rest. This sort of thing happens sometimes.

Fast forward to 1964 and we would find the same basic cab but with a normal windshield. Funny how we can look back on some things and wonder why they were ever fashionable. Revell does the ’64 and ‘65, but I don’t have a decent photo of my ‘64.

Now, a problem with writing these articles is the gaps. Subjects for which either no models exist, or none that I have built. For example, I’d love an International of any era, but no. None available. I’ve mentioned the lack of Dodges (we’ll fix that later, Mopar fans), and until the last few years there were no ’57-60 or ’61-’66 Fords. Or indeed the ’67-72s. AMT has released a ’60 (but I don’t have one), a ’63 (which I have, but not yet built). Moebius, a relatively new company, has some fantastic ’65-66s though.

This F100 has a service bed, for a bit of variety.  Naturally it just begged for a bit of weathering. I mean, it’s so obviously a work truck…

One year newer, with two-tone paint. Factory fresh.

Some serious FE power – or in this setting should that be FT?

I’ve considered building Paul’s CC truck; the bed is no problem and I could de-trim the cab. I could source the six from another kit, but I’m not sure the overdrive tranny is available anywhere, and it would hardly be Paul’s truck without it.

Moving forward a generation we have the bumpsides, again from Moebius. I think I’ve counted up twelve variations of this kit. Every year, with some combination of short wheelbase or long, smoothside or stepside, 2WD or 4WD, a ramp truck for race cars, a tow truck for dead cars, and even a Mercury truck for the Canadians. You get the impression someone at the Moebius company is a real fan of this generation.

Here’s a ’69 built as a dealership part-chaser, with shortbed and a six.

And here’s a longbed ‘71 at work. That little Austin A30 wouldn’t be much of a load.

Back to ‘brand C’ with this ’72 Chev. This would have been an annual kit, and left in ’72 form rather than backdating it to the earlier years. Nothing wrong with that.

Chevy and GMC. Longbed and short. Smoothside and stepside. You could mix and match. People do, and have.

With the seventies came that trucking craze, and this generation lent itself to some seriously weird models…

Big-rig front on a Chevy towtruck. Hmm…

Make of this what you will! “Rolling Thunder” is an old MPC kit, built straight out of the box about 45 years ago.

AMT did the dentside Fords every year – but in Camper Special form! As far as I know they never included a camper shell, which would seem a natural, but no. Odd. Here’s a ’76 (I think), showing off that odd long wheelbase with short rear overhang combination.

Meanwhile, what about Dodge? At last, Mopar fans! Here’s a ‘78; once again a full width longbed. This would have been an MPC annual kit back in the seventies, updated each year and reissued a few years back. It came with a range of optional parts (even a mini-bike), and nice decals for several businesses (garden care, motorcycle repair), but I built a fairly basic truck. I had this new paint idea, and wanted something large to try it on.

Here’s an earlier incarnation of that MPC kit, this Little Red Express truck. Short wheelbase stepside with Power.

We’ll stop there for now, and carry on another day. It starts to get tricky with pickup-based SUVs, car-based pickups, less-than-standard-size pickups, import pickups, etc. I’ve yet to sort out how I’ll group and handle all of them. Another time!