The 2008 Chevy Silverado

Used to be a time the only people who bought pickup trucks were those who needed them. You know, farmers, highway departments. Then something happened to make everybody and his brother (and sister!) want to drive a pickup truck as their everyday vehicle. All of a sudden, Ford’s F-150 pickup truck was America’s top-selling vehicle. And instead of ending up in the scrap heap after a long and illustrious career helping some painter haul his equipment around for maybe ten years, these things were being traded in after three or four years of running around town with nary a scratch in their virgin beds.

A lot of this came about when manufacturers started putting some style into their up-until-then utilitarian work trucks. Back when I was a kid, a pickup truck rode like a…well, it rode like a truck. Now, blindfolded, you probably couldn’t tell if you were in Daddy’s Caddy or Gram’s Ram. Leather seats, high-grade stereos, sound insulation, power everything. Go on back to a 1950s-era ad for a pickup truck and notice what qualities they’re tooting their horns about: dual sunvisors, armrests on both doors, deluxe ashtray, fully synchronized three-speed manual transmission…compare that to some of the items mentioned in Chevy’s press release for the new 2008 Silverado: 12-way power adjustable leather front seats on the LTZ model (the only leather you saw in a 1950s pickup was maybe the driver’s chaps), heated windshield washer system (you were lucky to have two windshield wipers in the old days), Bose speaker system for the XM radio (in 1955 you could opt for an AM radio, with pushbuttons even if you were a real big spender), and a choice of regular cab, extended cab or a full, four-door crew cab (your cab choices in the 1950s were: small back window or large back window).

Trucks have certainly come a long way. And Chevy, too, has come a long way with their 2008 model in an effort to unseat the Ford F-150 as the top-selling pickup in the US. For my money, the new Chevy finally beats the new Ford hands-down in the all-important style department. Even the lowly work truck (pictured) is stylin’. Silverados come in the aforementioned three cab styles and four trim levels: WT, LS, LT and LTZ. Prices are all over the board, as you’ll see if you visit chevy.com: The caption under the picture of the blue half-ton tells us that prices start at $17,815 but the truck in the photo goes for $40,485 as equipped. Yikes! Besides the half-ton there’s also the 2500HD and the 3500HD. Styling for the HD models differs a bit from the half-ton, just like Ford’s F-150 half-ton differs from its Super Duty models. I guess it’s kind of like when guys who work out wear muscle shirts; why bother being bigger and stronger if nobody notices?

If I were to try and list the different variations of the new Silverado, I’d need the entire issue of this week’s paper. So let’s simplify things a bit and stick with the half-ton. All models come with a Hydramatic, electronically controlled automatic transmission. Engine choices include one V-6 (4.3 liters, 195 horsepower) and six V-8s, including two which can burn E85 fuel. Both two- and four-wheel drive are available, as are six-and-a-half and eight-foot beds. The standard wheel size is 17 inches; 18- and 20-inch are available, depending on model. Wheelbase is 119 inches for the short bed and 133 inches for the long bed, which should be oh-so-much-fun to parallel park. EPA gas mileage rating is 15/20 miles per gallon city/highway for the two-wheel drive V-6 model.

But, most important: It just looks good, whether you need one or not.

More info: chevy.com.