Long before the Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup, American buyers could get a light truck built from a passenger car. The Chevrolet El Camino and Ford Ranchero are the famous examples, but car-based pickups go back much further. Here are six others, from Ford’s 1925 Model T to Subaru’s BRAT.
Each one started with a car’s front end, chassis or platform and added a cargo bed. Together, they span six decades and come from carmakers in three countries.
1. 1925 Ford Model T Runabout Pickup
Ford put a factory pickup on its Model T in 1925. Instead of leaving buyers to fit a box themselves, it sold the Model T runabout with a steel bed already in place. In other words, the pickup came straight from the factory as a finished truck.
The Henry Ford says the company introduced the runabout pickup in April 1925. Its factory-installed bed measured 56 inches long by 40-3/4 inches wide, with an adjustable tailgate and four stake pockets. The price was $281, and Ford sold nearly 33,800 of them in the first year.
2. 1937 Hudson Terraplane Pickup
Hudson built its pickups from its cars through the Depression. Even earlier, in 1929, its Dover brand sold commercial vehicles based on the Essex, and the U.S. Postal Service bought 500 of them. Then, in 1932, the company added a line of pickups and sedan deliveries based on the Terraplane.
According to Hagerty, sales stayed modest and peaked at about 8,000 in 1937. That year’s truck kept a car-like front half with a streamlined grille, as Old Cars Weekly describes it. It also used a 212-cubic-inch six with a three-speed manual. Later, Hudson based its 1941 Cab Pickup on the Super-Six Commodore. Then the company left the pickup business when its 1948 Step-down cars arrived, Hagerty notes.
3. 1982–1984 Dodge Rampage
Chrysler built its small pickup from a compact coupe. The Rampage was a fairly direct adaptation of the Dodge Omni 024, on the company’s L-body platform. Meanwhile, a 2.2-liter overhead-cam four supplied the power.
Mac’s Motor City Garage lists a load capacity of 1,145 pounds. Dodge built 17,636 Rampages for 1982, 8,033 for 1983 and 11,732 for 1984, by the same count. After that, the model left the lineup.
4. 1983 Plymouth Scamp
Plymouth got its own version for just one year. The 1983 Scamp was the Rampage’s twin, and it came in base and GT trims. Otherwise, it shared the Dodge’s L-body underpinnings.
Mac’s Motor City Garage counts 2,184 base Scamps and 1,380 GTs in its history of Chrysler’s small pickups. As a result, the Plymouth is far scarcer than its Dodge twin, with 3,564 built in total.
5. 1979–1982 Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup
Volkswagen built its small pickup in Pennsylvania. The Rabbit Pickup came from the Mk1 Golf, which Americans knew as the Rabbit. It also rolled out of the company’s Westmoreland Assembly Plant.
According to TFLtruck, production ran from 1979 to 1982. Buyers could also get the Rabbit Pickup with a 1588cc diesel rated at 52 horsepower and 71 lb-ft of torque.
6. 1978–1987 Subaru BRAT
Subaru built the BRAT on its Leone station wagon platform and gave it four-wheel drive. Its cargo bed even carried two rear-facing jump seats, though many owners later took them out. Later trucks also gained a dual-range transfer case. Still, Hagerty argues the BRAT was never a serious off-roader.
Hagerty says Subaru sold the BRAT in North America for nine years, from 1978 to 1987. Early trucks used a 1.6-liter EA-71 flat-four with 67 horsepower. From 1981, however, a 1.8-liter EA-81 with 73 horsepower took its place.
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