The life, death & stunning rebirth of the compact pickup

The Ford Bronco Sport is one of the hottest compact SUVs in the country.

Crosley Pickup Truck (1940)

Even decades after it shut down, Crosley is remembered as America’s most fervent proponent of small cars. Millionaire Powel Crosley (1886-1961) started selling pocket-sized pickups in 1940, a year after he founded the automaker that bears his name, but he put production on hiatus during World War II.

1947 brought a new line of trucks called simply Pickup Truck. 15in shorter than a Volkswagen Beetle, the model cost $839 (about $10,000 in today's money) and came with an engine block intriguingly made from copper-brazed sheet metal. Mechanical problems forced Crosley to adopt a more conventional cast-iron engine block in 1949. The Pickup Truck went through several mechanical and styling evolutions until Crosley shut down in 1952.

Note: 1950 model pictured.

Ford Ranchero (1957)

By the 1950s, Australian motorists bought thousands of passenger cars converted into pickup trucks each year. Could the same recipe lure American motorists into showrooms? Ford tested the waters when it introduced the Ranchero in 1957 and it sold nearly 22,000 examples that year. The Ranchero wasn’t as rugged or capable as bigger models like the F-100 but buyers appreciated its improved fuel economy and its more car-like ride. Americans often bought the Ranchero as a second or even third car.

Ford made 508,355 examples of the Ranchero over the course of seven generations. Production ended in 1979. The firm’s American division has never returned to the segment.

Note: 1957 model pictured.

Chevrolet El Camino (1959)

Chevy followed the path blazed by Ford when it introduced the El Camino in 1959. Hastily developed as an answer to the Ranchero, the stylish El Camino traced its roots to the two-door Brookwood station wagon. It looked and drove like a car but it offered truck-like practicality. Period ads touted the El Camino as more than a car and more than a truck.

The original El Camino retired after the 1960 model year. It looked like Chevrolet had conceded defeat and walked away from the segment but a brand-new El Camino based on the Chevelle appeared for the 1964 model year. The nameplate went through a total of five generations until Chevrolet stopped production in late 1987. The entry-level El Camino cost $10,453 in 1987. To add context, Chevrolet priced the S10 at $6595 and the its full-size truck started at $8651. Those figures convert to about $23,200, $14,600 and $19,200, respectively, today. Note: 1959 model pictured.

GMC Sprint/Caballero (1971)

To noone’s surprise, Chevrolet sister company GMC launched an El Camino clone named Sprint in 1971. Stylists had it easy; the visual differences between the two models were largely limited to brand-specific emblems. The Sprint (pictured) became the Caballero in 1977 and it continued to mirror the El Camino until production ended in 1987.

Chevrolet LUV (1972)

Chevrolet jumped into the mini-truck segment with help from Isuzu. One of America’s infamous captive imports, the LUV (an acronym which stood for ‘light utility vehicle’) was manufactured by Isuzu in Japan, where it was known as the Faster. It slotted at the very bottom of Chevrolet’s truck line-up and came exclusively with a four-cylinder engine rated at 75 hp.

About 21,000 buyers took home a LUV between March and December 1972. Production swelled to nearly 40,000 units during the 1973 calendar year and peaked at approximately 100,000 during the 1979 model year.

Motivated by the LUV’s success, Chevrolet decided to develop a successor in-house rather than sourcing another truck from Isuzu. The LUV left American showrooms after the 1982 model year.

Ford Courier (1972)

Ford like GM needed to launch a small truck to compete against the Toyota Hilux during the early 1970s. It didn’t want to take the costly, time-consuming route of developing one from scratch so it struck a deal with Mazda to sell its own version of the B-Series named Courier.

Mazda built the Courier alongside the B-Series in Japan starting in 1972. Ford gave it a brand-specific design inspired by its bigger trucks but the two models shared major mechanical components. The Courier never received the B’s available Wankel engine, however.  Pricing started at $2222 in 1972 (about $14,500 today) and Ford sold nearly 27,000 examples that year. Sales peaked at 144,491 units during the 1974 calendar year and settled around 70,000 annual units throughout the rest of the 1970s.

Dodge D50 (1979)

Dodge did its best to ignore the compact truck segment during the 1970s but it changed its mind when it looked at sales of the Chevrolet LUV and the Ford Courier. Isuzu and Mazda were already in a relationship and Toyota had little interest in teaming up so Dodge asked Mitsubishi for help in entering the segment. Launched in 1979, the D50 and its twin, the Plymouth Arrow, were developed and manufactured in Japan and closely related to Mitsubishi’s L200.

Introduced too late, the D50 – which Dodge later renamed Ram 50 – never reached the volume achieved by the Courier and the LUV during the 1970s. By the 1980s the market had largely moved on to bigger, less rudimentary trucks. Dodge nonetheless renewed its partnership with Mitsubishi for a second-generation Ram 50 introduced for the 1987 model year. The bigger Dakota and the 50 shared showroom space until the latter retired after the 1993 model year.

In 1993, the entry-level, two-wheel drive 50 cost $9295 (about $17,000 today). Buyers ordering a Dakota in the same configuration needed to spend $9649 (roughly $17,800 today).

Chevrolet S10/GMC S15, first generation (1981)

Chevrolet applied the lessons learned from the LUV project when it developed a new compact truck called S10. Market research revealed buyers increasingly wanted more choices. Rival Toyota was already working on offering additional variants of its truck so Chevrolet planned a wider portfolio from the get-go. The S10 family included single- and extended-cab trucks, four- and six-cylinder variants (including a four-cylinder diesel) plus two- and four-wheel drive models.

GMC introduced its own version of the S10 called S15, though it adopted the Sonoma nameplate in 1991. Both trucks spawned SUVs named Blazer and Jimmy, respectively, in 1983.

Dodge Rampage (1982)

Dodge broke a decades-old Detroit tradition when it introduced the Rampage in 1982. GM and Ford had dabbled in the small truck segment before but nobody had dared venture into front-wheel drive territory. Dodge built the Rampage on the Omni/Horizon’s bones and positioned it as an alternative to the Pennsylvania-built Volkswagen Caddy and the Subaru Brat.

It cost $6698 in 1982, its first year on the market. The Mitsubishi-made 50 started at $6408 while the cheapest D150 retailed for $6847*. In hindsight, Dodge priced itself out of the front-wheel drive truck market. Few buyers could justify spending close to full-size truck money for the novelty of a car-based pickup, especially not when the D50 offered a comparable level of practicality at a lower cost.

Sales peaked at 17,636 units for the 1982 model year. That figure dropped to 8,033 units in 1983 and went up slightly to 11,732 in 1984, the Rampage’s last year on the market. Plymouth’s version of the car, the Scamp, arrived and retired in 1983.

*Note: the aforementioned figures represent approximately $18,000, $17,000 and $18,500 respectively, today.

Ford Ranger, first generation (1982)

Encouraged by the Courier’s relative success, Ford decided to develop its next compact truck in-house instead of sourcing it from Japan. The original Ranger arrived in showrooms in 1982 as a 1983 model, a year after the Chevrolet S10/GMC S15 twins, and it followed a similar formula. Styled like a scaled-down F-150, it came with either a short or a long wheelbase and offered a wide array of powertrain options including a four-cylinder diesel engine. The 1984 model year brought an optional V6 and a Ranger-based SUV named Bronco II aimed right at the S10 Blazer.

The Ranger quickly became America’s best-selling compact pickup. Ford sold 279,251 examples during the 1987 model year and 367,212 a year later. Chevrolet’s S10 took second place with 224,026 and 258,717 units in 1987 and 1988, respectively.

Jeep Comanche (1985)

AMC was the only major American automaker not present in the compact pickup segment during the early 1980s. It threw its hat in the ring when it introduced the Comanche in 1985. Building a truck on the XJ-generation Cherokee’s innovative Uniframe platform created an uncommon but effective blend of unibody and body-on-frame construction techniques.

Never as popular as executives hoped, the Comanche needlessly cannibalized the Dakota once Jeep joined Dodge under the Chrysler umbrella. Production ended in 1992 and Jeep turned its back on the pickup segment to focus on building SUVs.

Dodge Dakota, first generation (1986)

Dodge introduced the Dakota for the 1987 model year. Rather than copying the Ranger and the S10, designers made the Dakota a little bit bigger to position it in the space between compact and full-size models. This placed it in a segment of its own – at least in theory. In reality, buyers often cross-shopped it with entry-level pickups from Chevrolet and Ford.

Dodge Dakota Sport Convertible (1990)

Against all odds, Dodge introduced a Dakota convertible for the 1990 model year. It was offered in a single body style but buyers could choose two- or four-wheel drive. Dodge outsourced the conversion to ASC rather than cutting the top off in-house.

In 1990, the Dakota Sport Convertible cost $15,915 with two-wheel drive or $18,115 with four-wheel drive, figures that represent $32,000 and $36,500, respectively, today. The latter figure made the convertible the most expensive member of the Dakota line-up by a long shot. Dodge sold 2500 examples during the 1989 calendar year, about 1100 in 1990 and only eight in 1991. In a separate project, tuner Shelby turned the Dakota into a hot rod in 1989 by replacing the V6 with a 175hp V8. 1475 trucks received the V8 conversion.

GMC Syclone (1991)

Buyers commonly use payload and towing capacity as metrics to measure a truck’s performance. In 1991, GMC gave enthusiasts something else to chew on when it dropped a turbocharged, 4.3-liter V6 engine rated at 280hp between the Sonoma’s front fenders. The cavalry traveled through a four-speed automatic transmission on its way to the four wheels.

Named Syclone, the super-truck took 4.3sec to reach 60mph from a stop, a figure that allowed it to famously keep up with sports cars like the Chevrolet Corvette. Pricing started at $25,950 (about $50,000 today). To add context, Chevrolet charged $32,455 (roughly $62,000 today) for an entry-level Corvette that same year. GMC made 2995 examples of the truck for the 1991 model year. The Jimmy received the same engine in 1991 and adopted the name Typhoon. It carried on until 1993.

Ford Ranger, second generation (1992)

Introduced for the 1993 model year, Ford’s redesigned Ranger hid familiar underpinnings under its smoother sheet metal. The basic structural parts – including the frame – were carried over from the original model with little or no modifications. The 2.3- and 3.0-liter engines returned, too. Sales soared by about 83,000 units to 332,363 during the 1993 model year. 19.1% of buyers ordered four-wheel drive.

Chevrolet S10/GMC Sonoma, second generation (1993)

The second-generation Chevrolet S10 arrived in 1993 as a 1994 model. S10 buyers were increasingly seeking a daily driver, not merely a work horse, and Chevrolet responded accordingly. It made the truck more car-like without compromising utility. Though it borrowed some mechanical parts from its predecessor, the S10 stood out with a considerably more modern design and a roomier, more comfortable interior that made it easier to live with on a daily basis.

The dizzying number of body and engine configurations returned and Chevrolet later expanded the line-up with a four-door crew-cab model. GMC again sold its own version of the truck (pictured) with essentially the same engines and equipment levels. Production of both models ended after the 2004 model year.

Dodge Dakota, second generation (1996)

Dodge announced the second-generation Dakota for the 1997 model year. Every part of the truck was new with the exception of the stamping in the cargo compartment and the engines. The Dakota borrowed styling cues from the bigger 1500, earning it the nickname ‘Baby Ram’ shortly after its introduction, and comprehensive interior updates finally brought the cabin into the 1990s.

Ford Ranger, third generation (1998)

Ford’s popular Ranger received its last major round of updates for the 1998 model year. Though not entirely new, it boasted a fresh design that brought it in line with the firm’s bigger trucks and a new 2.5-liter engine that replaced the 2.3-liter, a unit which traced its roots all the way back to the 1970 Pinto. Ford also fitted the SuperCab model with a set of small, rear-hinged doors.

The Ranger continued to receive minor visual and mechanical updates until production ended in late 2011. Ford never offered the model with four full-sized doors, however.

Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon, first generation (2003)

GM reignited its partnership with Isuzu to develop a replacement for the Chevrolet S10 and the GMC Sonoma. Called Colorado and Canyon, respectively, the two trucks rode on a new platform that they shared with the Isuzu i-Series and the Hummer H3. The four- and five-cylinder engines offered early in the production run were joined by a 300hp V8 for the 2009 model year.

The Colorado and the Canyon retired in 2012. This time, General Motors had no successor planned for either model and directed buyers who wanted an entry-level truck to stripped-down variants of the bigger Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500 models.

Dodge Dakota, third generation (2004)

Dodge made the Dakota bigger in every direction for its third generation. It wasn’t the hit the firm hoped for and sales embarked on a free-fall shortly after the model arrived in showrooms. Dodge sold about 104,000 examples of the truck during the 2005 calendar year. Hampered by the start of the recession, sales dipped to 50,700 in 2007.

The Dakota joined the emancipated Ram line-up in 2010 and production ended in 2011. At the time, officials explained they couldn’t find a good reason to approve the development of a fourth-generation model. The 1500 became Ram’s entry-level model.

Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon, second generation (2013)

Ending months of rumors, leaks and speculation, Chevrolet returned to the compact truck segment after a brief hiatus when it introduced the second-generation Colorado at the 2013 Los Angeles auto show. GMC showed its version of the truck, the Canyon, a few short months later at the 2014 Detroit auto show. Designers put more effort into differentiating the two models than ever before and each truck wore a brand-specific front end. Production continues today.

Ford Ranger, fourth-generation (2018)

For years, Ford showed zero interest in returning the compact truck segment in America. It sold the Ranger in numerous overseas markets but argued buyers in the US didn’t want a pickup smaller than the F-150. It changed its mind after General Motors brought brand-new models to the market and it introduced the US-spec Ranger at the 2018 Detroit auto show.

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Ford Maverick