What is a Truck?

Now trucks are divided into many categories, from simple light trucks and pickups, vans to class 8 trucks that are used for large loads. I was recently looking for World American Truck Parts for the company as two trucks went down and it had a big impact on our business deliveries

SUVs, Vans, Minivans, open bed vehicles … all “trucks”. Chrysler PT Cruiser… was classified as a truck in the US to avoid regulations until its final production year. Any vehicle that is designed primarily for cargo or larger loads(ie not passenger use) is a truck. Sure, a lot of trucks can transport a lot of people, but even box-on-frame chassis that are then modified to transport people can be trucks. Buses are “trucks” to a lesser extent. So basically anything outside a private commuter oriented vehicle can be labeled a truck but trucks are often private commuter vehicles as well.

Truck is an ambiguous word for a vehicle which its purpose is specific to a task. Kinda like the difference between a “boat” and a “ship”.

Truck. It’s a funny word. I remember reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in my freshman year of high school and at one point the word truck is used, but used as a transitive verb. Have a look:

Definition of TRUCK
transitive verb
1
: to give in exchange : swap
2
: to barter or dispose of by barter
intransitive verb
1
: to exchange commodities : barter
2
: to negotiate or traffic especially in an underhanded way : have dealings
Origin of TRUCK
Middle English trukken, from Anglo-French *truker, *troker, from Vulgar Latin *troccare, probably of imitative origin
First Known Use: 13th century

So ‘truck’ predates the object that we generally associates with it by quite a bit; enough so that we could just as easily have called a Conestoga wagon a truck and been dead on. Or maybe have called a ‘truck’ a ‘hauler’ and been equally as accurate. So for those waving the US flag and somehow suggesting that we invented the truck, well, please step away and realize that’s about the furthest thing from the truth imaginable.

Further, the word ‘truck’ is a synonym for ‘stuff’. So to call any vehicle a truck at all is a little silly and doesn’t really do much to promote how we (in the US) use our language; too much of which is borne of ignorance of the words we assign to things. As a very young child I remember trucks being referred to as vans, or open vans. Arguably, an SUV would be closer to a van. And this particular style of van would be a trucking van; a van with the top off, a passenger area designed to haul ‘truck’ not people, and an open area to easily load and unload your ‘truck’.

Keep on truckin’. 😉

Tacoma here, Hilux over there. What more could anyone want?

Actually, the word truck was around long before the automobile, so the stir around it being used for something that is not a “pickup truck” as known in the US is a bit absurd. I have to disagree with TJ Martin about accurate definitions. We may have invented the concept of the “pickup truck” as it is known today, but we picked a word for it that was invented by someone else, so don’t have any claim to the word truck and how it is used.
From Websters Dictionary:
Truck
Noun: a wheeled vehicle for moving heavy articles: as
a : a strong horse-drawn or automotive vehicle (as a pickup) for hauling
b : a small barrow consisting of a rectangular frame having at one end a pair of handles and at the other end a pair of small heavy wheels and a projecting edge to slide under a load —called also hand truck
c : a small heavy rectangular frame supported on four wheels for moving heavy objects
d : a small flat-topped car pushed or pulled by hand
e : a shelved stand mounted on casters
f : an automotive vehicle with a short chassis equipped with a swivel for attaching a trailer and used especially for the highway hauling of freight; also : a truck with attached trailer

Verb: to load or transport on a truck intransitive verb
1: to transport goods by truck
2: to be employed in driving a truck
3: to roll along especially in an easy untroubled way

Well that previous comment is a bit offensive…

I think the european definition ‘seems’ better, but driving in the US puts everything one thinks in perspective. Both can be right. But the Morris is definitely a van.

Well … if you truly wish to be pedantic about it . A truck must be defined as a body on frame [ vs Unibody ] utility vehicle of any type … including … Pickups .. body on frame SUV’s , Panels .. Vans … Crew Cabs etc regardless of the size . [ the El Camino’s /Ford Ranchero’s back in the day as well as all the unibody SUV/CUV/AAV etc things today … along with all those ludicrous unibody P/U travesties crowding the road do not qualify as a truck … they are Cars with truck like appendages ]

So is the LR Defender a truck ? Damn right it is ! [ will it still be in the future is the question … and according to JLR/TATA that answer is a resounding … NO ! ] Land Cruiser ? Yup ! So is the Mercedes G-Wagen despite the price tag and all the luxuries …. etc .. etc …. etc

I ran into this all the time over the many years of driving a ’65 El Camino.

That car sure was a great work truck. Man, I miss that old pick-up; the bed was nice and low, making it easy to load and unload my gear.

A van. Fools.