Would You Rather, Funky Truck Edition: Old Studebaker Or Toyota FJ-45?

“There is more credit and satisfaction in being a first-rate truck driver than a tenth-rate executive”, according to the mind of B.C. Forbes, and there is truth to those words. A truck represents work. It used to mean that it was going to be a grind of a day, the kind of day that left you dragging your sorry ass through the door, beat, worn to the bone, properly exhausted, ready for a shower, a cold drink, and the welcoming feeling of your bed before you woke up before the sun to do it all over again. You could be a farmer, a fireman, crew for a road construction team…it didn’t matter. Maybe it was because you wanted to help out whenever the truck was in use as a kid. Maybe it’s because it was so much different than whatever was the family car at the time. Whatever the case, the pickup truck is buried in the American psyche as a status symbol that proudly announces that the driver is more than willing to work for their fair share. Well…maybe not so much nowadays, with $100,000 luxury liner duallys and 1,000 ft/lb neighborhood one-upmanship trophies. But good old work trucks will never, ever go out of style.

With that, it’s time for another round of Would You Rather, the game where you will have to make a decision between two choices. At least this round has two good choices for you to pick from. We combed through Mecum Auctions’ Denver 2019 listing and found a couple choice options that are a bit off from normal, but still great selections. Now, it’s up to you to make a call. Let us know which one you chose in the comments below!

1. 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ-45

It’s pretty ridiculous, the prices that people are paying for the new Jeep Gladiator pickup truck. The average new price is well above $50,000 and can peak up further, even before dealership add-ons or markups are applied. We would easily prefer an older Scrambler, but you have to tip your hat to Jeep’s old-school rival, the Toyota Land Cruiser. A far cry from the bloated SUV it is today, the J40-series Land Cruiser is all-business, all the time, and is just as loved and fawned over as the classic Jeep CJ. This FJ-45 is simply an FJ-40 with a wheelbase stretch and a bed attached, otherwise you have a straight-six and a manual transmission. It doesn’t get any more utility than a file cabinet gray truck with the most simplistic cab layout offered, does it?

2. 1955 Studebaker E-series

“Old truck” can mean anything. It could mean a 1989 Dodge Ram with a Cummins. It could mean an International pickup from the 1970s, a 1960s GMC, a Ford F-1, or a “Job-Rated” Dodge. But what about South Bend’s Studebaker? They didn’t just make pointy-nosed cars and Avantis, you know. Studebaker was in the middle of financial difficulty during the mid-1950s, and really hadn’t done much to keep their trucks updated. The cab dated back to the 2R pickup in mid-1948, the engines were a mix of straight-sixes and V8s, and the design soldiered on with only one major change (the updating that created the Studebaker Champ, using bits of the Lark sedan) until the company slipped below the waves in the mid-1960s. Regardless of the history of the company, a brightly-colored fat-fender old truck on whitewalls with wood bed stakes, painted a cheerful color, has to appeal to someone somewhere.

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