Why no crew cabs?

[AJMBLAZER]

When I was in the Marines (97-01) we had plenty of civilian purchased crew cabs. 90's Ford F350's and late 90's Chevy/GMC C3500's where the common ones. Saw a few older GM's but that was about it. In other parts of the country I saw 4x4 variants but all of ours were 2wd since 4x4 would do nothing but get us into (more) trouble than we managed to with our 2wds in SoCal.

 

[hndrsonj]

I believe the days of everything being the same (such as a CUCV) are gone. Everything is contracted or open purchased.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

There's probably going to be another CUCV with the spiraling costs of the combat vehicles. However it makes no sense to use combat capable vehicles around base when a standard GM pickup can do everything the guys on the runway (me and mine) needed.

 

[CCATLETT1984]

84cucv1ton has a former air force crew cab, he's located in New Jersey. I think that he's looking to sell it.

 

[nkawtg]

About 6 months to a year ago, I saw a number of 4wd crew cab Silverados on Selfridge ANGB. They were camo'd out crew cabs, appearing similar to CUCVs (brush guard, blackout lights, etc.). There were too many of them to be a custom job, also they were new GMT800 models (last Silverado generation, circa 2006/early2007). They had a short or shorter bed, but the interesting part was that they were 4 wheel steer models (not popular in the civilian world due to the option price, but hey, isn't Uncle Sugar made of money!). My guess is the steering system was a test, as I believe that would be a MX nightmare in the field.

Not sure which service owned them, as Selfridge hosts all branches.

 

[bigbee]

AF crew cabs

I'd love to have one of these for a tow vehicle. Photos were taken June 04 at CRTC, Phelps Collins ANG Base Alpena. Only time I saw the truck on base. They did have a lot of "6 packs" standard bed crew cabs with bench seats, both Ford and Chevy. This one had buckets for 4 with rifle brackets between the seats. The red plug on the rear bumper and the covered plug on the front were for the hitch mount winch that was strapped in the bed.

 

[JohnFire]

The one that is yellow and has a 5 on it is an Airforce P-10 rescue truck. They would have 3 seats in them since that is what an airforce rescue crew consists of. Way under classed for what we used to put on them. And for what we loaded them with the 454 engine was kinda underpowered. Alot of them ended up with cracked frames due to overloading. Most bases I was ever at the crews always beat the hell out of those trucks. Then you add in that it was one of the only non diesel trucks in the station so here in there some young dumb rookie would put diesel in them. The airforce also likes to have crew cabs trucks( 6 packs) since they are more safety oriented and don't let their personel ride in the bed of trucks unbelted.

 

[dilvoy]

johnfire, Your are right about the three seats. Mine was like that and all three were different, but had matching vinyl upholstry color. The right front was a normal high back seat from a surburban and the rear had two veritcal pads with a space in between on the back that allowed for someone wearing a air bottle to sit more comfortably. I guess from what you said, I'm lucky that mine wasen't beat up. Even the Utility body was relatly scratch free and still had the small generator. Your cracked frame comment dosen't suprise me as there is a lot of flex in this long frame. The utility body from mine is now property of the Paduka Ky. Fire Dept. I'm glad I diden't have to take that nice aluminum body to the recyclers.

 

[JohnFire]

That is good to hear that you were able to find a dept that could use the utility body. I am going to see if I can find someone who can use the maint body off of my M1028. As much as I would like to keep it, I just can't justify having that type of body on my personal truck that I can use for alot more as an actual truck. The driver's seat on those P-10's should have been the only normal seat. The officer's seat, and the 3rd man in the back were airpack seats so they could get off of the truck ready to go. Then usually they had a book case in the back for all of our prefireplans and emergency aircraft TO's. If we had installled a stereo that was the most important item in the truck. lol Those trucks were a tight fit to ride around in. Not Comfy!

 

[CCATLETT1984]

johnfire, why not just build a trailer frame to put under the body, then you can have the best of both worlds.

 

[JohnFire]

no storage space

 

[ken]

I have a AF chevy crew cab. It's a 88 model. Got it from the GSA. Runs great. Even AC works!

 

[Recovry4x4]

There were lots of Dodge crew cab short beds in production since the 60s. GM and Ford were way late in the game on this one. For that matter they were both late on the crew cab too!

 

[pitbull]

A good friend of mine has a short bed crew cab Dodge just like dilvoy! I always wonderd about it. It was olive drab with no black out lights, and it was only a 3/4ton though. Cheers

 

[kcimb]

I wonder which one the AF likes best...Ford..or chevy?

 

[Crash_AF]

No one built Crewcab shortbeds until the 90's.

That is incorrect. Ford and Dodge only built 4x4 crew cabs in the short bed variety in the 60s and 70s. Dodge continued with them until the early 80s. Chevy is the only one who did not build a CC short bed until the 90s.

Later,
Joe

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Okay, so I was wrong on that...thread archeology?

 

[BobS]

International Harvester invented the crew cab, short and long box in 1957 with the Travellette. The first military order was the Air Force in 1960, IIRC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Harvester

http://shortlinks.net/fib349 1959 Crew Cab

http://www.phillipspremierauto.com/TonyTaylor/taylor.html 1966 Crew Cab

 

[Offroadfabworks]

i first seen one of them IH CC for the first time the other day over at Wreckermans truck... Its a big cab

 

[Crash_AF]

LOL, I was searching for something else and it caught my eye, I didn't notice the date until after I posted.

There's one of those older AF crew cab internationals here in an OLD junkyard... and yes, they are a big cab

Later,
Joe