Advertisement

Truck Ads Used To Be Different

Gif: Chevrolet/YouTube
Gif: Chevrolet/YouTube

These days, any full-size pickup truck you buy is going to be perfectly suitable for daily driving. Even if you have no use for the Toyota Tundraā€™s payload and towing capability, you can still basically use it like an oversized car without hating your life, but that wasnā€™t always the case. Trucks used to be basic work vehicles with minimal creature comforts. That doesnā€™t mean that Chevrolet wasnā€™t proud of the suspension in its 1972 pickup trucks, though. That suspension was a revelation!

So how did Chevrolet decide to showcase the smooth ride offered in its pickup trucks? The only way anyone should advertise their suspensionā€™s smoothness ā€” It bolted a seat to the front wheel of one of its trucks, strapped a dummy into said seat, bolted a second seat to the exterior of the cab and had a test rider sit in the second seat. That way, you can see how the truckā€™s suspension absorbs road impacts.

The result is this hilarious clip that starts at about the 7:15 mark in the video below. Chevrolet didnā€™t bring out any of the competition so that we could see the differences in how a Ford or Dodge would compare when tested with a similar setup, so itā€™s not exactly scientific. Still, you canā€™t pretend like that visual doesnā€™t do an incredible job of highlighting exactly what Chevrolet wanted to highlight.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sure, itā€™s a ridiculous test that no oneā€™s ever going to replicate in real life, but when it comes to pickup trucks from 1972, weā€™re all in. If the 1972 Chevrolet wasnā€™t the best full-size pickup truck from that year, then show us a sales training video that proves another truck is superior. No, seriously. If thereā€™s one thing we love here at Jalopnik, itā€™s vintage sales training videos. The more the better.

For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.