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The Definition I am not a minitrucker. Now before you jump down my throat, let me clarify. As of late, our world has been changing. Having been dominated by the race for who can shove the biggest wheel under whatever truck, many styles of pickup have simply run out of realistic wheel options to run. Sure you can shove a 24” rim under an S10, but then the truck is unreliable and scary to drive (scary in the sense that your rubber band tire can peel off at any moment from a mere piece of gravel in the road). Minitruck shows in general are far from just featuring minitrucks any longer. Searching for that elusive title of “Unique,” trucks of all shapes, sizes, and years have been crawling out of the woodwork, from your new $70,000 diesel, dually truck to some long forgotten Toyota pickup truck from the 60’s that would’ve continued to rot away in some old man’s garage, waiting for its day at the scrap yard. But even then I’m getting tired of certain body style Chevy’s and other trends that this sport has adopted. As of late, the newest trend to seems to be a complete disregard of the truck altogether and focus on applying the minitruck style to older cars, such as the 60’s Cadillac’s and Continentals. I, for one, am not mad about this divergence from the norm as many of these classic land yachts look fantastic on the ground no matter what rim and tire combo they are on. Beyond these classics, a lot of lifted diesels are also making their way into the scene, something I am very okay with as well as a diesel barreling out black smoke is the equivalent to watching the Cincinnati Reds make it to the playoffs (a miracle of God). But what does all of this rambling have to do with being denying the minitrucker title? To me, the title is no longer accurate. My thirst for automotive knowledge has now expanded well beyond the realm of the minitruck as my curiosity grows with every new project I take on. Now owning five difference vehicles, I have been exploring and learning many other facets of the automotive world. My 97 F250 4x4 with a Powerstroke diesel has me scouring the pages of Diesel World and reading through several different diesel forums to pick up both performance and maintenance tips.
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Having bought a ’01 Volkswagen Jetta with the intention of creating a clean daily driver on the cheap, as the motor was blown when I got it, has turned into the possibility of a TDI swap for both superior gas mileage and the same coal-burning characteristics of your lifted Dodge Cummins. My 66 Ford F100 has taught me the passion that many of its followers have for these types of trucks, having been used and abused by their fathers and grandfathers, earning their right for a restoration. Even though my case may be a little extreme, it seems like everyone’s automotive interests have ventured beyond this minitruckin’ realm, often for the best of minitruckin’ itself as new and interesting flavors pop up from time to time in minis. One of the more obvious areas that minitruckers have received inspiration from is the hot rod scene. Big shiny wheels combined with the tuck and roll interiors can be seen all over the place, such as the red interior on a certain S10 that was just built by Little Shop. This isn’t a bad thing at all as many minitruckers could surely use a tip or two on what it takes to build a clean custom with real metal work skills outside of a welding in your rollpan. In the end, I guess what it boils down to is what separates the minitrucker from the rest of the world and what is the future of this sport? For me, the term “minitrucker” has become almost too narrow minded considering the direction of the sport. We are evolving away from the from the traditional minitruck and becoming an amalgamation of anyone who believes that everything just looks better modified in one way or another, whether it be hugging the asphalt or reaching for the sky. We seem to be taking the best aspects of any automotive style and applying it to any vehicle deemed worthy, whether it be truck, car, or classic. What are we then? What about “Those guys with the tall, black socks who tear into anything and everything with little regard to resell value?” Seems fairly accurate. Until next time, keep your heads held high and your rides low, Justin
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