Are Gladiators “cars”? [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS]

[Rocksalt]

while there are the occasional exceptions :
truck- body on frame
car- unibody

Sponsored

 

[Rocksalt]

https://www.corvetteforum.com/how-t...e-pickup-truck-is-fascinating-creation-853587

 

[Remy_Dog]

Whoa now!

Exactly

 

[Chunky White]

I always heard Gladiators are Roman pornstars

I think the joke is "what do you call a Roman pornstar"?

Glad he ate her

 

[Great Offender]

Maybe it's been said but it is officially a "light truck". This has been the auto industry scam that's led to a world dominated by SUV's. Once tighter CAFE standards for "cars" were introduced in the early 90's manufacturers found they could take those "car" parts and assemble them as vehicles, like the SUV, and trick the industry into believing they were "light trucks" to avoid meeting EPA standards. So I guess you could say they profited at the expense of your health.

 

[cranbiz]

In my household, the only "car" is the Grand Cherokee and that's called the car or the Grand. The Gladiator is the truck, the JK is the Jeep.

My 7 y/o grand daughter is way more excited when I say we are taking the Jeep and she knows the difference in all of them.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

This has been the auto industry scam that's led to a world dominated by SUV's. Once tighter CAFE standards for "cars" were introduced in the early 90's manufacturers found they could take those "car" parts and assemble them as vehicles, like the SUV, and trick the industry into believing they were "light trucks" to avoid meeting EPA standards.

Don't blame the auto industry! Blame the federal government. The rules are absolutely crazy for what the EPA calls a light duty truck - and the auto industry had nothing to do with it. The feds were confused.

It used to be if it was 4 wheel drive, it was a light duty truck.
That dates back into the late 1970s.
AMC had the Eagle on the drawing board way before 1980. The board said no one would ever buy a 4 wheel drive car - too expensive, poor mpg, and other excuses. In about 78 or so, the engineers approached the board again and got the OK. The feds have simply never updated their rules since way back then when there were no SUVs other than the Bronco, Jeep or Blazer (don't forget the Scout). So it's the feds who have sat on their butts unable to figure this out. And isn't that just par for the course?

This is from my 1982 car............

It wasn't even required to have the 5mph bumper cylinders installed - fake cylinders were used and the bumpers were solid, ungiving, even though the body is the EXACT SAME body as used by the Spirit, a 2 wheel drive car.
Turn it into 4 wheel drive and that same vehicle is now a truck by the federal government.

The rules are similar today, but that may be changing.

The EPA guidelines from before half the forum members were even born -

From an internet article -

• Curb weight of 6,000 pounds or less(or 8,500 pounds gross vehicle weight rating) with a basic vehicle frontal area of 45 square feet or less — slightly larger than the size of a king size mattress; and
• Designed primarily to transport property, or based on a design that fits this criteria; or
• Designed primarily to transport people with a capacity of 12 or more passengers; or
• Made with special features enabling off-street or off-highway use

At the time the rules were passed, this almost exclusively applied to pickup trucks, commercial vans, and rugged but uncomfortable all-terrain vehicles (Jeep, Scout, Bronco, Blazer, Land Rover, etc.)

 

[Remy_Dog]

Don't blame the auto industry! Blame the federal government. The rules are absolutely crazy for what the EPA calls a light duty truck - and the auto industry had nothing to do with it. The feds were confused.

It used to be if it was 4 wheel drive, it was a light duty truck.
That dates back into the late 1970s.
AMC had the Eagle on the drawing board way before 1980. The board said no one would ever buy a 4 wheel drive car - too expensive, poor mpg, and other excuses. In about 78 or so, the engineers approached the board again and got the OK. The feds have simply never updated their rules since way back then when there were no SUVs other than the Bronco, Jeep or Blazer (don't forget the Scout). So it's the feds who have sat on their butts unable to figure this out. And isn't that just par for the course?

This is from my 1982 car............

It wasn't even required to have the 5mph bumper cylinders installed - fake cylinders were used and the bumpers were solid, ungiving, even though the body is the EXACT SAME body as used by the Spirit, a 2 wheel drive car.
Turn it into 4 wheel drive and that same vehicle is now a truck by the federal government.

The rules are similar today, but that may be changing.

The EPA guidelines from before half the forum members were even born -

From an internet article -

• Curb weight of 6,000 pounds or less(or 8,500 pounds gross vehicle weight rating) with a basic vehicle frontal area of 45 square feet or less — slightly larger than the size of a king size mattress; and
• Designed primarily to transport property, or based on a design that fits this criteria; or
• Designed primarily to transport people with a capacity of 12 or more passengers; or
• Made with special features enabling off-street or off-highway use

At the time the rules were passed, this almost exclusively applied to pickup trucks, commercial vans, and rugged but uncomfortable all-terrain vehicles (Jeep, Scout, Bronco, Blazer, Land Rover, etc.)
[/

Don't blame the auto industry! Blame the federal government. The rules are absolutely crazy for what the EPA calls a light duty truck - and the auto industry had nothing to do with it. The feds were confused.

It used to be if it was 4 wheel drive, it was a light duty truck.
That dates back into the late 1970s.
AMC had the Eagle on the drawing board way before 1980. The board said no one would ever buy a 4 wheel drive car - too expensive, poor mpg, and other excuses. In about 78 or so, the engineers approached the board again and got the OK. The feds have simply never updated their rules since way back then when there were no SUVs other than the Bronco, Jeep or Blazer (don't forget the Scout). So it's the feds who have sat on their butts unable to figure this out. And isn't that just par for the course?

This is from my 1982 car............

It wasn't even required to have the 5mph bumper cylinders installed - fake cylinders were used and the bumpers were solid, ungiving, even though the body is the EXACT SAME body as used by the Spirit, a 2 wheel drive car.
Turn it into 4 wheel drive and that same vehicle is now a truck by the federal government.

The rules are similar today, but that may be changing.

The EPA guidelines from before half the forum members were even born -

From an internet article -

• Curb weight of 6,000 pounds or less(or 8,500 pounds gross vehicle weight rating) with a basic vehicle frontal area of 45 square feet or less — slightly larger than the size of a king size mattress; and
• Designed primarily to transport property, or based on a design that fits this criteria; or
• Designed primarily to transport people with a capacity of 12 or more passengers; or
• Made with special features enabling off-street or off-highway use

At the time the rules were passed, this almost exclusively applied to pickup trucks, commercial vans, and rugged but uncomfortable all-terrain vehicles (Jeep, Scout, Bronco, Blazer, Land Rover, etc.)

That’s our convoluted government for ya, ugh. Regardless of their lunacy, I maintain the Gladiator is a truck, a very versatile and capable truck. Thank you for the ongoing education @ShadowsPapa,

 

[HorsesRear]

My DMV requires me to purchase truck plates.

 

[biodiesel]

According to New Mexico MVD, my 2003 Gladiator has a 'truck' designation listed on the vehicle registration, which makes sense. Even in social media circles, the Jeep Gladiator is always being compared to other mid-sized trucks. Even Jeep brags about the Gladiator being 'Best in Class' as they compare themselves to the Ford Ranger, Chevrolet Colorado, and GMC Canyon.

 

[Tim. Y.]

Good grief. This was covered ad nauseam long ago.

Trokhos (sp) was the Greek for "wheel" and was used centuries before a train existed. Try the 1600s.
We can easily imagine the Greek word morphing to "truck" and then truck becoming that which has wheels, holds and hauls something.
Truck was used for the wheels under a ship's cannon, and "truck" or "trucks" was used for the cart with wheels that carried large engines from place to place. When I was deep into collecting and restoring hit and miss engines, and other "stationary engines", I bought TRUCKS for under those engines. So truck was something that hauled something else on top of it.
Farm engines were on trucks.
Possible that "truck" referred to the carriage of a train car that the wheels were running on - and that again would make sense because the truck had wheels, and the truck was carrying the load (the train "car")

Carrum and Carrus - Latin and Celtic, even karros - a chariot. It came to be the word for any horse drawn cart or carriage. So the terms Carrus, cassum and karros all have a sound similar to "car". They were used for a horse drawn cart, chariot, etc. so car naturally came into being since it was a "horseless carriage". If those three terms defined a horse drawn carriage or chariot, and later the horse was dropped, then it was natural for an "automobile" to be also called a "car".

So the two terms actually have different origins and originally different meaning -
Car (carrus) to define a horse drawn means of transport,
and truck - something with wheels that holds or carries something else (like a cannon, engine, or rail car)
All before trains on tracks existed.

The Jeep Gladiator is a truck.
Vehicles commonly called "SUV"s today are registered as wagons or station wagons in many states (oh, look up the origin of station wagon! )
The modern SUV is a logical progression of the "wagon" of the 1980s and 90s. Even some of the AMC design engineers decades ago drew what they thought the Eagle wagon would look like today - surprise - looks a lot like a modern "SUV".

For over 130 years, the "carts" under engines like this were called "trucks" -> (they support and haul things)

And you can still find hand trucks too.

 

[Janster]

My DMV requires me to purchase truck plates.

Exactly….. Here in PA, because it has a tow rating of above 5,000lbs, it’s considered a CLASS II truck registration. The cost is $30 more per year than the Class I.

I only ever tow 3-4,000lbs. On my previously owned 2007 Tacoma (Class II), I looked into the option of downgrading to a Class I. It would‘ve been the biggest paperwork nightmare to do it…. So, I just left it a Class II.

 

[swtrailboss]

My 7 y/o grand daughter is way more excited when I say we are taking the Jeep and she knows the difference in all of them.

that’s super cool dude!!!!!!!
l love that!!!!! All I ever had were Jeeps when my kids were growing up. They were always confused “which one dad “
………lol

 

[Rocksalt]

TRUCK registration in Illinois

 

[swtrailboss]

Exactly….. Here in PA, because it has a tow rating of above 5,000lbs, it’s considered a CLASS II truck registration. The cost is $30 more per year than the Class I.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$
All about the green ! Calll it what you want! Whatever draws more money is what they will call it

Sponsored