It's Like a Soft Top, But Hard

[BourbonRunner]

The Ford Explorer Sport Trac had a fully descending rear window.

Kinda. It had an oversized split window. A little better than 1/3 of the entire rear slid down and the sides remained fixed. Toyota's is the entire rear glass panel.

Had one and it was a pretty decent truck for what it was. I never did understand why Ford didn't make a unibody version when they redid the Explorer. Not everyone wants a true 4x4 body on frame-go-anywhere, tow anything truck but many want the utility of an open bed and AWD, as evidenced by the Maverick, Ridgeline, and Santa Cruz.

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[MattHamilton]

Kinda. It had an oversized split window. A little better than 1/3 of the entire rear slid down and the sides remained fixed. Toyota's is the entire rear glass panel.

Had one and it was a pretty decent truck for what it was. I never did understand why Ford didn't make a unibody version when they redid the Explorer. Not everyone wants a true 4x4 body on frame-go-anywhere, tow anything truck but many want the utility of an open bed and AWD, as evidenced by the Maverick, Ridgeline, and Santa Cruz.

I heard/read somewhere a while ago that around 2005/2006 there was some "conspiracy" amongst the big 3 automakers to stop selling midsize trucks in North America (The Canyon, Sport Trac, and Dakota were all cancelled around the same time I think - this is some hazy memory territory). If true, I assume that decision would have affected development of those vehicles. I had a Sport Trac as well, and that thing ran over 200,000km with regular maintenance and never did a thing go wrong until the rear diff just stopped working. Last truck I owned until I got the Gladiator.

 

[BourbonRunner]

I heard/read somewhere a while ago that around 2005/2006 there was some "conspiracy" amongst the big 3 automakers to stop selling midsize trucks in North America (The Canyon, Sport Trac, and Dakota were all cancelled around the same time I think - this is some hazy memory territory). If true, I assume that decision would have affected development of those vehicles. I had a Sport Trac as well, and that thing ran over 200,000km with regular maintenance and never did a thing go wrong until the rear diff just stopped working. Last truck I owned until I got the Gladiator.

The SportTrac was a unique vehicle in a sea of pedestrian options, and it had a niche that Ford "rediscovered" with the Maverick: Fuel efficient, drives well (IE: very car like), open utility bed, and shares underpinnings with the best selling SUV in the segment, the Explorer. It wasn't a hard core truck, but it could make weekend dump and Home Depot runs and run down a fire road to a camp site. The exact niche the Santa Cruz and Ridgeline fill today.

Dunno about a conspiracy but the trend at the time consumers were opting for the full size trucks exponentially over compacts, except the Tacoma. The first gen Tacoma (99-04) was the best small truck sold in the country, and the sales blew the GM/Ford compacts out of the water.

When the 2005 Taco debuted it set the bar higher-- and was bigger, too. The older as dirt Ranger and still new at the time Coloradanyon were also-rans.

Towards the end Ford couldn't give Rangers away fast enough, most of the later builds were destined to fleet status because of over supply of frames and body parts, Dodge/Ram discontinued the body on frame Durango for a unibody (bye bye Dakota underpinnings) and GM missed 3 model years between the S10 and Canyonolorado developing the new platform that again wasn't anything special compared to the Tacoma.

Thing to remember is sales of the F Series, GM Twins and Rams were much higher than their little brothers. The price delta between them on the lot wasn't huge, the payload and capability was better. Cheap gas made the less efficient V8s and base V6s in the full size trucks cheaper to run, too.

And candidly, the Big Three along with Toyota were putting more luxe into their Cowboy Cadillacs grabbing market share from luxury sedans while the compacts were only a small step above fleet/poverty spec. My dad still has the 2010 F150 Platinum he bought brand new that he traded his e39 BMW 5 series for. And it has luxe stuff like ventilated seats that are just now trickling down to the mass market.

 

[RobbertCole]

yall cant get your hard top off by yourselves? 98lb weaklings up in here.

 

[dcmdon]

The bronco has a freedom top for the rear seat. So this makes sense as a "one -up" of what Ford is doing.

 

[Lunentucker]

yall cant get your hard top off by yourselves? 98lb weaklings up in here.

Most people can, but why make something so cumbersome and difficult to store when better solutions are possible?
Imagine being on a trip away from home and being able to take the hard top off and store it in the bed on a nice day, and quickly reinstall it for weather or a night in the hotel parking lot.

Try to think beyond your own circumstances and abilities.

 

[RobbertCole]

Most people can, but why make something so cumbersome and difficult to store when better solutions are possible?
Imagine being on a trip away from home and being able to take the hard top off and store it in the bed on a nice day, and quickly reinstall it for weather or a night in the hotel parking lot.

Try to think beyond your own circumstances and abilities.

or maybe your cute lil butt should be able to identify a joke when you see it. ya goon.

 

[Lunentucker]

your maybe your cute lil butt should be able to identify a joke when you see it. ya goon.

You Wisconsin is showing. What is that anyway?

 

[dcmdon]

My hard top was never difficult to remove alone. Until I put a topper on my truck. Now it's a huge pain in the butt. Even with 2 people.

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