Awesome Trucks

Toyota goes retro with a sweet 2-door 4Runner for the 2024 SEMA Show. The 4Runner TRD Surf Concept has a removable hard-top for open-air riding, weatherproof seats and flooring, and a spot to carry surfboards and other beach gear. It’s been widened and lifted, rolling on 37-inch tires with a long-travel suspension. See it in person in Las Vegas from 11.5 to 11.8.24.

Keep on truckin’ even when you’re stuck at your desk with Troika’s Trucker Desk Caddy. The 8″ long miniature metal truck has a chrome-plated finish and space in its trailer for pens, pencils, paper clips, business cards, and more. Its axles and wheels turn so you can roll it around when you’re bored at work.

It’s been 45 years since International made its last Scout. The American-built off-roaders return in truck and SUV forms from a Volkswagen-owned startup. Like the classics, the Scout Traveler SUV and Terra truck are rugged body-on-frame 4x4s with all-terrain capabilities – only this time, they’re electric. Reservations open 10.24.24 at 6:30pm EDT.

When it comes to pickup trucks, they don’t get more luxurious or full-featured than the top-of-the-line Ram 1500 Tungsten. As comfortable as your living room, as quick as some sports cars, and fully capable as a work truck, the Tungsten is as versatile as it gets. After a week living with Ram’s $90,000 truck, we were sad to see it leave our driveway.

The fine folks from eBay Motors flew us to Summit County, Colorado to experience some of the many awesome upgrades they have available for overlanding. We conquered off-road trails in a Toyota Tacoma, a Lexus GX 470, a Porsche Taycan, and a vintage Jeep Cherokee, each outfitted with equipment to make the most of our driving adventures.

Ride along with pro driver Gardner Nichols as he zooms towards the top of Pikes Peak in a Rivian R1T. The quiet, quad-motor pickup truck looks incredibly confident through the treacherous twists and turns as Gardner blows away his previous production truck record by about 30 seconds with a time of 10:53.883.

In the 1930s, the Nairn Transport Company created a unique mode of transportation for crossing the Syrian Desert. The enormous 80-foot tractor-trailer buses carried 40 passengers at a time from Damascus to Baghdad and offered comforts like a kitchenette, beds, and air conditioning. Calum Raasay has the full story of this fascinating ride.

TheBlockZone sells models inspired by supercars, trucks, and motorcycles. The kits are designed by car fans and brick-building experts and range from 500 to 11,000 pieces, many with remote-controlled features. Some of our faves are the Widebody German Coupe, the British Off-Roader, The Ultimate Italian Classic, and the Time Machine Pickup.

We’ve been up close with some of the impressive land-moving and construction equipment that Caterpillar makes. MetaBallStudios sizes up these alongside some even bigger machines, including giant excavators, cranes, and earth movers that make even the 51.5 foot-tall CAT 797F mining truck look like a miniature.

America loves trucks, and truck people will love these benches with vintage truck tailgates. Texas-based Porras Custom Metal crafts these benches with a steel frame, a quilted bench seat, and cupholders. They make Chevy, Ford, GMC, Dodge, Jeep, and other custom designs. To order, send a DM on Instagram or call their shop at 832-273-2902.

Desert Power Wagons’ hand-built truck has a new body inspired by a vintage Dodge Power Wagon, riding atop the chassis and drivetrain of a modern RAM 2500. It packs a 6.7L Cummins Turbo Diesel engine making 385 hp and 930 lb-ft. of torque, and rides high with a 2.5″ suspension lift and 40″ mud terrain tires. It’s also got a Warn winch and power side steps.

When it comes to high-horsepower, off-road-capable trucks, few vehicles can compete with the Ford F-150 Raptor R. This souped-up pickup packs a 700-horsepower, supercharged V8 engine, a Baja-tuned suspension, and massive all-terrain tires. We spent a week living with this impressive truck, including a day hooning around in sand dunes.

C3’s remote-controlled coolers keep drinks chilled and look awesome doing it. They come in several body styles, including SUV, truck, and even a Zamboni, in numerous color schemes with stock or custom graphics. Each has a foam-insulated, 24-can cooler, Bluetooth sound, LED headlights, and can tow an add-on trailer.

We can’t imagine summer without chiming ice cream trucks rolling up our street. Jiffy Lube noticed that rising operating costs threaten the century-old industry, so they’re offering free truck maintenance to ice cream truck drivers nationwide and are hosting free Good Humor ice cream socials at Jiffy Lube locations all summer. Pretty chill move.

Apocalypse Manufacturing’s slant-back Super Truck is built to take on whatever the world (or the end of it) dishes out. The custom truck has a boosted 6.2L Hellcat V8 making 850 hp and sending that to all four wheels. The badass, 240″ long pickup rides on 40″ tires, has a custom steel front end and rear bumper, and can tow up to 15,000 lb.

Crash.enabled uses the vehicle physics simulator BeamNG.drive to see how cars and trucks might behave in various collisions. In this brief clip, they test rear-ending a small hatchback into a semi-trailer at progressively less plausible speeds. Things get really bad over 60 mph, but we suppose it could be worse.