12 Greatest Pickup Trucks of All Time That You Are Probably Too Young To Know

7. Mazda Rotary Pickup Truck

Among all the Japanese car companies, Mazda is famous for being the most innovative. That is why they have kept perfecting and investing in the Wankel engine concept since the late 60’s. The first Wankel-powered model was a little sports car called the 1100 Cosmo. Soon, Mazda started installing this engine into ordinary models.

The advantages of the Wankel engine are considerable. It had small dimensions and lighter weights compared to regular inline units. It also had a high revving capacity and simple construction. However, the disadvantages are also significant. Wankel engines have little torque and are not durable.

Since the construction is so specific, spare parts and components are hard to find. This is why it was strange when Mazda decided to install a small Wankel engine in its B-Series pickup truck in 1973. The B-Series was a common Mazda compact truck they sold globally. The version with the Wankel engine produced 110 HP from the diminutive 1.3-liter engine. This was more than enough since the whole truck was a little over one ton.

The interesting thing was the red line on this little engine was 7,000 rpm, which made driving a B-Series truck like driving a sports car. Unfortunately, a truck equipped with this engine wasn’t capable of towing a lot of weight, but it looked and sounded cool.

8. GMC Syclone

Back in the 1980s, GM experimented with turbocharged engines, which was in sync with the industry trends at the time. The most famous of them all was the Buick Grand National or Buick GNX. It featured a 3.8-liter turbocharged V6 engine with under five-second 0 to 60 mph times. With that kind of firepower, those black Buicks were terrorizing the drag strips and stop lights. By the early 1990’s, the Buicks were gone and GM engineers were looking where to install that turbo hardware.

They decided to make a sports truck out of a plebian Chevrolet S10 – a compact pickup with diminutive four-cylinder power. This is how the GMC Syclone was born. GM took an ordinary S10 body shell and installed a 4.3-liter V6 with a turbocharger for 280 HP. They included a special four-speed automatic they sourced from a Corvette and performance-based all-wheel drive.

The power figures don’t sound like much these days, but the Syclone was able to sprint to 60 mph in just 5.3 seconds, making it faster than contemporary Ferraris. The key was light weights, small dimensions and lots of torque from that turbocharged engine. But the price was significantly higher than the regular model. They built less than 3,000 – almost all of them in their signature black color.

Today, the GMC Syclone is a collector vehicle and a highly-desirable model. It is still quite fast and can hold its own against much younger, more powerful cars, too.

9. Chevrolet El Camino SS 454

When Ford introduced the Ranchero in 1957, Chevrolet didn’t have anything. Since Chevy and Ford are two of the car industry’s biggest rivals, Chevy introduced the El Camino two years later, in 1959. Similar to the Ranchero, the El Camino was a half car/half truck they built on an Impala chassis. It shared most of the design, interior components and engines with this car.

Although it was better looking than the Ranchero, the El Camino didn’t have the same market success. Chevy eventually downsized it to a mid-size platform. At the end of the 60’s, during the muscle car madness, the El Camino got the proper firepower and a special trim level – the SS. They first introduced the El Camino SS in 1967 and had a 396 V8 engine with 325 HP. That was plenty of power for a mid-size compact truck that delivered serious performance.

However, the first rule of the muscle car culture is bigger is always better. So, for 1970, the El Camino SS got its ultimate version with a brutal 454 V8 engine. The mighty 454 V8 LS6 was a 7.4-liter Chevrolet big block engine with a 450 HP official rating. The engine delivered around 500 HP in real life. It was a fire-breathing beast and one of the best engines of the muscle car era. The El Camino SS, it provided significant performance figures close to the best muscle cars of the day.

The biggest problem was the lightweight rear end. It meant that hard launches off the line were accompanied by much wheel spin and smoke. The El Camino SS 454 was one of the first vehicles people recognized as a collector model. They have become quite sought after and desirable. Today, finding a true El Camino SS 454 is hard and expensive.

10. Ford F-150 Lightning

The 60’s were a high watermark for American performance in terms of horsepower and torque ratings. It was also the era for looks, style, and many interesting, fast models. After the early 70’s and tight emission and safety laws, the power went embarrassingly down. It looked like the glory days of octane madness were gone. Fortunately, in the 90’s, American manufacturers started investing in performance and delivering faster, more powerful cars.

One of those pure performance machines was the crazy, cool F-150 Lightning. Ford conceived it in the early 90’s with only 280 HP. The Lightning was a performance truck with great driving dynamics. But, in 1999 with the new and totally redesigned generation of F-150 trucks, came the new Lightning. This time it was meaner looking, more aggressive and packed more firepower.

Ford installed its 5.4-liter V8 with a supercharger that was good for 360 HP at first and 380 HP later. This was more than the previous model and more than any truck on the market at that moment. The performance numbers were sublime. The Lightning could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in five seconds, topping 140 mph.

Those figures were more suited to the Porsche 911 than a regular pickup truck that could tow or carry cargo just like other F-150s. The second-generation Lightning proved to be quite popular and stayed in production for five years, up to 2004. During that period, Ford’s SVT department produced over 30,000 Lightning trucks, which are fantastic numbers.

11. Dodge Ram SRT 10

Produced from 2004 to 2006, the Dodge Ram SRT-10 is one of the most powerful, fastest pickups Dodge ever produced. That is a hard thing to say since Dodge always had some wild special versions of their trucks. But, just look at the specs. The 8.2-liter V10 engine produced over 500 HP with 0 to 60 times of fewer than five seconds. Its fuel economy was in the single digits.

A bright red or yellow paint job, two white racing stripes and big, shiny chrome wheels is what the SRT-10 is all about. It was something you couldn’t miss if you saw it on the street. With a price tag of over $45,000, the SRT-10 wasn’t exactly a sales hit. However, they produced a decent number of them in three-year long production run.

In 2005, Dodge introduced the Quad Cab option. They gave the SRT-10 another pair of doors and more practicality. The four-speed automatic was standard, but you could also get a six-speed manual straight from the Viper to go with the engine.

Interestingly, the SRT-10 sent all its power to the rear wheels since the size of the engine limited installing an all-wheel-drive system. Just imagine how quick the SRT-10 could have been if it had AWD.

12. Ford F-150 Raptor

Since modern trucks are equipped with powerful engines, 4×4 drivetrains and tough suspensions, it was only a matter of time before someone would offer a proper off-road performance truck. It was Ford in 2010 with the first-generation F-150 Raptor. Today, they offer a new, improved Raptor with amazing performance and capabilities. Before describing the current Ford Raptor, it is important to talk numbers.

The 3.5-liter turbocharged V6 produces 450 HP. It has a 510 lb-ft, 10-speed automatic transmission with sub-five-second acceleration times. The figures suggest this is an exotic supercar. However, this is a full-size pickup truck, with room for five people and a regular truck bed behind. This is not your ordinary pickup.

The Ford Raptor is the closest thing to a full Baja 1000 racing vehicle you can buy and put license plates on. Everything started in 2010 when Ford introduced the first-generation SVT Raptor. The truck buying public didn’t expect such a move. But, they were fascinated by the truck`s looks, performance, and capabilities. The idea behind the Raptor was to construct the best, fastest off-road truck money could buy.

Ford did that by installing numerous chassis and suspension upgrades, as well as a powerful engine. The best thing about it is that Ford basically prepared an extreme off-road truck with a warranty, as well. With multiple driving modes, a 10-speed automatic gearbox and an adaptive suspension, you can take rock crawling, desert crossing or mud dipping. However, it is still a normal everyday car, too. Ford did a great job combining the toughness of an extreme off-road truck with the usability of a regular modern pickup.

The trucks on this list are interesting, innovative and even performance machines. If you’d like to own one of these street monsters, you’d better start looking now. Their prices are going to go up fast and they will be hard to find.