Does a truck need a frame? - TheChronicleHerald.ca (registration)
Well, it was kind of mine, that special edition of the 1988 Jeep Comanche. It was my demonstrator for about three weeks, back when I sold cars wearing a zipper tie, being too proud to ask dad how to tie a Full Windsor. I eventually learned how to tie a Half Windsor, around the time that the Comanche had left the showroom floor. The Comanche had something called a uniframe, part unitized construction, part frame rails for the cargo box. Trucks without frames have existed in North America in many forms, from the Ford Falcon Ranchero, to the Dodge Rampage. Long before the Internet and epic fail videos, there were plenty of images in my memory banks of these semi-trucks, overloaded to the point of trailer hitch scuffs. If you sift through the last two decades of press releases, you’ll find quite the stack of concept trucks without frames that never came to the tailgate party. Active lifestyles, they called it, much like they did with the Honda Element wash-and-wear box. Over the past decade, I have done my fair share of poking the arms of the manufacturers, pointing out the availability of unitized trucks in global markets, until their eyes glazed over. Those who build trucks are quick to point out the efficiencies of the modern full-sized truck. Source: thechronicleherald.ca
