You know, they really just don't make truck advertisements like they used to.
I mean, think about it: back in the '70s and '80s, you'd see commercials that featured a Chevy pulling an actual Boeing 747 airplane, or a Ford F-250 hauling a Chevy in the truck bed while simultaneously towing a Dodge and GMC up an incline.
This Chevy truck ad from the mid '70s, featuring late country singer Tom T. Hall and a man throwing a shot put, brings us back to a time when truck ad stunts were pretty silly and over the top.
Now, as you can see from the ad, the would-be Olympian throws the shot directly inside the truck bed to prove the Chevy truck's toughness. The shot hits one of the bedside panels, and you can see that there's pretty minimal damage.
The ad's main takeaway was to show that the dent wouldn't show up on the outside of the bed thanks to the double steel wall design.
Now, I'd like to see them do that with a modern Silverado and compare the results. Something tells me that some of the newer models might not hold up near as well as this one did. But, who knows? One thing is for sure: they definitely proved the durability of the '77 Chevy truck bed with this stunt.
It was pretty hilarious to see the extremes that Ford, Chevy, and Dodge all went to in order to showcase their truck superiority. I know there is still rivalry between automakers these days, but they are nowhere near as intense as they used to be. Back in the day, these guys were taking shots at each other left and right at every opportunity.
While sometimes over the top, there's no denying that stuff like this was entertaining. Why don't we see stuff like this anymore? We've gone soft. Bring back the real truck test commercials with epic stunts!
This post was originally published on December 11, 2020.