Keep On Trucking Through This Quiz: Test Your Truck Knowledge

While there's a lot of excitement surrounding the recently released Jeep Gladiator, Jeep has been producing pickup trucks for decades, dating back to the Willys Jeep 4x4 truck from the 1940s.

America's path to the perfect pickup truck included versions built on truck platforms and car platforms. The Ford Ranchero was first introduced in 1957 and built on a station wagon platform. It inspired the others that followed.

The Ford Model-T Runabout with the pickup body is considered the very first pickup truck — and dates back to 1925. By this time, Ford was an expert at selling vehicles ordinary people could afford, and so the truck cost just $281.

While Toyota had been producing trucks for decades before the first Tacoma hit the market in 1995, these vehicles didn't have names beyond the "Toyota pickup." The Tacoma changed that.

In the beginning, pickup trucks were all about the capability and strength — but that didn't mean they were fun to drive. Independent front suspensions, introduced in the 1960s by Chevrolet, made the ride smoother and more comfortable.

The Ford F-150 has been America's favorite pickup for nearly four decades and continues to outsell both domestic and internationally produced rival trucks nearly a century after Ford started producing pickups.

In 1973, Chevrolet produced the Chevrolet C/K 30 Big Doolie, a vehicle with four wheels in the back instead of just two, meaning it was both stronger and more stable, which allowed for larger cargo loads.

The Truck of the Year competition by Motor Trend Magazine puts the latest production vehicles through their paces in performance, power, comfort and safety to see which comes out on top. Last year, it was the 2019 RAM 1500.

If you've never come across a Mercury M-Series, there's a good reason for that. They were mostly sold in Canada for the two decades they were on the market and they were essentially rebranded versions of the Ford F-Series available in the U.S.

The origin of the pickup truck is shrouded in rumor, but one story goes that Galion Allsteel Body Company began installing hauling boxes on modified Ford Model-Ts, which helped to inspire automakers to build a standard vehicle that came with more cargo space.

Ute is a slang term that comes from Australia and New Zealand and refers to utility or coupe utility vehicles with an open cargo space area behind the cab. In other countries, this kind of vehicle is known as a pickup truck.

In the United States, Mercedes-Benz is seen as a luxury brand, but the company actually produces many trucks, vans and utilitarian vehicles that are used around the world, including the Unimog, which comes in a pickup version.

Back in the days of small pickup trucks, Dodge produced the Dodge Dakota convertible, one of only a few convertible pickup trucks ever produced. While iterations of the Dodge Dakota would stay on the market for decades, it never sold well.

HSV stands for Holden Special Vehicles, the performance vehicle division of Holden, an Australian automaker. Maloo means "thunder" in an Aboriginal language. The Maloo went into production in the early 1990s.

You read that right — the Mazda REPU, sold from 1974-1977, had a 1.3L rotary engine. While that may seem like a very strange choice by today's standards, the competition of the day was facing strict emissions regulations, and the REPU was able to produce more than 100 horsepower.

While a Jaguar pickup truck might sound really out of the box, it's not nearly as wild as the fact that MINI actually DID make a pickup truck. Considering the vehicle only had about 60 horsepower, it was a good that the bed was very small. Jaguar, however, never made a pickup.

In the 1970s, smaller pickup trucks were gaining in popularity, and so Ford and Mazda teamed together on a vehicle produced by Mazda and sold in America by Ford. The Ford Courier was the American-market name for the Mazda B-Series vehicles.

As if it isn't hard enough to tell the difference between a crossover and an SUV, in the 1970s GM partnered with Isuzu on a vehicle called the LUV, or Chevrolet Light Utility Vehicle. It lasted 10 years and then was produced as the Pup by Isuzu until 1988.

Lamborghini has delved into off-road performance luxury vehicles before, even predating the LM002, and they continue to do so today with vehicles like the Urus. This was the first to see production, however.

Hennessey Performance isn't known for doing things in half-measure — and the Hennessey Velociraptor is proof of that. You get six wheels and more than 600 horsepower, with eBay "Buy Now" price tags of nearly $400,000.

If you're on the search for a rare Corvair, the Greenbriar Truck Loadside was it. While the Rampside version loaded up from the side, the Loadside operated like a standard tailgate. Less than 3,000 were produced in two years.

The Subaru Sambar truck came out in the second generation of the Subaru Sambar, which was introduced in 1966 and lasted until 1973. The first generation, introduced in 1961, was only available as a microvan.

While luxury pickup trucks are commonplace now, there wasn't much demand for them in the early 2000s when the Lincoln Blackwood hit the market. Choices like a carpeted bed and wood trim made it difficult to use the Blackwood as a work truck, and it was only on the market in America for a year.

The GMC Sprint was rebranded in 1978 as the GMC Caballero and produced through 1987. With Spanish names like the El Camino and the Ford Ranchero on the market, GMC thought to compete with Caballero.

The Mitsubishi Triton has existed under many names, especially in American and international markets. Chrysler sold it as a captive import under the names Dodge RAM 50 and Plymouth Arrow Truck, and Mitsubishi sold it as the Mitsubishi Mighty Max.

The Suzuki Equator was assembled by Nissan and produced on a Nissan Frontier platform. It debuted in America in 2008 and was discontinued in 2012 after selling just more than 5,000 vehicles.

Willys-Overland had produced a Jeepster from 1948 to 1950, but it suffered from poor sales and was pulled from the market. When it was reintroduced in 1966 for the 1967 year, it was far more successful.

The Subaru Baja was available for the model years of 2003-2006. It had four doors and seating for four passengers, with the bed cargo-carrying capacity of a small pickup truck, but it still didn't last very long.

The Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6X6 was produced from 2013 to 2015 as the largest and second-priciest street-legal off-road vehicle Mercedes-Benz made. Despite its cost and size, more than 100 were made.

While the DeLorean is the star of the "Back to the Future" series, it's not the only car worth coveting. In the first film, Marty sees and wants a 1985 Toyota SR5 Xtra Cab 4X4, which he ultimately owns after changing history.

International Harvester largely produced farm and farming equipment, but perhaps that's why it was able to tap into the truck market with such ease and success. The Travelette first came out in 1957 and got four doors in 1961, the first truck to have them.

The Dodge "Dude Sport Trim Package" was the Dodge D100 with some additions. It had decals and dog dish hubcaps as well as a unique tailgate. The package was only available for 1970-1971, and just 1,500-2,000 were produced.

The Dodge Lil' Red Express existed for only one year, from 1978 to 1979, but it was extremely powerful and managed to make quite a mark in a very short time. It boasted 225 horsepower from a special V8.

While the terms and definitions have changed over the years, as pickup trucks became more popular and more multi-use, there was a need for more seating. The club cab term refers to second-row seating.

The Toyota G1 actually predates the company Toyota, dating back to the 1930s. In fact, it was the vehicle that followed, the Toyota GA, that was the first Toyota model on the market.