Pickup trucks--those most practical of vehicles--are practically everywhere; rusty old beaters and shiny new ones, two-wheel and four-wheel-drive models, trucks from the era of classic design as well as the aerodynamic styles of the nineties. So plentiful and hard working are they that it is difficult to imagine any economy functioning without them. This survey of the pickup truck takes the reader from its early beginnings in World War I right up to the present day, spotlighting the major American manufacturers as well as noted truck builders around the world. This colorfully illustrated volume celebrates not only the classic and traditional pickups but the flashy and sporty hot-rod trucks as well.