Anybody else see the day where the 1/2 ton pickup could possibly take a special permit to own? The more I read the more I foresee them being phased out for the common person and only being sold to businesses, farmers and maybe people who own large trailers but these trailers will have to meet a certain weight limit for you to qualify and then you'll only be able to drive it when towing that trailer. For people who don't meet the qualifications you'll be able to access one by renting it from your local car rental business or Lowe's, Home depot, etc. I know at first it seems like it would be hard to enforce but all it would take is a special color tag or sticker on your tag to do it. Any thoughts?

I would really hate to see that. It could be done by taxing the things out of existence for the average person. Double license plate fees, extra "road use" and fuel use taxes, etc, etc. There is no limit to what the government could use if they so chose. It wouldn't affect me as I would just turn in my company ride and take the $.51-.55 a mile that they pay for using your private auto. But like I said, I would hate to see it come to that.

Squid, I'm curious. What brought on this chain of thought?

I can see a certain "reasonableness" in this idea. I suspect we would have to be a very drastic state of affairs with concerns of either fuel availability and/or pollution control.

I just can't imagine the circumstances. For the life of me I can't recall a similar situation where any commonly used vehicle was removed from public use.

Interesting idea though.

Red

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2005 Titan KC SE, Helwig, True-Track, ARE MX Canopy

All good points. What got me thinking about this is that now that the cash for clunkers program is over they are starting to tally up what vehicles were turned in for what new vehicle (UH-OH!).



What I'm starting to read and see on the news is that the majority of the trades were pickup trucks and they were traded for cars like the Toyota Corolla leading some to speculate and point out that people who don't need trucks own them and are just being wasteful................UH-OH!

A valid observation. However Ford just had to gear up for increased F-150 sales. I think that as we climb out of this economic mess, truck sales, like most other things will pick up as well. I also think that, if for no other reason than to stay alive, automakers will build trucks with increased gas or fuel mileage. Quite honestly, there is nothing on the market that can take the place of the humble pickem' up truck for tough versatility.

Interesting Squish. You never know what treehuggers will try to push through legislation. Like Coot mentioned above, they can certainly try with varying kinds of taxes but we'll never get over our love for large vehicles, in my opinion. Sales of gas guzzlers may level off and not dominate the market like they did a few years ago but they're pretty fu(king profitable for automakers and they'll always be around in large numbers.

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'04 2wd with PRG stuff......



"Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? ... That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." --George W. Bush, Feb. 28, 2008