Have you ever ridden in the back of a pickup truck?

[exitseven]

Back in the 80s we rode in the back of pickups all the time. I actually drove to Florida for spring break. There were 6 of us. 3 in the front and 3 in the back.

Updates

+1 y

one time I rode in the bed of a pickup truck with another guy and a keg of beer we had in a trash barrel filled with ice. We were just sitting in lawn chairs blasting a boom box while we were driving around. No way could you get away with that today.

Updates

+1 y

There was a skating rink in town and the Zamboni machine used to dump the shaved ice in the parking lot. One hot July night we went over there and threw a few shovelfuls on snow in the back of my friend's pickup truck. Then we drove around town and threw snowballs at the people walking around.

[MrOracle]

Many, many times. In fact, most camping trips during my youth and teens were riding in the back of a pick up, on a shell that was level with the top of the bed, so only the 4 bolts that held on the fiberglass shell to keep us inside. And there were many drives, while moving or taking things to the dump, where we rode in the open truck bed.

I'm sure that would get someone arrested today, and I can recognize that it really was unsafe, but those things just weren't considered dangerous at the time.

Hell, I've seen pictures of my baby seat for the car, and it was a steel tube frame that hooked over the back of a bench seat, and provided a high chair type seat that was level with the top of the seat back. In an accident, this thing virtually guaranteed death or serious injury, but that's what existed in the early 70s. It would DEFINITELY get someone arrested today.

[MrOracle]

*on a shelF that was level

[Lliam]

Lots of times. Nobody ever thought twice. Kids thought if was fun.

When I was 16 and got my driver's license, I had a car. Friends would always pile into it. A few years later, I bought an El Camino. That way, if they wanted a ride, they could pile in the back.

[Lliam]

That was a fun update. I can relate. Those were the good ol' days. :-)

[Jamie05rhs]

@Lliam I used to call those things pick-up cars.

[dustybiker]

This was what first inspired me to get a pick-up myself. My mothers longtime friend had one. We were visiting her when crossing the US when I was 6-7, I think. Pennsylvania, it was legal for six year olds to be in the back of a pick up truck in the early 80’s…. lmao

Anyway she wanted to get me something and I had asked for my first baseball mitt, so we drove to the sports store a couple miles away. I was alone in the back having a grand time. 😎

Where I live now it’s not legal to move a vehicle with an animal in the flatbed, thank goodness. Fun times though. 🛻 : )

[dustybiker]

Thanks for the mhg selection.

[sage2021]

Yes! I was about 14 years old and my friend Patty invited me to go to a lake for the three day weekend. Her dad built houses there - so we stayed in one.
Soon the weekend was over and we rode about 40 or so miles in the back of her Dad's pick up headed for San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge was part of the ride back. Oh man, it was windy and freezing cold. I couldn't enjoy myself on that ride. 🌉

[TrueConfection]

Absolutely! Way back before we bubble wrapped all of society, fun was to be had! The back was where the party was 🎉

[exitseven]

Yes indeed.

[Jaximus-Lion]

Oh yes! My uncle had a Toyota pickup truck and i used to ride in the back. I miss The 80's and 90's, people were not a pain in the ass like now days.

[lightbulb27]

yes as a kid, they drove slow.

Amazing how I've been programmed. The very thought of this question makes me think of risk and unsafety of it. the 70's and 80's were another time, we didn't have so much media to condition us.

[Sparkie460]

I used to sit on the side of the bed and hold on to the homemade headache rack. I also sat on the tailgate of my dad's rambler station wagon. Those were the good old days.

[Sparkie460]

Regarding update, yeah no way we could do that now and get away with it

[Sparkie460]

So that was you that hit me with a snowball? I find out years later. Lol

[exitseven]

You should have seen these people. They had no idea what hit them.

[Sparkie460]

Yeah that hurt

[Sparkie460]

I'm coming for you now

[AviatorTom]

Yes, many years ago, I used to help my brother in law take the trash to the landfill and I usually rode in the bed of his green DATSUN pickup, He was driving and his dog was in the passenger seat, so the only place for me was in the back.

[AviatorTom]

@exitseven Re: your update. If you did that today, do you think your wife would visit you in jail? 🤔

[DryGermanGuy]

I did that in Latin America. It was fun in the jungle, not so much fun on the highway (due to the dirty air).

[Brainsbeforebeauty]

Yep all the time as a teenager and when we visited our grandparents in Arizona when little.

[Chazmatazz269]

Yes, lots. Also in the cargo area of vans and station wagons, and the back of an El Camino.

[Aerissa_Jade]

All the time on the farm growing up, most recently probably a month ago with a bunch of kids.

[Aerissa_Jade]

Per your update, here there is no state law against riding in the back of a pickups. Only the state capital (the liberal cesspool) has a law against it.

Some will say the seatbelt law means it is illegal but it has an exemption for buses and such, no mass transit or school bus has seat belts... its not illegal to not wear a seat belt if one does not exist.

[art84]

My dad had a truck and we used to cause he had a camper in the back. Can't do that anymore though I miss it.

[tfan1]

My niece and I used to ride in the back of my dad’s truck. Great fun. 🙂👍

[SnowedIn]

Not in a pickup truck. My parents Had an ancient Ford Country Squire station wagon and I used to ride in the back of that.

[exitseven]

I had a friend whose mother had a Country Squire. It had a power rear window and one day we went out on the highway and when we saw a car with girls in it my friend would drive in front of it and i would get i the back and pull my pants down and he would put the back window down and I would stick my bare behind out the window and slap it. Most of the time they would be laughing and honking their horn.

[SnowedIn]

That's awesome! Ours had the bottom rusted out and we'd sit on the jump seats in the very back and smell the fumes from the leaded gas!

[exitseven]

My parents had an old Ford Custom station wagon. The floor in the back seat had a couple of drain holes. These got rusted out and my brother and we used to drop coke cans through it. One time we got a metal rod and when we were driving at night we would stick it down through the hole and watch the sparks come out the back.

[SnowedIn]

That's awesome! Life was good back then. No seatbelts, cigarette in every hand, cheap gas...

[exitseven]

yes, there was a lot of good things about the 70s and 80s.

[NathanDavis]

many times... one time we almost got struck by a lightning, that's cool stuff when you're a kid, lmfao

[Charliefretz329]

It was the daily commute when i was a child. We even requested it in the summer

[spartan55]

I think I did a couple of times and was scared af the whole time.

[RobT312]

Yes as a kid a few times…local rides or just around grandparents farmhouse

[BCRanger10]

I'm sure I have before. I don't remember specific instances though.

[Dnice1]

Yup I have, growing up I'd sit on the tailgate and hold onto the trash bin and while my mom would drive the truck down our long driveway so I I wouldn't have to walk.

[slatyb]

Yes, but it's very stupid so do that on the highway without a proper seat, harness, and roll bar.

[notwoke]

Yeah, all the time, before we snowflaked up the world

[MrOracle]

While I generally agree about the snowflake thing, the reality is that car accidents with people in the back of a truck tended to be gruesome. Tons of preventable major injuries and deaths, especially among children. It's one of the few things that I think have been a big improvement - and I grew up doing it. I also grew up on playgrounds where everything was metal and asphalt and you had sharp bolts that had to be avoided. I know what "tough" was. Riding in a truck bed, especially a kid, and especially at high in-town speeds, much less freeway speeds, was certainly risking a gruesome death.

[notwoke]

@MrOracle how many times in the last 10 years did you take a trip in your car that would have ended up in tragedy if you had been in the back of a pick up truck? By this logic how can we allow motorcycles?

[MrOracle]

You're missing the point. You might be a good driver, but not everyone is. I'm on the freeways most days, and I see 2-4 accidents every day on average. The majority of the time, people's injuries are minor, but today's cars are WAY better for that. In many of those very same accidents, if there were kids in the bed of the '76 Cheyanne that I used to ride around in as a kid, they would be badly injured or dead.

And if you talk to police who used to work traffic in the 70s and 80s, they'll tell you gruesome stories, which is why the laws were changed in the first place.

Motorcycles are driven by adults, and at worst, you have one other life with you that you are responsible for (and riding 2 up is the exception to the rule). With a pickup, you could have half-a-dozen or more.

[888theGreat]

On the back of an old John Deere tractor with the little wheels up front and when it started up side of hill , i jumped off.

[Bratsondanielle]

It's so much fun... but yes... illegal

[Msputiton]

Yes i have a lot

[Smartman5]

no i never did but it's a very dangerous game

[notwoke]

is it really? how many times have you gone out in your car in your life and had you been in the back of a pickup on that day you would have been killed?

[Smartman5]

@notwoke the game in question is the game of hanging on the back of the pickup truck. It's a dangerous game don't you think? I've been out with my car many times, it's okay, but it's really dangerous to hang in the back of a pickup truck.

[msc545]

I did just once when I was very young and it was damn uncomfortable.

[Jamie05rhs]

Yep! But never on the highway.

[hafinjun]

Ahh the good old days

[MysticAngel5000]

Yes I have

[BeMuse]

Yep.

[Fireguy17]

All the time.
They only sat 3 inside.

[Literalbillionaire17]

Yes. It’s such a fun feeling

[Iron_Man]

Yes I had I enjoy it

[maximumpower]

Yep, but not for that distance.

[_Just_A_girl_]

Yeah

[Redstang88]

Of course

[Joker_]

yeah

[Pterodon]

Yes.

[Fuentes]

Yes I have