ICON.

The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all

- MARTIN BUCKLEY

In Europe, the post-war pick-up truck or delivery van tended to be a bit too much like a converted passenger car or a scaled-down heavy-duty vehicle.

In neither case was it something you would drive out of choice, rather from practical necessity. In Britain, only the arrival of the Ford Transit in 1965 adequately addressed this situation.

Detroit had its 'Transit moment' almost two decades earlier. Post-1945, the Americans, heeding the newfangled science of market research, saw the need for something that was designed for rugged commercial requirements, but also had enough roadgoing refinements performance and comfort among them - that it could be used for 'civilian' activities as an alternative to a station wagon.

Launched in November 1947 (as a'48 model), Ford's 'Bonus Built' F-Series got the balance just right from the start. As the first standalone Ford truck design not derived from an existing passenger car, it carried over the well-proven six- and eight-cylinder flathead engines, but was based on a new chassis with a third crossmember, double-acting shock absorbers and the cab body isolated from the frame on rubber mountings. It still used cart springs at both ends, but, given that the contemporary Ford sedans and station wagons still eschewed independent front suspension, this was not seen as any great disadvantage.

With its bull-nosed, cartoon-like styling and rugged stance, it is really the great-grandaddy of the various F-Series trucks that continue to top the best-sellers list in North America.

The F-Series was launched into a post-war North American market where commercial vehicle sales were regarded as having equal importance to passenger cars. After all, Ford had sold 17 million of them since the era of the Model T, so the business was highly valued.

Henry Ford's earliest days in the automotive business were focused on trucks rather than cars, perhaps reflecting his origins in farming.