5 Pickup Trucks From The ’60s That Look Even Cooler Today

Unfettered design disappeared from the automotive world decades ago. Safety requirements, governmental regulations, and advances in aerodynamics have reduced what was once an artistic discipline into an engineering discipline. As a result, many modern cars are beginning to look similar. The amorphous crossover, the standard pickup truck, and the bland sedan come in shades of grey, navy, and black. Once upon a time, there were fewer restrictions, and manufacturers had a little more freedom to exercise creativity.

As a result, plenty of the classic cars and pickups of yesteryear lure automotive fans with unique aesthetics that are impossible to replicate today. In honor of the good ol’ days, we check out the history and performance behind designs that have gained iconic status five decades after they hit the market. These aren’t necessarily the best pickup trucks to come out of the 1960s, but they are definitely amongst the coolest looking.

Studebaker Automobiles isn’t the first manufacturer that comes to mind when you think pickup trucks. Founded in 1852, the brand got its start building wagons before entering the automobile space. By 1960, however, the once-proud brand was entering its final decade.

Pickup trucks were undergoing a transformation during the 1960s. Once purely utilitarian, by the late 1950s, manufacturers were turning toward car-like designs, with more comfortable interiors and smoother rides. The Studebaker Champ is one example of this evolutionary stage of pickup design.

The Studebaker Champ pickup truck debuted in 1960, but it wasn’t an all-new design. It saved money by using components and sheet metal from the pre-existing Studebaker Lark compact, essentially hitching a pickup bed to the Lark’s front end. With a pair of engine options, including 170- and 245-cubic-inch six-cylinders making 90 and 118 horsepower, respectively, the bubble-fendered pickup came in ½- and ¾-ton models.

Not only was the Champ a warmed-over Frankenstein of parts, but its nameplate was reminiscent of the Studebaker Champion sedan produced from 1939 to 1958. Alas, the Champ was not enough to save Studebaker, which went out of business in 1966. But we still have the unique looks and lines of the short-lived but distinctive Champ.

Ford got into the car-truck combination business with the Ranchero in 1958. Ultimately overshadowed by the Chevrolet El Camino that arrived in 1959, the Ranchero nonetheless holds a special place in the classic pickup portion of our hearts.

Inspiration for the Ranchero came from the Land Down Under. The Australian market was nuts for what was called coupe-utility vehicles, or utes. Ford wanted to capitalize on its success with the so-called utes in North America. It tapped its car division, which built the Ford Falcon, to build the Ranchero. The Ranchero was produced for seven generations between 1957 and 1979. The second generation arrived for the 1960 model year, retaining a certain straitlaced ’50s aesthetic that marks a transition between ’50s and ’60s design mores.

The Ranchero could hold more payload than the El Camino despite its 144-cubic-inch six-cylinder engine being smaller than Chevrolet’s V8 options. With pickup trucks increasingly skewing toward lane-filling behemoths, maybe Ford can look into bringing back the car-truck combo. Except, as of 2026, it doesn’t sell a single traditional sedan to convert.

The Chevrolet C10 may be the most quintessential pickup truck in history. Its 39-year career began when it debuted in 1960. Set up to compete with Ford’s successful (and even longer-running) F-line, it was a competitive unit that put to use everything Chevrolet had learned building pickups since 1918.

In 1965, the C10 was still in its first generation. It was only available with a standard cab, though buyers could choose between 6.5- and 8-foot beds. It was more farm truck than highway cruiser, with inline six and V8 engine options ranging from 135 to 220 horsepower. An odd overbit hood contains signal lamps underneath, which the grille is plastered with from headlight to headlight, almost making it look like it’s smiling. A trim cabin and flat lines running to the bed (except for the gorgeous sidestep models — another characteristic missing from modern pickups) give it a look that suggests it was once as comfortable in the dirt as it is now on the pedestal at car shows.

The first-gen C10 retains a distinctive Americana vibe, evoking greasers and drive-in movies. Chevrolet wanted to differentiate its new C10 line from its 1950s products, taking a clean-sheet approach to introduce radical design changes. The resulting truck is certainly outdated now, but it holds a place in history as a bygone era of American manufacturing.

Jeep recently re-entered the pickup truck game by resurrecting its Gladiator nameplate in 2020, but it’s not the Gladiator we’re looking back at. Jeep once was a major player in pickups, and its 1966 Forward Control (FC) series was a friendly little pickup truck designed as a practical hauler.

Cab-forward design allowed truck makers to maximize the available space of the wheelbase by placing the engine beneath the cab rather than under a long hood. Volkswagen, Ford, and Chevrolet all got in on the action, but our favorite interpretation belongs to Jeep. The Jeep Forward Control Series hit the market in 1957 and had essentially run its course by 1966. It offered two wheelbase choices and engines ranging from a 72-horsepower four-cylinder to a 115-horsepower inline-six.

The Jeep Forward Control Series doesn’t look like much of anything on the road today. It was a utilitarian hauler with superior visibility and a distinctly Jeep grille — though that’s about the only design cue that is recognizably Jeep. The FC ultimately faced competition from the likes of the Chevrolet Corvair Rampside and Volkswagen Transporter pickup. About 30,000 FCs rolled off the assembly line during its production run, making it somewhat difficult to find today.

The Power Wagon was based on Dodge trucks that served during World War II, and if that’s not enough of a proving ground for you, then you must be pretty rough on your trucks. The nameplate debuted in 1946 for the post-war civilian market. America was facing an extended period of growth, and Dodge had just the truck to get it done.

High on utility and low on comfort, the Power Wagon was used (and revered) by government agencies for rough-and-tumble work. Dodge has made plenty of hay out of its high-output Hemi V8s over the past several decades, but the Power Wagon was primarily known for inline-six engines. Rugged and reliable, the U.S. Navy, the Park Service, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and others put it to the test over the years

By the 1960s, the Power Wagon line was mid-stride — the last model would roll off the line in 1980 — but it hit a high point in design. The final year of the first generation was 1968, after which the Power Wagon was designated export-only as part of a government program, despite protests from the U.S. Forest Service, which loved the Mopar workhorse. Part of the reason (aside from emissions) was that its design was still based on the 1946 aesthetic, which itself dated to pre-war styles. The result was a truck that was hopelessly outdated by contemporary standards, but looks pretty darn cool to us today. In fact, we’re lobbying Dodge to bring this classic pickup truck back to the masses.