International's CXT pickup truck -- at FedEx Field through today -- is built on the same platform as the company's snowplows. (By Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)
Posted on 08/11/2005 3:44:34 AM PDT by aculeus
The pickup, introduced to the roads more than a century ago, was conceived to be the smallest possible get-the-job-done truck. Now International Truck and Engine has taken that concept and, oxymoronically, developed the world's biggest smallest truck -- the CXT.
Such a feat is the equivalent of creating the world's shortest skyscraper, quietest fire alarm, slowest jet, driest swimming pool.
The new CXT from International is hu-freakin-mongous. This bad boy is nine feet tall. It's got thigh-high tires, and two running boards up to the cab, and door handles you have to stretch for. When the bed gate folds down it's about as high as a mantelpiece. The truck is built on the same platform used for snowplows and dump trucks. It carries six tons -- some three times what a normal pickup would tote -- tows up to 22 tons, and comfortably seats five people, even with embarrassing body mass indexes.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
International's CXT pickup truck -- at FedEx Field through today -- is built on the same platform as the company's snowplows. (By Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)
*sigh* It's beautiful!
Bigger garage! You're going to need to own a gas station!!!
I like it, needs a bigger bed though.
it is beautiful. this was floated in prototype by freightliner back in 2000.
Hey..have we lost our spirit of fun. This is an over-the-top american thing. The Compost is just envious.
Kerry drives a Scaramouche fuel guzzler..real men drive pick-ups.
Sniff...sniff, it's beautiful! I'm all verklempt thinking about it..hooked up to a nice fifth wheel RV!
G
Monster truck madness
I want one! If I was rich enough to afford the truck, I'd be rich enough to afford the fuel.
This writer is suffering some kind of Freudian envy complex.
Wow! Does it come with four wheel drive?
Tim the Tool Man Taylor had the best description for this one...MORE POWER!!!!
Just what America needs...a new toy for guys who wish they were real men. No real man what stray within a mile of buying one of these.
Pick-up for guys with the short-man complex.
On the other hand, they did a nice job. It is nice looking.
"It'll probably [tick] the tree huggers off," says Kevin Roberts, 41, a Prince George's County firefighter who has just taken the CXT for a test spin around the orange-cone-lined track. With a "gross vehicle weight rating" of 25,999 pounds -- one more pound and you'd need a commercial license to drive it -- the diesel truck gets about nine miles to the gallon. It can go 75 miles per hour.
Asked for an evaluation, Roberts says, "It's pretty good for what it is."
The truck drives heavy. It's got air brakes and you have to turn corners at a wide angle. The interior is plush and the sloping hood offers good visibility. But it feels like a big old U-Haul.
Professional truck driver David Jennings drives International's demos from show to show. In gray shirt and jeans, he hops behind the wheel of the CXT and drives along the track.
When he turns sharply, the passenger nearly falls out of his seat.
"There's a Holy Crap bar," he says, pointing to a handy handle on the frame near the window. "It turns like a truck."
Why not just hang a short bed on a semi cab.
For 2006, gone are the truck style boot cleaning running boards, the monster chrome high exhaust, the wind deflector, the massive Yugo pushing chrome bumper, the off-the-shelf square headlights, the exposed fuel tank and the chrome entry assist bar. In other words, everything that gives this truck so much clunky, big-rig appeal.
This is one improvement that did not improve, IMHO. Next year they will probably introduce a downsized version based on the Chevy Equinox platform...
The possibilities are endless!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.