Remember the commercials for Cadillac’s night vision system a few years back? Much like GM you probably forgot all about them. Well, the next time you spot a 2000-2005 Deville with what appears to be a stolen crest from its (dark grey) grill go in for a closer look, that’s where they mounted the camera for that night vision setup. I came across this one at Biosphere 2, which seems like the perfect place to spot old future-technology. The idea with this system was that for (only) $1,995 you could keep yourself aware of whatever night time danger may be ahead by projecting a live feed from a night shot camera onto your front window.
Unfortunately the first image is not some sort of backwards alternate fucked reality, and I’m not just talking about skulls connected directly to other skulls via solid bone. Yes, this other world includes stagecoach Deville’s and Fiat dealerships in America.
Imagine this setting, if you will, you are an employee in the Ford design department. The year is 1994 and the carryover square shape from just about everything in the 80’s is finally on its way out. Nobody is quite sure where to take things but they all know that square is officially, well, square. “What are we going to do, what are we going to do!!?”. There is chaos, noise, and wild talk..
At this point the conference room door slowly opens as the lead designer walks in, the room quiets to a dead silence, all focus on him. As he approaches the group he slowly reaches into his coat pocket and gently pulls out a small white egg and gently places it down onto the conference table. “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the 1997 Ford everything”. After a 5 second delay the room erupts into applause and cheers.
..
Flash forward to 2012, you’ve bought or somehow acquired one of these things, now how in the world are you going to hide the fact that your truck is for the most part a shapeless and odd looking relic of 1990’s design mediocrity?
I present to you the Ford F-150 Wireframe Edition. With features such as a grill on top of your old grill and a chrome trimmed lower front window bug deflector you are sure to stand out from the rest. The features, details, and enhancements are too numerous to list so have a look for yourself.
Way back when, before all Nissan Hardbodies sported a set of Escalade wheels there was the Datsun 720. I wasn’t sure what this thing was at first, just some old Nissan truck. I’d seen it around town a couple times, once down 32nd Street, and again around 19th and Union Hills. Recently I was finally able to get a closer look and still couldn’t tell what it was, there was no badging so I had to research it a bit. Apparently these trucks were sold as the Datsun 720 from 1980 to 1982 and switched over to Nissan 720 until production ended in 1986.
I’m not sure what the factory or dealership options were when these things were new but regardless of that I’d like to think that the original owner responded with a simple “all of them” when asked.. this including one hell of a graphics package (that’s almost, but not quite, as gaudy as what Ford offers for the Raptor). Don’t get me wrong though, I like it, it screams early 1980’s and I love it for that.
I can’t quite put my finger on how I would like to stereotype the driver of this truck. In fact, after about ten minutes of waiting to greet the driver I determined that I don’t actually want to know what they are like and went on my way. Whatever assumption you have about the owner of this truck is a fact (it’s more fun this way).
It’s good to see something old, clean, driven, and not beat to piss. I’m sure its offroading days are long gone, especially with those street tires, but you never know.
It’s a curiosity for sure.
A couple interesting notes I found in my research:
– In 1959 Datsun became the first company to import a compact truck to the US
– Only 10 or so trucks were imported that first year
– In May of 1986 the 720 was replaced by the Hardbody
Pardon the play on words but this dually Dodge has seen better days. The first and most apparent thing you will notice is that this is clearly a work truck and not a show piece, and there is nothing wrong with that. Pride of craftsmanship speaks worlds.
On a positive note, they did paint it a similar shade of grey.. and the tail lights are still red!
Remember the commercials for Cadillac’s night vision system a few years back? Much like GM you probably forgot all about them. Well, the next time you spot a 2000-2005 Deville with what appears to be a stolen crest from its (dark grey) grill go in for a closer look, that’s where they mounted the camera for that night vision setup. I came across this one at Biosphere 2, which seems like the perfect place to spot old future-technology. The idea with this system was that for (only) $1,995 you could keep yourself aware of whatever night time danger may be ahead by projecting a live feed from a night shot camera onto your front window.
