the crazy and pick up trucks

In 2006 the Dodge Rampage nameplate was back, this time on this jaw dropping concept pick up at the Chicago Motor Show. With a 5.7 litre Hemi V8, sliding rear doors and an integrated ramp for loading your dirt bikes into the back, it was an over the top outdoor activity vehicle for an age before the global recession forced everyone into Toyota Prius hybrids.

This is the pick up truck of the future as glimpsed through the eyes of today s car designers and predictably, there s not a sonorous V8 in sight. The Smart For Us concept debuted at the Detroit Motor Show in 2012 boasting a 73hp electric motor and a top speed of 75mph (121kph). There are even a couple of rechargeable e bikes in the back for when the For Us runs out of batteries.

Here is more proof that not everything in the macho world of the pick up truck has to be V8 powered and dripping with chrome. The quaint Chevrolet Montana is a pick up truck designed for Latin America and other

The British market is no stranger to budget car based pick up trucks, and between 2003 and 2007 we had the Proton Jumbuck to get our teeth into.

By working vehicle standards build quality was not a strong point of this 1.5 litre petrol engined truck, with its fixtures and fittings apparently made from the same plastic they package chicken kievs in, but the handling was tuned by Lotus. In fact, if you mention the Jumbuck to the famous British sports car brand s chassis engineers they ll show their pride in the project by avoiding eye contact, shuffling their feet and changing the subject.

Quite possibly the yellowest vehicle of all time, the Skoda Felicia Fun was a 1999 special edition version of Czech manufacturer s Felicia pick up truck, which in turn was also sold as a Volkswagen Caddy pick up. What was so much fun about the Felica Fun, you ask? Well, it had extra seats that folded out into the load bay so rear seat passengers could take the air and, as we ve said, it was very, very yellow.

The Strada is Fiat s supermini sized utility vehicle based on the brand s Pailo world car. It has been through various generations and facelifts since its launch in 1996 and this festival of off road styling cues is the latest, 2009 version. Fiat has pulled out all the stops to give its diminutive pick up a tough look but although some models get a locking differential, all are front wheel drive and most use Fiat s 1.3 litre Multijet diesel engine.

The Australians have their Holden Utes, the Americans have their Ford F 150s and the Italians have this, the Piaggio Ape. Visit the outlying areas of Italy and it sometimes seems the nation s entire rural economy is propped up by these faintly ridiculous, scooter based, three wheeled pick ups.

Piaggio s off the shelf range incorporates pick ups, vans, tipper trucks and even a model equipped with mobile espresso machine. There s a four wheeled version too, called the Ape Poker.

Another relative in the General Motors performance pick up family that gave us the Holden SS Ute and the Vauxhall VXR Maloo, this is the Chevrolet SuperUte by the South African tuning firm LupiniPower. With a 535hp 6.0 litre V8 similar to that used in the Corvette ZR1, it s one serious pick up. The 0 60mph (100kph) sprint is covered in 4.8s and it will pass 150mph (241kph) in 22.9s before topping out at 175mph (281kph).

The Ford F series pick up was launched in 1948 and is currently in its 12th generation. The F 150 version was the bestselling vehicle in the US for 17 years straight and this is the most hardcore F 150 of them all, the SVT Raptor, launched in 2010.

Designed specifically for hard off road use, the F 150 SVT Raptor has upgraded body protection and heavy duty shocks offering a massive 11.2

By this stage you re probably detecting a close association between the worlds of the pick up truck and the muscle car. Well, here s another link in the chain