Photo: USPS
The pickup truck isn’t just the workhorse of America. It is a cheap and universal means of personal transportation that also happens to be equally adept at hauling, towing, and going off the beaten track. Hence, the United States Postal Service decided to issue collectible stamps in honor of four of the most important pickup trucks ever made.
Now available to buy on the USPS website, a booklet of 20 stamps costs $9.40. Other than their collectible value, these stamps “will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price.” That should come in handy whenever the postal office is closed.
Inconsequential remarks aside, I have to give it to the USPS for the attention to detail that went into producing each of the four stamps. The name of the artist that used Adobe Illustrator to create these retro-looking renderings is Chris Lyons, while art director Antonio Alcala designed the stamps. Each of the four stamps features the name and model year of the truck, as well as “FOREVER USA” in the left corner.
The oldest truck on the list is the red one. Enthusiasts may have already identified it as a 1938 International Harvester D-2, a name that isn’t as glamorous as the barrel-shaped, rear-swept grille. The second in the list is the green-painted 1948 Ford F-1. Pickup aficionados may tell that the F-1 is the spiritual predecessor of the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. these days and, to be honest, they’re not far off the mark. The F-1 was the F-150 of its time, not just because it sold 300,000 units of them in the first year of production.
Then there’s the 1953 Chevrolet, also known as the Advance-Design. Having made its debut in the 1947 model year, the Advance-Design was the first all-new truck developed and produced in America since World War II wrapped up. It doesn’t only look tough, but it also looks the business. As for the most modern truck on the list, the blue-painted 1965 Ford F-100 introduced Twin-I-Beam independent front suspension. Believe it or not, Twin-I-Beam continues to be used by the 2016 Ford F-250 and F-350 in 4x2 flavor.
P.S.: Am I the only one that thinks the Dodge B Series should get its own stamp?
Inconsequential remarks aside, I have to give it to the USPS for the attention to detail that went into producing each of the four stamps. The name of the artist that used Adobe Illustrator to create these retro-looking renderings is Chris Lyons, while art director Antonio Alcala designed the stamps. Each of the four stamps features the name and model year of the truck, as well as “FOREVER USA” in the left corner.
The oldest truck on the list is the red one. Enthusiasts may have already identified it as a 1938 International Harvester D-2, a name that isn’t as glamorous as the barrel-shaped, rear-swept grille. The second in the list is the green-painted 1948 Ford F-1. Pickup aficionados may tell that the F-1 is the spiritual predecessor of the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. these days and, to be honest, they’re not far off the mark. The F-1 was the F-150 of its time, not just because it sold 300,000 units of them in the first year of production.
Then there’s the 1953 Chevrolet, also known as the Advance-Design. Having made its debut in the 1947 model year, the Advance-Design was the first all-new truck developed and produced in America since World War II wrapped up. It doesn’t only look tough, but it also looks the business. As for the most modern truck on the list, the blue-painted 1965 Ford F-100 introduced Twin-I-Beam independent front suspension. Believe it or not, Twin-I-Beam continues to be used by the 2016 Ford F-250 and F-350 in 4x2 flavor.
P.S.: Am I the only one that thinks the Dodge B Series should get its own stamp?
The new #PickupTruckStamps will be issued July 15 in Syracuse, NY. pic.twitter.com/P4MfQxrdP8
— USPS Stamps (@USPSstamps) June 14, 2016
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