Chevrolet Silverado sticks to tradition P ickup trucks are all the rage these days as North Americans discover the idea that luxury need not be divorced from utility. How the pickup started is debat ed to this day, but they clearly descend from the buckboard that JIM still the maid ROBINSON was of all service in a largely agricul tural North A m erica when the last century was bom . Chevrolet, for instance intro RoadWorthy duced its first full-size pickup in 1936. The pickup truck was first and foremost a beast o f burden. They were also looked down upon by the gentile set who thought of those driving pickups as country bump kins. That class division existed well into the last decade when things like disc brakes, stereo sound sys- Chevrolet has stayed away from gimmicky styling for a more traditional look for its lineup of full-size pickups like this Silverado LT. terns and gas-charged shock absorbers, not to mention leather seats, turned the basic market cart construction and suspension into something that was half-way roadable. Well, anyone who has been to a carshow in the past five years could not have missed the impact trucks are having on the North American psyche. And while the Japanese and the Germans are falling over them selves to come up with sport utility vehicles, only one off-shore make has tried to crack the hard core of North Americanism - the full-size pickup. But the big pickup o f today is not the vehicle it was 10, let alone 20 years ago. Today they can outdrag most domestic sedans, stay with them in most comers, and haul 2,000 pounds or tow more than two tons. A perfect example is this week's tester, the 2000 Chevrolet Silverado. Re-designed two years ago, the Silverado has received a (See `Pickup' page 21) * NOW'S THE TIME TO GET INTO A GREAT LITTLE NUMBER 0.9% w p u r c h a s e f in a n c in g u p to 4 8 m o n t h s JA V - CHEVROLET OLDSMOBILE 547 Trafalgar Rd. (Just South of tho Q£W ) w e b s ite : w w w .to w n e b e v .e o fn