DriveTech

Work trucks are for more than work these days

The auto industry has come a long way when it comes to work trucks. Once, comfort and style were not on the contractor's want list when it came to a work truck. They just wanted a truck that would haul their tools and supplies to the work site with ease.

But as the truck industry started to grow, manufacturers decided maybe owners would like a few creature comforts, such as a heater or maybe air conditioning. Even that mind set is from years of old. Today's worker wants a comfortable seat, A/C, a good sound system and a truck that puts up with whatever the driver puts out.

James Diaz, commercial truck sales manager for Quality Commercial Truck, says that today's buyers are looking for a tool - something that will do the job needed. This is why Diaz needs employees who know the commercial business and have the ability to help customers build a truck or van to their specifications. The other aspect of buying from Quality is that Diaz tries to make the experience as enjoyable as possible. Diaz knows that the people buying his trucks don't have time for reams of paperwork and for haggling over price, so he tries to make the purchase of a work truck as easy as possible.

The pictured truck is a 2007 C3500 utility truck on a Chevy chassis. It's powered by a Vortex V8, backed by an automatic transmission and has a utility box on the rear. When driving a work truck, notice how smoothly it rides when it's empty. That's a good sign the truck is built right. The utility box comes with shock absorbers on all sides, several doors and adjustable shelves. To enter the top of the box, just flip a lever and the top pops open.

This particular truck came with a rack on top of the utility box and the unique feature here is that the back bar swings out of the way and the second bar can be removed as well, especially for those tall loads. The rack is hand built and comes with tie downs welded on the sides for securing items in or on the rack. Harbor Truck Bodies built the box and added a rock protector at the front of the box to keep rock chips to a minimum (nice touch).

The mirrors on this work truck are RV quality and can be manually adjusted to any position. The chassis is mounted on dual rear wheels, which will give the owner the ability to add a larger box. That, in turn, gives drivers more load space and stability.

The interior is very well done with tilt steering wheel, dual A/C for driver and passenger, AM/FM stereo, a lot of 12-volt receptacles and storage pods all throughout the dash. This work truck is painted white with a gray interior but if you need some special color for your business, then the folks at Quality Chevrolet Commercial have all the tools to meet your needs, no matter how crazy it may seem.

This story brings back old memories of when I used to build work trucks out in Lakeside. Flat beds, state beds, utility trucks, box trucks - you name it, we built it. And I can tell you the quality in all the trucks at Quality Chevrolet Commercial Truck meets all my standards. I would advise anyone looking for a good, reliable, hard working work truck to put Quality Chevrolet Commercial Truck on their list.

Quality Chevrolet Commercial Truck is not in the auto mall in Escondido. It's at Nordhal and I-78. On Memorial Day Weekend, the dealership is having a "Blow Out Sale" so big I can't give you any prices or what's going on. All I can tell you is if you're into work trucks, you won't want to miss this event.

I ran into an old buddy I used to work with in the South Bay at Quality Commercial Truck, Max Castorani. Give him a call at (760) 796-4278. Or find a sales person who truly cares about your needs from Diaz's crew. So stop by and check out the cool work trucks.