Automotive trends, capabilities, and technologies change every year, but one part of the industry hasn’t changed in quite some time: the rivalry between Chevrolet and Ford trucks.
What you’re about to see will keep it going.
Since the debut of the new F-150, Ford has been preaching the fuel economy, payload, and towing advantages its aluminum body and box provide. Chevrolet has been less than impressed and still makes the Silverado out of steel.
In the following video, it shows one of the reasons why. The roll-formed, high-strength steel bed of the Silverado proves more resistant to punctures than its Blue Oval competitor in a couple of tests. Both trucks get 825 pounds of landscaping blocks dropped into their cargo boxes. They both get dented all to hell, but the Ford’s aluminum bed gets gouged. Even a big metal toolbox dropping from the bed rail rips into it.
It’s a dramatic display to say the least, but it must be said that a lot of trucks these days come with protective bed liners in them. Also, it’s hard to imagine landscapers loading blocks into the bed of a truck in such a violent fashion. On the other hand, no matter how unorthodox the tests might have been, dents are dents and tears are tears.
All that leads us to this question: What sorts of abuse has the steel bed of your Chevrolet Silverado survived?
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
