Regional description of truck accessory varies wildly

[larrybuck]

Growing up mostly in the Pacific northwest, a canopy was what we called the shell placed on the back of the pickup truck bed of which the top was usually somewhat flush with the top of the cab. I learned very quickly when I moved to North Carolina for a few years, that phrase didn't work there. I advertised one for sale there and people thought I had some kind of a tent awning mounted over the pickup bed. In that area, they called it a camper top. Which is not to be confused with where out west what we call the full-blown camper which I sarcastically call the big block of ice that sticks way up like a second-story building way above the cab and tortures the air as you go down the road. Back to the original subject, maybe some people call it a camper shell, being completely void of any built-in features. In my lingo here, most canopies I see try to be fairly flush with the cab. Then we see the ones that taper upwards towards the rear for a little bit more access room. Aerodynamically speaking, do you see that rise as much of an MPG breaker compared to an absolute flat version? Obviously, if it tapered down in the back similar to a boat tail Style, it would be more aerodynamically correct. I'm sure some of you have seen the unit that is available that literally is kind of a Fastback for pickup trucks. I haven't seen one in real life but only in advertisements, and I don't even remember what they are called technically. Obviously those would not hold much cargo inside, but my own thoughts to make them as useful as possible, would be to have the whole thing hinged so that it would open up from the driver's side, and be flopped over on hinges be on the passenger side. For anybody parallel parking on the street, or by the side of the road, except of course in Britain and other right hand driving countries, this could be the way to do it. Now if we wanted to go all high tech, air hydrolic? struts could be built similar to Formula 1 car pit stops, and the whole unit could go straight up, but you'd better pack the back carefully so that something gets squished toward the back in your car go. Or one could have a crazy tilt unit in the similar angle to a dump truck bid unloading, so then you could have fairly good access from either side. So anyhow, back to the original subject, are there any other lingo names that one calls the canopy, camper shell,etc...?? Then of course, you have people when they hear the word camper, they are thinking about the travel trailer, or even the smaller types of motorhomes, as some might only call the biggest ones that look like buses to be called motorhomes. Anyway, I'm just trying to have a little Thursday fun here.

[freebeard]

So anyhow, back to the original subject, are there any other lingo names that one calls the canopy, camper shell,etc...??

Your search term on Ecomodder is aerocap.

In second place after the aerocap would be the half-tonneau.



I drew this in the 1960s when dune buggys were new. The one on the bottom was cribbed from late '40s Buick and early 50s International truck hoods. They had a combination hinge/latch on each side. So they would open from either side or lift off completely without a wrench.

[Drifter]

Camper shell is what it is called here, being a mostly cab-height fiberglass shell with no real ammenities attached. Still, at least a nod of consideration is given to camping/human habitation because it is usually carpeted on the inside for insulation and the large windows slide open for ventilation yet have screens to prevent insect bites.

Flush-height version gives me a slight increase in highway mpg over uncovered bed:


Slightly raised roof version helps with access when climbing in (and when changing clothes). It has about the same mpg as an uncovered bed:



Here, a more commercial/utilitarian variant of the camper shell is called the "topper." It is also a shell, but is often not carpeted and the windows flip/fold open vertically for easy access to the bed from outside to the side. There are no window screens and it may not even have windows at all:



A "Camper" either removes the tailgate or requires the tailgate to be folded down. It almost always has some amenities like a sink, stove, bed:



I never hear "Canopy" here but it makes me think of a soft sun/weather barrier:

[larrybuck]

Your dune buggy drawing is awesome. Of course that looks like a jet fighter canopy to me, further playing on the words. Thank you Drifter for all of your input. I had the feeling the raised section would harm the mpg a little bit. I once had a 1992 Dodge Dakota that I used on the job for Courier work. The flat top shell definitely helped with the mpg. During the warmer part of the year I was able to get up to 37 miles per gallon with the 4 cylinder five-speed manual Dakota which most people didn't even know that it existed in four-cylinder form. I struggle putting pictures on here that aren't ones I've taken of my own but I will try to work on improving that. On further reflection on the subject of a super Aerocap, mostly for style points, it would be easy to picture a Fastback version. Think of a 63 split window Corvette, with hinges on top and you open each half the way that you want to. This is exactly the setup for engine access to the Detomaso Mangusta. Maybe not too practical but more of a show vehicle.

[freebeard]

By 2014, I was doing 3D modeling.



I didn't have an aerodynamic truck to put it on, and it wasn't fitted to the cab, but it was sort of a bulked up aerocap.

I had a friend who in the 1970s built an egg-shaped camper [with cab-over bunk] on a custom flatbed with curved sides. Last I'd heard it went to ground somewhere beside Beaver Creek in the Coast Range.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by larrybuck

Growing up mostly in the Pacific northwest, a canopy was what we called the shell placed on the back of the pickup truck bed of which the top was usually somewhat flush with the top of the cab.

Meanwhile in South Africa, any enclosure to the loading bay of a pick-up truck is refered to as a canopy. I didn't know the same description was used elsewhere.

[JSH]

Where I grew up in Michigan any sort of cap on a truck was called a topper unless it had living quarters and then it was a truck camper.

Regional names are interesting. Again in Michigan any sort of carbonated soft drink was a "pop" My wife did a summer internship in Northern New York and it was a "soda". When we moved to Tennessee any sort of soft drink was a "Coke" I learned this when we ordered Diet Pepsi at a restaurant and the waitress said "OK, two Cokes". I said, no ma'am we would like Diet Pepsi. She looked at me odd and said "yes, two Cokes". I said, again, no ma'am we would like Diet Pepsi not Coke. The waitress looked at me like I was a bit slow and said "YES, two Diet Pepsi Cokes" and turned and walked away. My wife and I just looked at each other and said "Diet Pepsi Coke"?

I learned another fun local saying when someone at work announced to the whole office "LOOK, the devil is beating his wife"! I said "what" and the guy said - Look outside - the devil is beating his wife". Which I came to find out means it is raining while the sun is shining.

Then there was mightcould and ustacould. Tore up instead of broken

[freebeard]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_names_for_the_Volkswagen_Type_1

In rounded numbers about 80 entries on this list; from Bintus in Nigeria to Banju Maqlub (literally, a bathtub turned upside down) in Malta.