A round up of brief pickup, SUV and automotive news items of note from the week ending April 3, 2026. Florida Man Mounts Missiles On Truck.
We see a lot of news stories cross our desks in the course of a week. Not all of them are big enough to warrant a full writeup by your tireless Pickup Truck+SUV Talk staff, so we’re bringing you this weekly round up of all the little stories we thought you might want to know about.
Florida Man Busted for Truck Mounted Missiles
Look, open carry is one thing, but even in Florida, there are limits! For example, no matter how annoying the Canadian geese are during migrations, you can’t take them out with anti-aircraft missiles (presumably your neighbor’s drone is similarly not a legit target) — in part because the missiles themselves aren’t super legal to possess! But hey, why would that stop Florida Man? Spoiler: it did not stop him — he was busted recently by the Florida Highway Patrol for driving around with an anti-aircraft defense system mounted on his Ford Maverick. (Okay, got to give the man credit for the sly Top Gun reference!)
GM Plant Working Overtime to Meet Demand
A nice bit of economic news for a change! Demand is high enough for select GM pickup trucks that they are kicking off an extra day of shift work in their Flint, Michigan plant. The plant, which produces the produces the 2500 and 3500 versions of Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, employs about 4,200 people and while there aren’t any new jobs being added, existing employees will stack their wallets with some fat overtime pay while trying to make sure you good folks don’t have to wait three extra weeks to get your new Silverado.
Ford’s Fire Woes Demand Extended Hours
Speaking of extra shifts and production demands, Ford is doing its level best to stay abreast of F-150 production by adding shifts, skipping downtime, and more. The issue in this case is less “unexpected demand” and more “aluminum fire set them way back,” and they’ve been trying to make up the lost ground ever since. So if you’re frustrated at the wait for your new truck, at least you know they’re trying!
The Story of Tacoma’s Name Revealed
You ever wonder how one of the most popular trucks on the market came to be named after a backwater city in the Pacific Northwest? Well, the local NBC affiliate up there wondered, and they did a fun piece on the history of the Tacoma name. Apparently a dozen names or more were considered before settling on the catchy moniker, but none were mentioned — what do you think the alternates might have been?
