So maybe we’re kidding just a bit. Nobody needs a Ram 4500 with a 16-foot pickup bed. Yet, here it is. We don’t know what the size of the drywall is that the owner needs this for but we’re guessing it is for a castle. Actually, the owner is a Sheikh. Sheikh Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan who, besides this truck, owns the largest collection of 4×4 vehicles in the world. That’s according to the Guinness Book of World Records. So are 16-foot pickup beds really the next big thing?

Nah, but it sure looks imposing. This started as a Ram 4500 with an eight-foot bed. Another eight has obviously been grafted to it. It resides at the United Arab Emirates’ Off-Road History Museum. This sucker rides on a 205-inch wheelbase. Power comes from a stock 6.7-liter Cummins diesel engine. Is this what they mean when they say “long hauler?” 

What does someone do with a pickup that features a 16-foot bed?

What does someone do with a pickup that features a 16-foot bed? They come to party with a good-old redneck hot tub. It’s pickup pool party time! If you’ve got to be in a pool then one connected to a truck is pretty darn cool. 

This isn’t the first Ram pickup that has been stretched. Back in 2012 Ram debuted the Long-Hauler concept. It started with a Mega Cab pickup with an eight-foot bed. An auxiliary fuel tank that conformed to the bed sides was sandwiched between the bed and cab. With a range of 1,700 miles, it could go across the country making only one stop for fuel along the way. 

Ram actually considered putting the Long-Hauler into production. But better sense intervened and a strong business case couldn’t be found. So the Long-Hauler remains a one-off concept.

There have been some stretched trucks like the Chevy C30 Longhorn

As for the Sheikh’s Ram pickup we see it advertising itself as the world’s longest pickup. We don’t know whether it is hyperbole or an actual Guinness Book of World Records record. Pickups over the decades have settled on eight feet of length for beds. There have been some stretched trucks like the Chevy C30 Longhorn. 

Chevy took regular eight-foot beds and spliced in an additional six-inch vertical section for an 8 1/2-foot floor. The wheelbases were extended to 133-inches, up from 127-inches. As these trucks have aged you can sometimes see the splice on rare survivors. With the tailgate down there are 10 ½ feet of load length. Chevy offered the Longhorn from 1968-1972. A total of 22,639 trucks were built.

Another lengthened truck were the Ford F-350 Camper Specials from 1973 to 1979. But the beds were not lengthened. Only the wheelbase was extended to 140-inches for more stable handling with a loaded camper plugged into the bed. It’s estimated that around 3,000-4,000 were built. Ford didn’t break out numbers for the Super Campers and Trailer Special 140-inch F-350s.