To recall one of my earliest memories of what the words “truck” meant, I find myself reflecting on the heyday of 1980s and 1990s pickups. Hot Wheels and Matchbox got me started, Revelle and Monogram models carried me through the next decade, and then the real things became my dream as I entered teenage-dom.

One of those memories was of a 1990 Ford Bronco that carried the Chick kids (myself and my two sisters) around in the early ’90s. It was big and colored blue, with a white hardtop and the Eddie Bauer trim, if I recall correctly. It met its demise too early during one Michigan winter (no injuries to anyone, thank goodness), but for a long time and even to today, my fondness for that Bronco never went away.

Despite its plain face and underpowered V8, there was nothing about the SUV that I didn’t like. I’m still mulling the idea of owning one in the near future, and one of my chief reasons for this is its simplicity.

That’s because the Bronco of this era was, arguably, born in the right time for trucks. It was produced after the rough-and-tumble days of Jeeps and Land Cruisers, with their lack of air conditioning and automatic transmissions (for the most part). But it was also born before the high-tech, high-cost luxo-trucks of today, where everything from TPMS sensors to Traction Control can get in the way of pure enjoyment.

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First it was a Ford concept, then it was a prank, then it was a professional rendering. When will the hype end? Just give us a vehicle without all the electronic nonsense and we'll be happy.

But the sad part is that automakers no longer cater to the off-road market’s demands, at least to the degree they once did. Not even Jeep, the quintessential standby of four-wheelers the world over, could continue its trajectory of building off-road-capable vehicles from the factory. Not without the Chrysler (and later Fiat) higher-ups looking at the brand and thinking, “Let’s shoehorn a unibody, front-wheel-drive thing into the lineup and see what happens.”

Maybe I’m flying off the handle here, yakking about a couple hundred extra pounds of weight and electronic-related gremlins like they’re a poison to trucks and SUVs. These vehicles don’t just go off-road all the time; they go on-road for most of their lives, carrying couches for a move-in or simply cruising on a relaxing drive through the backroads. Change is good, and I know I’ll be one of the first in line when all-electric trucks show up from who-knows-where – Tesla? GM? Engineering school students?

But I guess this is what I’m trying to say: somewhere in the middle is where I think many of us off-roaders would like our vehicles to be. We want them to be comfortable, but not pampered; safe, but not smothered. We want our rigs to give us the ability to modify easily with linked suspensions, bigger tires, high visibility, and so on. At the same time, we want them to not throw up countless computer errors that have to be chased down and neutralized.

I wait with bated breath for how Ford’s next Bronco will look, sound, and drive. Until then, I’m going to keep on pretending that it will come with a loud V8, manually locking hubs, and enough suspension travel to rival a trophy truck. See you next time, folks.