Why a pickup?

Grit dog wrote:
Really, what was considered good enough to tow _______back in the day now suffers from a bunch of internet experts that never really worked vehciles to their breaking points and now have a wealth of knowledge and specifications and opinions at their fingertips to either tout or gripe about.

The Long, Long Trailer (~36 ft, ~6000 lbs) was towed by a 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible with a 125 HP flathead V8 engine, except over the mountains, where they used a 205 HP Lincoln. Fortunately, there was no Internet, and no self-righteous weight and speed police, at the time.