I grew up with my father towing a 22' boat weighing about 6,000lbs behind a 1969 Newport. We pulled that boat about 60,000 miles altogether with that car and the only trouble we had was with the rear axle bearings. At the time it out pulled most pickups, especially on the boat ramps where an empty pickup just couldn't get any traction. Many times we watched people with pickups fail to pull a boat half the size of ours up a ramp then gather to watch a car pull a much larger boat. They sure were disappointed when the rig worked beautifully and never spun a tire. They just didn't understand that we not only had much more weight on the rear axle but the automatic transmission with a low geared rear end and positrac made a world of difference. Yes, the car was ordered with all of the trailer tow options and it was great at what it did. We did also use a load distribution hitch. Really, a new half ton is pretty much the same thing functionally, a full size 6 passenger cab with a large trunk in back (if you have a tonneau).
