What was the first car to NOT have a manual transmission as an option?

[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

I stopped at a friend's place where he was prepping the ground for concrete.
He borrowed a large ground tamping machine that the owner brought in a brand new Ford F150, that he had in his possession for four hours.
On the way there The machine slid around in the bed and poked two holes in the aircraft- quality aluminum truck box. The stuff must be as thick as an aluminum pie plate.

Actually I was referring to 4X4s of any vintage, but yeah, those aluminum boxes are just a bad idea. Government mandates have already wiped out cars, soon enough pickup trucks will be gone. Perhaps they should just force all automakers to go with Flintstone power and be done with it.

Originally Posted by Sandy G

My Dad got his pickup bed coated w/this stuff that was rubbery, you couldn't damage it hardly at all, it would outlast the vehicle, made it quieter, & was difficult to cut even w/a sharp knife. The 2nd year they had it out, you could get it in any color you wanter-it was nominally black. As expensive as vehicles are now, looks like this stuff could at least be offered as an option...

Spray-on bed liner, I've seen the stuff on the Canadian Tire site. I think it's also offered as a brush-on application.