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

[Sandy G]

Yeah, Jon, back then-20 yrs back, it must have been offered only as professionally installed. Seems like, they took my dad's truck, cleaned the hell outta the bed, let it sit a day or 2 to dry good, sprayed it w/that stuff, & we got it a day or 2 later. It kinda looked like a "Spackled" ceiling finish., & it would "Give" a little when you walked on it, but it WASN'T slick when wet. Kinda expensive-IIRC, it set Henry, my dad, back about $400., which was likely you didn't see many pickemups w/them. They'd rather buy el-cheapo bedliners which always cracked, broke, or rusted the beds out quicker than if you just left the beds bare. At least, that's what happened down here, the bedliners would sweat, & stay wet, & often NASTY underneath.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

Yeah, Jon, back then-20 yrs back, it must have been offered only as professionally installed. Seems like, they took my dad's truck, cleaned the hell outta the bed, let it sit a day or 2 to dry good, sprayed it w/that stuff, & we got it a day or 2 later. It kinda looked like a "Spackled" ceiling finish., & it would "Give" a little when you walked on it, but it WASN'T slick when wet. Kinda expensive-IIRC, it set Henry, my dad, back about $400., which was likely you didn't see many pickemups w/them. They'd rather buy el-cheapo bedliners which always cracked, broke, or rusted the beds out quicker than if you just left the beds bare. At least, that's what happened down here, the bedliners would sweat, & stay wet, & often NASTY underneath.

When I bought my 2000 Dodge Dakota new, I opted for the spray-on bed liner. The 1991 Dakota I bought used had a plastic liner common at the time.
When the truck was empty, I bounced in the bed, even though it was bolted down in a few locations. I had ribs running the long way, where items would slide around when braking or accelerating.