1995 Dodge Ram This ainÆt no sippinÆ truck By Tony Swan, New Car Test Drive .com

Does styling sell something as utilitarian as a full size pickup? You know your response to that question better than we do, but the short answer seems to be a resounding "yes."

By way of proof, consider the Dodge Ram pickup. For almost two decades, the Ram toiled along virtually unchanged - and unnoticed - behind the Ford F-Series and the GM C/K series trucks, a distant third in the sales race.

But the 1994 model year brought an all-new, knock-your-socks-off Ram to Dodge showrooms - bigger inside than its rivals from Ford and General Motors, with an exterior design that said truck in capital letters.

Reaction to the RamÆs bold styling was, and still is, polar. There are those who even employ the word ugly to describe its appearance. But there are just as many who seem to think that this is how pickup trucks ought to look - enough people, in fact, to swamp dealers with orders.

For Æ95, Dodge has added the Club Cab, an extended cab, to the mix, and now the Ram is in the thick of the fight for full-size pickup leadership. The only thing that might hold it back is the factoryÆs inability to meet the rising tide of demand.