That and a lot of travel and stock trailers have gotten heavier. Seen some of the new horse trailers?
I don't think the 78 Caprice would like pulling a 10k# travel trailer.
http://www.coachmenrv.com/products/catalina.aspx?page=floorplandetails&floorplanid=5323
Mmm, some of each ... travel trailers are built lighter/stronger than they used to be, but in general have gotten bigger to make up the difference. I used to have a Holiday 22' and that thing was
heavy It had genuine birch paneling inside with cabinets made out of real wood - beautiful
. I pulled it with a K-20 and just a ball on the bumper but it was intended to be pulled with a large car with Reese hitch. Other than the rear springs, cars were as heavy as pickups and often had much bigger engines.
Yeah, and some of those new horse trailers need to be pulled with a real truck, not even just a pickup