Jeff Whittaker (asker) Nov 7, 2016:

Thanks @lorenab23 and Thanks @RobertCarter for those great suggestions.
@Juan Jacob: I thought about posting separately, but when I did a Google image search, they all looked similar and I wanted to make sure to get a different translation for each and not just "truck"

Charles Davis Nov 6, 2016:

Here's Norton doing the song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWQe1IGuuAc

Charles Davis Nov 6, 2016:

Wheels In US culture the number of wheels is often mentioned. I remember old country songs referring to "18 wheels", such as this one by the immortal harmonica virtuoso Snortin' Norton Buffalo, whom I once saw live with Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen:

"18 wheels spinnin' / The race is on and I'm winnin' / Rumblin' down that road / Haulin' that heavy load / And my eighteen wheels just keep on spinnin' / Round that Frisco Bay."

So one approach that would keep the specificity might be to call a rabón a "six-wheeler" and a tortón a "ten-wheeler".

Robert Carter Nov 6, 2016:

I agree with Lorena about not leaving them in Spanish. They definitely need translating. I also suggest the asker make three entries here. I would use "light truck" instead of "pickup truck", because a "camioneta" doesn't always mean a pickup. In Mexico it could be anything from a station wagon to an SUV, or from a pickup to a van or small truck. We seem to call everything that isn't a car or an heavy truck a "camioneta".

Juan Jacob Nov 6, 2016:

@lorenab23 Excelente explicación... eso es exactamente. Recomendaría que publicaras tu propuesta.

lorenab23 Nov 6, 2016:

camionetas etc. I would not leave them in Spanish
so, camioneta is a p/u truck 1.5 or 3.5 tons, and here is a pretty good explanation of the other 3:

rabon es el camion con dos ejes y 6 llantas estos tienen un arrastre de 12 ton motores de 195 210 170 hp etc y cajas con dual 7 o 9 vel
torton es el que tiene 3 ejes y 10 llantas
estos tienen un arrastre de haste 20 ton traen motores de 250 hp para arriba y velocidades de 10 en adelante
trailer se compone de tractor y caja ya sea de 40 a 53 pies de largo
estos cuentan con motores de 350 hp en adelante y 18 o 22 llantas segun el remolque
https://mx.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AwrSbl5ncB9...