7Mary3

Gorgeous restoration!

Since Ford Pro was created there has always been speculation it will eventually be spun off.

I depends who you ask. I don't think this one was the first either, but it's from 1917. Based on the standard U.S. Army ambulance of the first World War: https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/hf19/lots/r0067-1917-gmc-model-16-ton-express/

Have to ask how often Ford tech's actually buy Ford products?

In California, the only pre-2011 medium/heavy trucks you see outside of a truck show are GM Topkicks and Kodiaks and Ford F-Series with gas engines. But, have to admit, the air is a lot cleaner around here these days.

Keep in mind that most large fleets buy low bid, and beyond that there really isn't much 'loyalty' to any particular brand. Chrysler up into the 70's was very successful in fleet sales, in those years they sold everything from cars to class 8 diesels and were very aggressive with pricing and incentives. You saw a lot of Dodges, both cars and trucks, in fleets back then. It is also true that at one time Ford, GM, and Chrysler all sold cars and trucks up through class 8 and that was something of an advantage for fleets in that they only had to deal with one manufacturer and dealer network. However, those days are long past as commercial truck sales and service is so specialized customers for those vehicle want to deal with dedicated truck dealers, not car dealers that sell a few trucks on the side. I would have to disagree wih your point about DaimlerChrysler and Freightliner. I never once saw a combined Dodge Ram/Freightliner dealer, nor could you ever buy parts or get service for a Freightliner at a Dodge/Ram dealer, maybe unless it was one of those Sterling Bullitt trucks. The fact that Freightliner was part of DaimlerChrysler was invisible to the customers of either make. Ram truck sales dramatically improved during those years because their trucks got a lot more competitive, not because of the corporate tie with Freightliner! Also, did you realize that for many years Renault owned both AMC/Jeep and Mack Truck? I doubt that had any affect on Jeep sales. I have a little experience in railroading. GM used to build better than half of the diesel-electric locomotives in this country (probably the world too) and the parts for those locomotives often came in GM boxes. I always wanted to try ordering a locomotive part from a Chevy dealer just to see what would happen!

I would like to see Ford be successful in class 6 and 7, but if they were to leave that market I doubt it would have any effect on their class 1-5 truck sales. As I have said before, I work for one of the largest utility fleets in the western United States and we haven't bought a new F-650 in over 10 years, but we still buy plenty of class 2-5 Ford trucks.

If the shift linkage was tight and not worn excessively I think that would be the case, the transmission was not all the way in 'park'. I saw so many that were worn to the point when the lever was in park all the way the transmission valve body was not. I remember seeing an old Granada tearing through a parking lot in reverse with no one at the wheel. Luckily a Dodge truck stopped in cold! When I used to work on old Fords I would put a wheel chock behind the back wheel........

I was around for that one, and that was not always case. Ford had a notoriosly junky and wear-prone steering column shifter, sloppy linkage, and a weak detent spring in the transmission. They could fall out of 'park' from vibration with the engine idling, but true you shouldn't leave a vehicle idling unattended with the parking brake not set.

This. Other manufacturers saw this coming some time ago, don't know what took Ford so long to address the issue. Ford needs to adopt a system like GM's Global B. Global B did have some issues in the beginning with OTA updates killing batteries but they have that situation well in hand now, and within the next couple of years Global B will be rolled out across all vehicle lines.

For Ford, Otosan has been the partnership exception rather than the rule. If it wasn't for the Transit Ford would be long gone from Europe now, and without Otosan, there would be no Transit for Europe.

Yes, there was a VAL, a VIM, a VALE, who knows what it all stood for. Not sure to what extent they were related to the 555's, but they looked similar. The 555's had pretty much disappeared from the option lists of all the major truck manufacturers by the mid-70's, but Cummins brought the engine back with a turbo as the VT-225 in the late 70's. I think Ford passed on them but starting in 1980 GM offered the VT-225 in their medium duty conventionals for about 6 months. The engine really didn't fit in the GM truck and was so difficult to install it significantly slowed the assembly line down at Pontiac East every time one came down the line. Needless to say it was dropped from the option list but quick (replaced by the Cat 3208T I believe). Funny I saw a lot of Dodge short-nose conventionals with the 555 in them.

The small Cummins V-6 and V-8 were interesting engines, they started as a joint venture between Cummins' British subsidiary and Chrysler of Europe. Chrysler used the engines in their British and Australian trucks, eventually offering the small V-8 in some of their medium duty U.S. trucks. One of the largest users of the V-6 was Ford, as it was one of the first diesels available in the F series in the mid-60's. https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/31209-when-the-dodge-boys-sold-trucks-down-under/

Ford Otosan is small compared to Daimler Truck, Volvo, Traton, and Iveco.