7Mary3

Kind of sad, the current Explorer is one of the 'last man standing' real mid-sized SUV's with some towing and off-road capability. It looks like it will become a 'tall car' crossover, yet another me-too offering in an overcrowded market. Oh well, can't argue the sales figures, if that is what the public wants to buy (this month) I guess Ford should make it available.

At least it is not just Ford, all light truck manufacturers will be charging at least that for a diesel engine option. And, that price is likely to go up in the future. I think Ford and GM are wise for developing diesel alternatives.

Let's see how the Mexicans do!

Simply playing the devil's advocate, throwing out hypotheticals. I have not been anywhere near an automotive stock in 10 years, and even then it was only through a mutual fund. Most of my investing has been in Southern California real estate, public utilities and energy companies. Been very successful. Will be looking at precious metals if the government keeps printing monopoly money.......

I am looking at the situation from an investor's standpoint. Starting to wonder if F will ever pay a dividend again. In the long run, significant dilution could affect Ford's ability to raise more capital. Not saying that is a factor now.

Dilution.

I don't want to see anymore debt to equity swaps. I think Ford has done a great job of managing the crisis, but I also think Ford's successes have been hyped up by the media. I don't think bankruptcy is on the horizon but there is still much work to be done.

Hardly a misstep on Mulally's part. Remember, these are low margin low bid fleet sales, and unlike rental car fleets by the time these cars are resold they will be at least 5 years old and beat up. I say little to no effect on Taurus resale values. The way some talk around here you would think police cars account for 3/4's of Ford's revenue.

That dog won't hunt! Only way this Taurus Police 'Interceptor' will be a success is if there is not an RWD alternative, period. Busts me up how some around changed their tune when they found out Ford was going to replace the Crown Vic with a Taurus. Like that was a surprise.

TWICE the squad ANY black and white Ford EVER was: http://www.allcarcentral.com/Dodge/Dodge_Polara_CHP_1971_cruiser_Rick_Feibusch_2009.jpg AND IT WAS A UNIT BODY CAR!!! Enough of the BOF garbage.

My guess is a @7L Boss, particularly if GM does introduce a 7L gas engine. Direct injection is also a possibility I think. I don't see a need for a 3 valve head. The 3 valve head was used on the Triton to overcome valve shrouding, caused by the engine's small bore. The 'Boss' bore is plenty large enough to accommodate big valves with no shrouding issues. The rumored GM 7L truck engine may not be an LS.

That's what the man said. I imagine it has been substantially modified. The TerraStar will be manufactured in Garland Texas at the old Marmon plant.

International debuted the TerraStar on the NTEA Work Truck Show in St. Louis on Monday. The truck is world class ugly, and it remains to be seen if the MaxxForce 7 (redesigned 6.4L Powerstroke) will be any good. Interestingly, the truck's chassis is based on that of the defunct Ford LCF. With International's strong dealer network, the TerraStar should be a contender if it is a halfway decent truck.

O.K., I have worked for municipal fleets in the past, and have a lot of family members in law enforcement. I know something about how law enforcement vehicles are procured, and what goes into the purchasing decisions. The 'great' FWD/RWD debate does indeed rage on, but so far no one posting here has hit on the REAL problem. It is not, in most cases, durability, or even performance. In fact, for many years the 3.8L Impala was actually marginally faster than the Crown Vic and did better in some department's handling tests. The issue is driver (officer) training. FWD and RWD cars handle differently in extreme situations, and no department wants their officers to have to stop and consider what kind of squad they are driving halfway through a high speed pursuit. That's the biggest reason FWD cars have not caught on, though they have been used with success in some north eastern metropolitan areas where inclement weather is a factor. My prediction is Ford will become a minor player in law enforcement if the next Police Interceptor is indeed based on the Taurus and Dodge continues with the police Charger and Chevy offers up the Caprice. That will be 2 RWD squads against one FWD squad. A Taurus (or other FWD) squad would have a chance should the Charger go away and the Caprice not come out. Forget about Carbon. That car is just too expensive, and it remains to be seen if Carbon Motors will even make a profit at $60,000. They have some interesting technology, but it will be very hard for any department to justify spending that much taxpayer money on just one car! If you know about municipal fleets, you might be inclined to bring up BMW motorcycles or Crown fire apparatus to support the arguement for an expensive specialized vehicle like the Carbon squad, but those situations were somewhat different. Now, if Carbon were to LEASE those expensive cars.......

Unfortunately, there is about a '0' chance Louisville will ever produce a medium or heavy truck again. If Ford were to produce a class 6 or 7 'in house' again, I would expect it to be produced in Mexico.

No, I can't. Funny thing is International dealers will also have the MAN engines for sale, and I wonder which diesel the dealers will be pushing. The Maxxforce 15 (Cat C-15) will have 'advanced EGR technology', which I hope for International dealer's sake isn't ACCERT!

The latest issue of 'Heavy Duty Trucking' has an interesting article about Navistar's expansion plans. Most has been reported before, like the joint engine venture with Caterpillar, Manhindra, and a new class 8 LCF for the refuse industry. The article also outlined Navistar's successful partnerships. It was strange that nowhere was 'Blue Diamond' mentioned.

Thanks! Makes perfect sense.

Did I read the specifications right? Sounds like the F-450 has the highest towing rating (which would be expected), but the F-350 has a substantially higher payload. ???

New transmission?

No surprise, they have been talking about it for years. International was sort-of in class 5 about 10 years ago with a lo-pro version of the 4200, but it didn't go anywhere. It will be interesting to see what they will come up with. As for GM, they don't have anything in class 5 at the moment. The 3500HD's get an all-new chassis this summer (2011 model year) that will put them in class 4. GCWR on the pickups will be over 20,000#'s I am told. Rumor is there will be a larger class 5 at some point as well.

Whaddya talkin' about, they buy them all the time. Just not new ones, but 200,000 mile clapped out squads and taxi's.

I think it is mainly due to the Mazda not selling as well as planned. The Mustang will do better when the new engines are available. I suppose the Camaro might be a bit of a factor too. That thing is selling well, like it or not.

Yes, the H series was an 'over the road' cabover that Ford built from 1961 to early 1966. It was a compination of parts, basically an N series chassis with a modified C series cab mounted high to clear a big Cummins. Often called a 'Two Story Falcon', it may have been the worst class 8 truck ever built. Very crude, not reliable, and very rust prone. Few exist today, and the H series is a favorite topic over on the A.T.H.S. boards. Recently there was story about how the roofs would come loose on H series trucks with sleepers, giving he occupant a nice cold shower! Ford learned a lot from the H, and the W series that replaced the H was a much better truck. Oh, and neat feature on some of the old Page & Page suspensions: They had a cam on the spring hanger that was adjustable, and you could vary the weight distribution between the axles. Very handy for 'pusher' tandems, you could put 65% of the weight on the drive axle for better traction.

Huskiedrive! Yeah, I sort-of remember that. Before my time, I thought it basically was the same as Maxidyne but with a Cummins 'Custom Torque' engine. I knew Mack owned Brockway. Few Brock's made it out west, those that did seemed to have Continental gassers for the most part. Anyway, 2 speed axle control up on the roof would be stupid. Let's see you find that halfway up a steep hill as you are about to loose it. How about the Eaton 3 speed tandem?