stapboy

maybe they Crammed a HEMI into it...?

if it was a "new" TC it would have had Michigan Manufacturer Plates... The TC, as stated... is INTENDED to come to STAP, always has been just an idea Our Maint folk up front have to put together the costs of how much it will be to impliment the TC and Dearborn will make the decision from there. (it will not be as cheap as everyone thinks) if the TC doesn't come to STAP its going to the Graveyard, it just may cost too much $$ to bring it here

Months ago one of the Tool and Die folk in the Blue Buck was tasked to see if that engine WOULD fit into our vehicle without modification. My guess is that the Engine WAS to be test-Fit into one of our PI's after our Tool and Die brother made his determination Wether or not it fit? I am not privy to such information (one of our PVT Engineer's told me that the 3V was being shelved so one of the reasons could have been that it didn't fit, only speculation but I figure if it doesn't fit Ford didn't want to invest more $$ in the Sheet metal)

well.. Ok the CV is Mechanically reliable (or at least it was before Rack & Peanut steering in 2003) Electrical problems are due to harnesses from Delphi that I like to hope they've fixed by now (the main ones I've heard of) And you hit a Point dead on when you say Any Part fits any Car no matter the age, and this is I think a big reason why Ford HASN'T done all that much. You take out a CVPI and need to replace some body panels? Easy enough to find... They can use the ones they've been stockpiling for 10 years and don't have to worry about having 3 sets of everything for the 3 different Models of Police Car. Ford has SOME sort of clue when it comes to building the Police cars... I think they've done a lot of number crunching and studies on it... Yes, Cops want a bigger faster engine but... do the people who pay the bills want to pay for it? (I don't know the answer to this question) I'd also be interested in seeing just what the percentage of HEMI's are being sold as Police Cars

jeez if we'd known you were putting Flowmasters etc.. in we could have taken care of that for you BEFORE the Body got dropped onto the frame or maybe even found an old set of Marauder Pipes I'm glad our boys took care of you, I would have loved to do something special for it but, I'm in the Trades so alls I could do was make sure none of our fixtures ripped it apart Post Pics soon! (maybe an Audio Clip too)

the 4.6 3V was going in and was Chopped out just as our PVT team was gearing up to figure out how to fit it into things (subject to change, of course) they'd even gotten to the point where they shipped at 4.6 3V to the plant to transplant it into the car to see if they would have to redesign the hood (Maybe it didn't fit and thats why it was chopped) Ford does listen to their lil Police Buddies, one of the few customers they do care about it seems. Its been tough love, what with the Explosion lawsuits, and Ford telling cops "If you are going to sue us for our Police cars then you can't have 'em" (which, I must say was lil Willie Ford Jr's BEST move ever) Ford cannot afford to lose the PI, In My opinion they are better for Brand Recognition than any other vehicle (F-150 included) EVERYONE thinks Cop, Ford Crown Vic, indestructable car. Impala? POS Squeally tiny Cop-Car reproduction.... Charger? Looks Good! HEMI... thats about all the Charger has going for it. The Charger is selling to Cop markets simply because its Not the Crown Vic, its something new and it doesn't have any bad press (Yet) The same way the Impala Cop Car sold so well, at first...

They Can't be doing THAT bad... hehe all kidding aside... there was a time not too long ago when things were under control, people would bring out the TV's for watching the Playoffs or whatever, Everyone was happy and quality didn't suffer Now everyone has TV's linked up to DVD players with Pirated DVD's with Linked Cordless Headphones and playstations The younger crowd have taken the TV thing and run with it to the point where Quality IS becoming an Issue... The First of the Cable cuts were to the Tranny Deckers because the WARRANTY guy from Dearborn wondered why there were so many Tranny warranty issues, he apparently came to investigate and saw just why things were as they were (how true this is I don't know, but its what my Boss told me, and he's the one who tells us to Cut da Cable) Nothing wrong with having a TV and doing your job (Just like the old days where there was nothing wrong with being drunk and stoned out of your mind as long as the cars were being built) a Happy worker is a Busy worker...

The Real Kick in the Nuts is that those Convoy's of Chargers drive right by the plant and park next-door at the truck-stop so the driver can get a bite to eat... BUT... the saving grace is that yes, Charger is pretty and has potential HEMI but... nothing beats the Crown-Vic for reliability, comfort and space. Sure Cops want to look good but when you're on your ass for an 8 hours shift? Whats your preference? I'll take a Ugly (well... lets say not wholly attractive) Woman who can like a Mynx rather than a Gorgeous creature who just can't ... OK bad analogy

I know I'm veering off topic here from where the thread was heading but... Quality means nothing these days in a Plant. GM's Oshawa plants in Ontario were JD Power #1 and #2, it was announced that Plant #2 (can't remember if it was JD #1 or 2) was axed when GM's lil axing took place. I think they're safe now (don't quote me) but it just shows, In this Industry quality means Nuffin' (or rather, in the formerly known as "Big 3" 's eyes)

STAP is down from the 30th of October and won't start back up until the 20th of November No word on whats happening in December (of course we're down right now for 2 weeks so that could all have changed)

Power Drops and Cable is only cut from those areas who send an ass-load of repairs "The Man" is watching (either that or there's some people out there who got pissed off who shouldn't have been)

I'm getting a little tired of hearing the whining about UAW Ford workers not getting the same buyout as the UAW GM Workers. Same union? Yes.... Same Company? NO You work for Ford, not GM. Maybe GM can afford $140K... perhaps being the worlds #1 Automaker puts more cash in their wallet. We're #3. Do the Math. Ford is going to cut those Jobs no matter what, and they'd be tickled pink if no one takes the buyouts... why? Then they can lay people off 20 years before they can collect their pension... I'm sure Ford is DREADing having to do that (now I have to admit I know nothing about the GEN so I could be wrong on this account) You are also getting a buyout EVEN IF YOUR PLANT IS NOT CLOSING. If you don't want to take the buyout? Don't take the buyout. Think you can find something better to do with your life than slap parts on a car 500 times a day? Take the buyout, take a cruise, pay off your mortgage finish school (or start) get a new job and move on. Ford is NOT your life. Ford is not your Mother, Ford Owes you NOTHING but the paycheque they've been giving you for the past X number of years. At least you GET a buyout... What do I get next year when STAP loses a shift? A Year of SUB and unemployment.

oh yeah... I'm a day ahead of myself I still stand with my ... 15 minutes from now leak Tommorrow is just Donut and Coffee day

which means it'll be leaked in about 30 minutes

Also missing the fact STAP is situated on 635 acres... 120 miles(ish) from Detroit and sitting on a Major Rail Corridor (St.Thomas is considered the Rail Capitol of the NA or Canada... though thats more of a "Good Old Days" kinda thing) its also only 15 or so minutes from the Port of Port Stanley (One of the Magna Plants in the City recently brought in the World's Largest Ramp Press (Ram? World's? NA's? I never know)) through this port Which means? Land Doesn't matter, proximity to Detroit Doesn't matter, Age Doesn't matter (being one of the Newer Ford Plants), Heck Flexibility doesn't matter (Used to build the Escort and the CV at the same time and we havn't had a Major Re-tool since (being as they havn't really touched our car...) we're just as much on the chopping Block as anyone else... BUT... we do have a habit of building cars that blow-up on rear-end Collision

Ford is MORE than happy to Inform the press about things they are doing (D3 Refresh, Focus Refresh, new Diesel whatever) because those are all the things the Press is bitching about. Ford is keeping things shut up tight on other things (OR, they aren't doing anything, take your pic) My Father and Step-Mother (now retired) worked in Dearborn doing various things... This company of ours plans DECADES ahead of time. 2006 Police Interceptor was supposed to have brand new Sheet-Metal compared to the CV. The plans were drawn, I don't know if they got as far as full-scale mock-up but then Firestone happened. We still havn't recovered from that crap because Dearborn scambled after the Fumble and just hasn't gotten their hands back on those Reins. We all know these plans can/are canceled and nothing is set in stone until the 20th car goes off the line. I KNOW our Paycheque signers have plans for our vehicle... its just a matter of which one they choose... Oh, and yes, we at Stap are suckers for Rumours. We've all heard from a Friend's father who works as a Janitor at a Supplier that we are going overtime next week

They killed the Taurus because most of them were sold to rental fleetsl. That kills resale. They want to kill our car because its a Police/Cab that kills resale even worse... worse is that (public opinion.. rather the Media's opinion) is that its a car that Blows up on Impact. Ford has a Habit of trying to kill off a car rather than just cancelling it. Mustang was supposed to be replaced by the Probe, how well did that turn out for them? Why else do you think the 500 was advertised as "More Trunk Room than the Crown Vic". I've heard (not so much anymore) they were going to have a Police Package for the 500, even a Hyrbid Police 500... now you tell me the 500 wasn't supposed to takeover where our car isn't selling and push it into oblivion... "I'm sorry STAP employee's, Your car doesn't sell well enough so are going to have to close the plant" Takes the blame off of them because "They" didn't kill the car, the people have spoken and we, the company listened to what our customers wanted. Time and time again, People are speaking and Ford doesn't like what it hears so it wastes resources trying to tell the public what they want. Cops want the Marauder Engine... where'd it go? Cops want the Mustang Engine... what happened to that? Marauder is Underpowered and overpriced.... (I don't want to argue this point I'm jsut going off of reviews)... Our car sells enough at this very second to run our plant 50%ish, that number isn't likley to rise without some effort by Dearborn to do something about it (its my Contention they want to kill the Crown-Vic but that doesn't mean they want to give up the Large Car Body on Frame RWD market), and by Us for doing something Crazy like showing up for work Fridays (er... Thursdays) and Mondays instead of staying home because the Cable was cut in your area or whatever Bullshit excuse they used.

We've been getting the Town-Car for what... 20 years now? 100% perfect sense to bring it here, only a few changes to body-shop and maybe a few extra Readers around the plant and we're good to go for a new vehicle. Yes we've more than paid off our Mortgage over the years but, companies don't make money by paying off Mortages... they make money by Mortaging, then Re-Mortgaging, then borrowing off of Equity in a Mortgage, selling their souls then Mortaging the Equity on the souls to Pay for something like... oh... making a Pinto or a Blackwood We're close to major highways, have Oodles of vacant land, pay almost nothing in Taxes... Plenty of Capacity in the Shit-Plant for a plant twice the size, most of the walls are still holding strong and the roof is still there. Ford couldn't get much money for the plant if they sold it (Which IS a bonus because selling Wixom or most other plants would net them a LOT more Cash than our land) In Closing? Ford has no idea what they're doing with STAP. 2 months after I was hired I was told we were doing a Line-Speed Reduction... that was 5 years ago. The car sells too well to cancel, they can't kill if off like they've been trying to for years. We make too many for it to supplement another plant, we don't make enough for full production... Yes it makes sense for them to do some changes so we can sell more, it makes sense to bring another model in (Ranger, TC, F-100, whatever the current rumours are) But honestly speaking? Ford has to worry about making NEW Cars to sell and they don't even have close to enough Man-Power (person-power, whatever) to do the proper redesign they need to just to keep us running 100%. We're on the Backburner, their Cash-Cow called STAP's Teets are running dry and we'll either get put to pasture or given an Extreme Makeover, Teet edition

Most of any money thats Going into the Crown Vic will not end up at the Plant, new Front and Rear end costs would be mainly design and such (ie making dies, improvements at all Parts plants the supply us etc...) Last big investment I know of was the new E-coat system installed in 2000, other than that there has been nothing major at all. Only things on the books for this shutdown that I know of are simply refurbishment or replacing, nothing new and exciting. TC won't come to STAP, CV won't go to Wixom (each respective plant has heard those rumours for 20 years)