bondo007

Ford could get a 6+ mpg fuel efficiency increase right now by clamping one of these over the open truck bed. The girl I built this black beauty for, she has a 2011 F150 Ecoboost, got 28.91 mpg hwy on trip from Arkansas to Florida this August.

Worked at Concept Center California back in 1986 (under contract with Ford) as a clay modeler when we sculpted the first full size clay model for the 1992 Econoline Van. We did it the old fashioned way, no computers, no Taurus mills. That body has been produced as the Econoline van now for 20 years, 1992 - 2012 (except for a facelift a few years back) . Going to hate to see it go.

bondo007, on 29 November 2011 - 08:20 PM, said: My 2009 F150 with the 4.6 liter 3 valve V8 and a six speed transmission gets 19 mpg combined and 24 to 25 mpg highway. I can go up to 650 miles on one 26 gallon tank of gas. Fact. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GT- Keith wrote: If you beat EPA in your truck, then it stands to reason that you will beat EPA numbers in a truck that's already rated higher than your own. People's rationale with regards to EPA are laughable... You can beat EPA in your vehicle but others can't beat EPA... Laughable at best. Also, I'm pretty sure your F-150 only has 3.15s. Only thing you're pulling are jetskis And stop using personal anecdotes to debate. If your argument requires no evidence then it can be refuted with no evidence. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GT-Keith, No personnal anecdotes. All I have to bolster the argument you feel I must pursue to prove the mileage figures claimed are Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) computer simulations, wind tunnel testing in a full scale tunnel and three years of over the road fuel usage figures. It is all about aerodynamics. EPA rates my truck at 17 mpg combined and 20 mpg highway. Through superior aerodynamics, my truck now gets 19 mpg combined and 24 to 25 mpg highway. Oh, 3.31 regular axle with trailer tow package. I don't own a jet ski. Do me a favor tomorrow, drive your Honda Accord to your nearest Ford dealership and trade it in on a Ford product. Bondo007

My 2009 F150 with the 4.6 liter 3 valve V8 and a six speed transmission gets 19 mpg combined and 24 to 25 mpg highway. I can go up to 650 miles on one 26 gallon tank of gas. Fact.

Photograped on the ground in the hills of Arkansas. 25 miles per gallon at freeway speed. 650 mile range on one 26 gallon tank. Ecoboost can't touch it in fuel efficiency.

That is a good distance on one tank of gas, 756 miles. If my 2009 F150 with a 4.6 liter 3 valve engine, six speed tranmission with a 3.31 ratio regular axle had a 36 gallon tank, it could go 900 miles on one tank of gas. You better have one of these on board ............ http://sportys.com/PilotShop/product/13087 Bondo007

By far the best thing is that the UAW owns zero percent of Ford Motor Company unlike the 65% of Chrysler and the 17.5% of GM the UAW now owns. I will now buy Ford products only.

Read in the business section of the local paper here Friday, New Years Day, that the big three are still betting on domestic pickup truck sales to add their profits in 2010. I especially like that the article also stated that the foriegn manufacturers, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, try as they might, had not made great inroads into this domestic market. Buy a pickup this year and buy American. And, as we all know, Ford is the only way to go!

Already driving it. 2009 Ford F-150 XLT 4.6 3-valve V-8, six speed transmission, Aerolid. Of the many F-150's I have owned, this one is the most impressive, both in Design and Engineering. Getting 18 - 18.5 combined mpg and 24 highway mpg.

Thanks for the kind words. I have been in auto design and related transportation industries as a clay modeler for about 25 years now. I would like to have more of a design involvement for aerodynamics has always facinated me. I can only guess at a drag coefficient (Cd) of about .18 for the model. I'm hoping the narrowing of the body at the rear along with the funneling of the airflow along the sides of the car will reduce the low pressure area which forms at the rear of the vehicle while in motion. It would be an electric front wheel drive. If you know someone who would like to do a CFD (computational fluid dynamic) simulation of the model that would be great! I would be glad to provide the model for scanning. Thanks, Brett

Didn't consider it rude at all rmc523. It did make me think about how it could be construed as a joke. It was fun doing the scale model. Keep me occupied while there was no work. Work is coming back now, none too soon. Hope the economy turns around for everyone, especially all my friends I've worked with in the past from Michigan.

Your right srytran. The rear wheels and suspension need more jounce area. I took some measurements and there is enough h-point (hip) clearance for two persons to sit in the back seat. The car nose does need to be lowered and blended. Good calls. I just like to design cars for fun. However, always design them as if they could actually be built. The one in the photos below is definitely a two seater.

I just thought it would be cool to bring back the old Falcon namebrand to North America. When I was sculpting the car, the side intakes reminded me of wings, hence the choice of Falcon. I always wanted to design cars and, as you can see, I am not a professional at it. Automotive design is tricky business. There are several things I would like to change about the design of this car which would help on the aesthetic. Aesthetic aerodynamics is definitely a challenge.

This vehicle is a concept for an elecrtic drive car. It is about the size of a Toyota Prius in full scale. The model is 1/5 scale. Low aerodynamic drag is the goal, especially at the rear of the car. You will lose some cargo volume, but you should lose a large potion of the low pressure area behind the vehicle while in motion, which is a real drag. Guesstimated Cd= 0.18 Got my new 2009 F-150 on July 17. Just broke the engine in yesterday. What a damn fine truck! Will have an Aerolid on it soon. www.aerolid.com

That we have a solid roster of capable Engineers in this country and the manufacturing depth to compete globally, is as important to our future as a nation as when this post card was printed.

Amen.

First time Ford will be offering a new full size "van" type vehicle since 1992. The 1992 Econoline van was designed in 1986 at Concept Center California. As a young clay modeler there at that time, I got the rocker panels, 23 years ago, wow! That Econoline Van has made Ford alot of money! I hope this newest offer is just as profitable. I my opinion, Ford now represents the future of America, as a fiercely independant company that doesn't need Government money to survive. Ford's survival will be through hard work, a tried and true methodology. With Mr. Mulally keeping an eye on things, the future looks bright for Ford. Bondo

I find Mr. Mulally to be inspirational. He uses the term "laser focus". I am personnaly trying to employ this concept into my daily endeavours for my New Year resolution. In 1941 our country was attacked by another country. Peace within our land was shattered.( I am not Japan bashing, just using history as an example.) The American people focused on the job at hand, the keep the American flag flying overhead. The American Pilots of the Grumman Hellcats laser focused on the Japanese Zeros as they engaged them in dogfights in the Pacific. The G.I. in the Battle of the Bulge laser focused him aim on his adversary. They knew their actions were a matter of life and death. Now our country stands at a crossroad in our History. We can, as I have done too much, sit around and complain and blame others for the problems our country now faces. Fact is we are all in this together as Americans regardless of whom is to blame. Individually we should commit to become focused in this year 2009, as our fellow countrymen and women did in the turmoilous years of WWII. We should "laser focus" on working hard and in harmony with our fellow countrymen so through our actions we will keep the United States of America the great country we love. We must do this to insure what the "Greatest Generation" has done for us was not in vain.

"Creative destruction". What we need is "creative construction". The real estate boom was just the latest in a series of "financial vehicles" which were driven into the ditch. Savings and loan scandal, dot com stocks, (remember pump and dump), which were all bubble markets that popped! The problem with the latest real estate bubble burst is that the vehicle was a bus and all the taxpayers of the United States are along for the ride. It was all due to high risk mortgages being bundled into neat little packages and sold off to foriegn banks and other buyers for commissions. These neat lttle bundles were insured by unregulated credit default swaps to reduce the risk. When the whole thing started to collapse this fall our Legislators in Washington were told by Paulson that if they didn't come up with 700 billion to bail out the banks and investment houses, like Merrill Lynch, there would be a collapse in the banking system and Martial Law may have to be declared. "Too big to fail" was the buzz term used. Congress took the bait and now, we the taxpayers, are stuck with the bill. We, the people, are paying for the risk taken, by the Wall Street geniuses and their algorithmic mathematics, in the subprime mortgage driven real estate bubble which just blew up! It is theft, pure and simple. It is definitely "creative destruction". It is true, however, that nothing was created and the future of available credit in this country for small business and such has been destroyed. On the other hand, "creative construction" is something like manufacturing, like building an automobile! There is no speculative hand switching of billions in Capital, there is only the production of a durable good which fills a need. I have been somewhat harse to the men and women who build the domestic automobile here in the United States. No MORE! I now turn my glare on the Wall Street gang who fly over head in their Gulfstreams and Falcon Jets toasting single malt Scotch to one another on how smart they have been in pulling off the largest theft of taxpayer money in history! Cheers! What an irony it is that the heads of the Big 3 were chastised by Congress for flying to Washington in their corporate jets.

Henry Ford came first. Happy New year!

It is not a question of how much a UAW member is paid. The point of contention is do they earn what they make. The link to the video I posted yesterday shows UAW members definitely caught drinking at bars when they should be at work earning the money they fell they deserve. I have no problem with people who go to work and put in a diligent 8 hours and earn what they make. What I grow tired of is seeing this kind of behavior from grown men, leaving work to go drink at a bar, while they are on the clock. The bigger problem is that they will not be fired! I work in transportation design and I have seen several people fired on the spot for drinking alcohol on the work premises or returning to work after ingesting alcohol. Unfortunatly, the UAW members in the video are protected by their fellow members and UAW management. For far too long the UAW has acted like a spoiled child and got by with way too much. All I ask is that the UAW members ask themselves, do I work a full day and earn my paycheck, or did I get to the man today and get paid for working at getting out of work. I have seen the latter so many times and I have been in the auto business, in design, since 1982. I hope those guys in the video get some help. The whole undercover report was caused by a concerned wife calling a local TV station because she was afraid her husband my get hurt going back to work drunk! That is dangerous and shows a blazen lack of respect for those in the workplace. All I ask is that you the UAW members look in the mirror and ask yourself, did I work a diligent 8 hours today? Did I perform to the best of my ability? Did I earn the money I was paid today? If you can honestly answer yes to these three questions, then you are not fooling yourself. For you see, you are not fooling any of us.

Hopefully the boys won't have to give this up. http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/102352...ex.html?taf=det

I applaud Alan Mulally. The one thing Bill Ford did right was bring him on board. It was wise to bring a CEO on board who was not in the automobile industry. Alan Mulally is an Aeronautical Engineer with Business dergees too. A very formidable combination and earned by hard work. That is Mr. Mulally greatest atribute, he isn't lazy, he is a worker. All Ford employees should look to the future in a positive light with Alan Mullaly at the helm of the company.

Yessir, First test market will be this Spring. I need some sales figures to plan on. If all goes well, we will be doing the clay for the new 2009 F-150 this summer and have it available when the 2009 model goes on sale this fall.

No offense taken rmc523. The looks of it do take some getting used to. It is more functional than aesthetic. I think Captainp4 is talking about the conventional camper shell with the hatch in the back. This large area of the hatch plus the tailgate ending abruptly at the rear of the truck creates poor aerodynamics. Driving with a conventional camper shell or cap on your pickup is worse for fuel efficiency than driving around with nothing covering the bed of the truck at all. The aerodynamic truck cap I have developed targets those who like camper shells to camp in or haul cargo. The aerodynamic cap allows them the utilitarian aspects of the camper shell while providing superior aerodynamics, while driven in the fast back position. The aerodynamic cap is an aftermarket product which will increase the fuel efficiency of any pickup truck. I worked as a clay modeler in the Ford California studio in Valencia back in the 1980's. I learned the old ways of clay modeling before the age of the 5-axis mill. We did the 1992 Econoline Van back in 1986, 22 years ago. That body is still produced for 2008 with the exception of the new grille work. My resolve to get the aero cap to market is bolstered by knowing our country has to reduce the reliance we have on foriegn oil supplies. The survival of Ford Motor Company is also crucial to our country. I have an old postcard with a picture of a B-24 bomber on one side and the Ford logo on the other side. We have to stop losing manufacturing jobs in this country or , I feel, our national security will be compromised. By building these aerodynamic caps, which reduce fuel consumption and create manufacturing jobs in the process, I hope I am contributing to the cause.