SoonerLS

I thought the Lion had other issues that kept Ford from using it.

I don’t know about that—they have a Ford Performance catalog full of crate engines, including engines that they haven’t stuffed into a production vehicle in over 20 years. I’m guessing you’re talking about a usage of the term “crate engine” that’s peculiar to the Super Duty/mediums classes, but I was using it in the more common (IMHO) hot rodding parlance.

Damn lawyers, ruining everything...

I don't know how you'd do a removable roof on a trucklet like this, especially when it looks like the doors have frames around the windows, but it sure looks like there are cut lines at the tops of the A, C, and D pillars...

With all the "this mill was built around the duty cycle of mediums," I would've thought no, but with it going into hot rods before it even made it into a production Super Duty, I'm thinking the chances are better than average.

That's also what the chief engineer said at the unveiling of the engine.

I'm not sure what your point is. The Bronco Sport gave me an impression of Flex, but I'm with jpd--there's no Flex at all in the Bronco.

Most of this hysteria has bordered on comical (OMG! There's a virus that causes respiratory distress! Let's buy all the toilet paper!), but this part is downright tragic. I don't really care that much about the pro sports--they're grown-ups who can cry all the way to the bank--but these kids are, for the most part, just screwed. Especially those seniors whose careers are ending prematurely. Here's your first lesson in life, kid: life's hard and then you die. And it's not just the collegiate athletes--my brother's kids' soccer leagues canceled all of their games. I hope you enjoyed that one game you got to play, kid.

If the Broncos were sharing critical parts with vehicles that were setting the world on fire, it might, but at this point, they're probably not pulling enough parts out of the supply chain to make a difference. My guess is that these launches are high enough priority that they could probably pull the parts anyway. By the time they actually get to production, the "WuFlu" panic will likely be a memory that most people would just as soon forget...

No kidding. When I went to lunch on Thursday, even ESPN had wall-to-wall CoronaVirus coverage. Then again, with everyone losing their ever-lovin' minds over this and canceling the hell out of everything, what else is there to cover?

Whether anyone else sees it or not, the first thing I thought when I saw that picture of it in two-tone livery with the hood up was "Flex on stilts with a shortened caboose." If the hood were closed, or if it were colored differently, or if the photo was from a different angle, or if it were in the sheet metal instead of a picture, it might've been different, but if a frog had wings it wouldn't bump its butt. I couldn't tell you exactly why, and it's probably not fair to the vehicle, but that was the impression it made: Flex on stilts.

A joke, or a snide comment, based on your point of view. If this battery tech pans out, it makes Tesla's batteries obsolete.

Plus, there’s nowhere to put it under there. I guess you could jam it up over the rear axle and call it an auxiliary bump stop...

Not long after that event, I was test driving a Lightning. The salesman told me Ford was going to build a special edition all-white Bronco called the SEV--Simpson Escape Vehicle.

I wonder how that would play in conjunction with the F-53 Class A Motorhome and F-59 Commercial stripped chassis? "So, how come I can get a 7.3 gasser in the F-53, but not in the F-50?"

Same here. That rear quarter looks very much early Bronco to me. If all you look at is the upper rear corner of the roof, maybe that looks Jeep-y, but that’s just a minor part, IMHO.

I keep hearing that argument about names, but it doesn’t really make any sense to me. What they call a product that they don’t sell here doesn’t really have any impact on what they choose to call a product that they will sell here. If they do intend to make it a global product, it wouldn’t be the first time that Ford sold a vehicle with one name in the US and another elsewhere (*cough*Fusion*cough*Mondeo*cough*). Really, though, they ought to call this one Courier so they can save Ranchero for the next entry in the Mustang lineup...

Yeah, I’ll go along with that. I think the front end looks too much like the goofy melted-down front ends the Korean makers have used on their CUVs. I prefer the harder European Ford schnoz of the previous generation.

Oh, no, it’s obviously a complete, utter, unmitigated failure; I just didn’t feel the need to harp on something so blindingly obvious. </sarcasm>

I'm glad to hear that. I'm seeing more of them on the roads around here, and they still look very "meh" to me--but I'm pretty sure I'm not in the Escape's target demo, anyway.

I wish I could convince those cowboys that the stupid squirrel that keeps setting off my security cameras was a rustler...

Right back at ya...

They do a lot to protect that “whole bunch of nothing.” A friend of mine did some training out there, and he said the cowboys at the gate houses have belt-fed HK machineguns, and they know how to use them.

I don’t see the folks at the King Ranch going for that one. Not even a little bit, not for all the F-Series in Texas.