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35 minutes ago, Joe771476 said:

Twintornados:  Gee I was keeping track of heavy truck sales back in the 80's/90's and I'm quite sure Ford was at various times either A leader or THE leader in class 6, 7 AND 8.

 

Not going to argue with you about it and I was looking at Class 8 tractors, the article I was reading claimed Ford held 9% and Frieghtliner held 29% of Class 8. The article didn't talk about 6&7 since Ford continued in both classes after "Heavy Truck" was sold off with the creation of Blue Diamond Truck Company LLC.

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7 hours ago, 7Mary3 said:

 

My understanding was that the excess capacity was not at a large plant suitable for building Super Duty's.  Ford was able to not only consolidate all Super Duty production at KTP, but also free up other truck plants for exclusive F-150 production.  Remember 1999 was when the large pickups became a different platform than the F-150. 

Meanwhile, Ontario Truck Plant was shut down, reducing pickup plants from 4 to 3.

 

This is why I ask. Capacity was there. 

 

IMO, it was about glamour. Get rid of heavy trucks, New Holland and such to pay for the Euro luxury cars. I dont think it was about capacity nor margins.

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1 hour ago, J-150 said:

IMO, it was about glamour. Get rid of heavy trucks, New Holland and such to pay for the Euro luxury cars. I dont think it was about capacity nor margins.

 

Exactly....Heavy Truck, farm tractors and such was not glamorous enough for Jac the Knife....hell, he wouldn't even ride in a Lincoln since he felt it was beneath him.

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24 minutes ago, ausrutherford said:

It is not a coincidence that within two years of Ford selling off its Heavy Truck lineup that it bought Volvo and Land Rover.

 

How did those work out again..........?

 

Ford only got $300M for the heavy trucks, they spent a lot more than that on Volvo and Land Rover.

 

Interesting, Volvo used the money they got from selling their passenger car business to Ford to buy Renault's truck business, which included Mack...…..

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Whatever!  One thing we can probably agree on- Jac was an arrogant guy who appealed to the press with his far out ideas.  I probably posted these gems before -among them......he bought the auto salvage yards-better known as junk yards- so..."we can better analyze parts failures"-or words  to that effect.   Another beauty...he visited Boston and the Boston Globe interviewed this big cheese and he said he wanted to..."get a better understanding of the the consumers "likes" in the kitchen.

Brilliant.

And back to Ford's position in class 6, 7 and 8, I don't think class 8 was ever more than 10%.  I do have a May 1988 addition of HDT and in the Truck Sales Report,  section it showed Ford at 9.2% (fifth of 11 brands reported), in class 7 Ford was at 34.5% (first of 13 brands reported) and in class 6 Ford had 16.2 % of 12 brands reported -GM with Chevy and GMC had a combined 40.8% and International had 33.1%

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Back in the early eighties while in college, I worked as PM mechanic at a truck leasing firm.  It was 90% COE GM’s.  They has a couple of COE Freightliners and couple of Peterbuilt tractors used by a company that processed chicken waste into fertilizer.  Shaw’s supermarket has a fleet of Brigadiers.  Almost everything in that shop used Detroit Diesels .  Things  have changed a great deal since the old days.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I went to the Durham CT Fair last week and Chevrolet and Ram had some trucks on display including a Chevy 5500 that appeared to be their medium duty offering. No Fords did I see on display, unless they were somewhere else.  But imagine my surprise when I saw these Ford-blue colored  LS tractors!    The audacity!
 
 
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2 minutes ago, Joe771476 said:
I went to the Durham CT Fair last week and Chevrolet and Ram had some trucks on display including a Chevy 5500 that appeared to be their medium duty offering. No Fords did I see on display, unless they were somewhere else.  But imagine my surprise when I saw these Ford-blue colored  LS tractors!    The audacity!
 
 

 

Well, this would explain it all on how LS tractors use the only color hue that is more famous than a certain green colored tractor...

 

Quote

LS also imports New Holland tractors to resell as LS-New Holland in South Korea. They originally formed an agreement with Fiat, which later purchased New Holland from Ford.

 

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Did my monthly drive through at local Altech facility.  For the first time saw a couple of Chebbies awaiting install.  they were in a back row  so now clue if 4500/5500/6500.  One I could clearly see was not 4WD.    Yard still full of 450/550's and as for big trucks, more  and more Paccars and F-liners.  Internationals appeared top be fewer.

 

Oh and borrowed a friends vibe roller for a little project I did and guy who picked it up this AM had their new truck-5500 Dodge 6.7.  Young driver who says he is a "Ford guy" and has owned 6 Fords said this thing is the best.-in terms of motor and truck itself.  His boss-my friend- is a Ford  guy too but the deal on this Dodge was the deciding factor$$$$. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So from what I understand, the 7.3L gas will be available in the 2021 F-650 and 750, which will go on sale 1st. quarter 2020.  I wonder what other updates Ford is planning, if any.  I think the current Super Duty cab would be an improvement.  More room, better visibility.  Not equal to Freightliner or International, but at least a bit closer.  

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21 hours ago, 7Mary3 said:

So from what I understand, the 7.3L gas will be available in the 2021 F-650 and 750, which will go on sale 1st. quarter 2020.  I wonder what other updates Ford is planning, if any.  I think the current Super Duty cab would be an improvement.  More room, better visibility.  Not equal to Freightliner or International, but at least a bit closer.  

 

That would make sense to me since the remainder of F-series has moved on to the Aluminum cab.  

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2 hours ago, hwyman3 said:

 

That would make sense to me since the remainder of F-series has moved on to the Aluminum cab.  

 Been saying this for a longtime. OAP assembles trucks with 3 cab structures- 450-550 aluminum SD, 650-750 steel SD.  E series cutaway-unique very old E cab.  Was hoping they would have some new purpose built cab that could serve all three but I guess that money is going into better drapes for the train station rebuild?

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12 hours ago, Bob Rosadini said:

 Been saying this for a longtime. OAP assembles trucks with 3 cab structures- 450-550 aluminum SD, 650-750 steel SD.  E series cutaway-unique very old E cab.  Was hoping they would have some new purpose built cab that could serve all three but I guess that money is going into better drapes for the train station rebuild?

 

As I have stated before, a logical move would be 650/750 adopting the aluminum cab of F150 through F600 and a Transit fullsize cab structure mounted on an E-Series floorpan to make the E-Series chassis align with Transit for a cost savings by using common cab structure components such as doors, glass, dash, seats, wiring etc etc etc....E-Series chassis cab is a "cash cow" for Ford as it is stone cold reliable and the Twin-I-Beam suspension is a unique feature that other makes just don't have in lower GVW ratings. 

E-Series is 79.3" wide and Transit is 80.8" wide...with minor adjustments to floorpan of E-Series, a "T-Series" cab can be developed that would fit on E-Series chassis with no issues...

 

Edited by twintornados
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3 hours ago, twintornados said:

... Transit fullsize cab structure mounted on an E-Series floorpan to make the E-Series chassis align with Transit for a cost savings by using common cab structure components such as doors, glass, dash, seats, wiring etc etc etc....E-Series chassis cab is a "cash cow" for Ford as it is stone cold reliable and the Twin-I-Beam suspension is a unique feature that other makes just don't have in lower GVW ratings. 

E-Series is 79.3" wide and Transit is 80.8" wide...with minor adjustments to floorpan of E-Series, a "T-Series" cab can be developed that would fit on E-Series chassis with no issues...

 

 

E-series has no "floor pan".  I has a true frame.  The body is completely assembled, painted and then dropped on to the frame, just like all vehicles were built 50+ years ago !  (Years ago, OAP only made the bodies and the body was dropped at Lorain.)

 

I can not see anyway that T-Series body components can be "shared" with E-series.  IIRC, part of the reason to only produce a"cut away" version of the E-Series was to get passed so crash testing requirements that the current frame design did not meet.  Putting a body back on "at the factory" means that the frame would have to be modified to meet those requirements.

 

Transits biggest negative is width and lack of towing capacity, two things E-Series still has.

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1 hour ago, theoldwizard said:

 

E-series has no "floor pan".  I has a true frame.  The body is completely assembled, painted and then dropped on to the frame, just like all vehicles were built 50+ years ago !  (Years ago, OAP only made the bodies and the body was dropped at Lorain.)

 

I can not see anyway that T-Series body components can be "shared" with E-series.  IIRC, part of the reason to only produce a"cut away" version of the E-Series was to get passed so crash testing requirements that the current frame design did not meet.  Putting a body back on "at the factory" means that the frame would have to be modified to meet those requirements.

 

Transits biggest negative is width and lack of towing capacity, two things E-Series still has.

And 450-750 are likewise trucks with frames.  So could it make sense come up with ONE cab structure that works for both? Were talking about doors, glass, roof etc.

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17 hours ago, theoldwizard said:

E-series has no "floor pan".  I has a true frame. 

 

You are missing my point...the cab of the E-Series has a floor pan, right? Marry the floor pan of E-Series cab to the structure of a Transit Cab, in other words, remove the floor structure of a Transit cab and re-fit a modified E-Series floor pan in its place...firewall, door uprights, windshield roof and rear cab wall fitted to the E-Series floor so that the new cab structure can be attached to the E-Series frame. E-Series is a solid choice but by doing that your costs will go down as now you are using common doors, windows, dash assembly, etc....

Edited by twintornados
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I think since the E series is body-on-frame and the Transit is unit-body, the basic structures of the cabs/front sections are mutually exclusive.  However, it might indeed be possible to share some major parts like doors, dash, and windshield between a unit-body van and a body-on-frame cut-away.

 

I think the real solution would be to develop a larger cutaway version of the Transit if possible.

Edited by 7Mary3
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8 hours ago, theoldwizard said:

 

E-series has no "floor pan".  I has a true frame.  The body is completely assembled, painted and then dropped on to the frame, just like all vehicles were built 50+ years ago !  (Years ago, OAP only made the bodies and the body was dropped at Lorain.)

 

I can not see anyway that T-Series body components can be "shared" with E-series.  IIRC, part of the reason to only produce a"cut away" version of the E-Series was to get passed so crash testing requirements that the current frame design did not meet.  Putting a body back on "at the factory" means that the frame would have to be modified to meet those requirements.

 

Transits biggest negative is width and lack of towing capacity, two things E-Series still has.

 

And the reliability the E had/has in my opinion. A little more expensive but got a E350 SRW with KUV back to put off a euro van as long as I can.

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On 10/25/2019 at 6:39 AM, twintornados said:

 

Looks to be quite the handy service truck...

image.png.dae470886bed1e488eb6a2cce23d44f2.png

 

Looks just like mine except I got the chrome bumpers ?.  I haven’t found many shortcomings for the old E compared to the Transit. 6.2 is like a rocket compared to the old 5.4 2 valves that’s for sure. Lose some MPG’s but I expect to outlast a comparable Transit by a large margin (6.2 6R140 combo vs. whatever junk is in Transit ?) .Ford has always meant overbuilt in severe duty applications for me (6R100 excluded cheap move for Super Duty). Vastly prefer the seating position in the E also, okay it looks a hell of a lot better and makes that V8 noise too?. And my bumpers aren’t fisher price too, can Ford just bring the real van’s back please?????

 

Edited by Steve557
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