F150 Manufacturing

I had a plant tour there in August 2014, it was for the ramp up of first production of the Ford Transit. Our fleet was going to be a large buyer of over 1,000 units a year. It was being newly launched as a 2015 model. Transit had taken the space of the Ford Escape that had been produced there. The Transit side panel stamping machine was housed in a large building inside the plant - just in case some let go was the explanation. The press molds were at about 30 feet long and they moved quickly to stamp each side section. A little scary tbh.
At the same time, I saw the first aluminum body F150s going down the production line, being launched as a 2015 MY product.
Memorable experience.
Also memorable was picking up my car at the airport and the thermometer read 100F, had never seen that temp in Northern Ontario.
 
PF52 said:
Scotty Kilmer said yesterday they're now giving them away..... Unless that is clickbait of course.
Click to expand...
Every Scotty Kilmer video title is clickbait. It does look like things are coming to their senses a little. Ford is offering good interest rates and a little cash on some of the deals. I wonder if they are finding the limit of what a sensible person will spend? I bought a new 2019 F-150 Supercrew Lariat for $40k in 2020 days before the COVID hysteria in March. A new one now is almost double that.
 
tmorris1 said:
Every Scotty Kilmer video title is clickbait. It does look like things are coming to their senses a little. Ford is offering good interest rates and a little cash on some of the deals. I wonder if they are finding the limit of what a sensible person will spend? I bought a new 2019 F-150 Supercrew Lariat for $40k in 2020 days before the COVID hysteria in March. A new one now is almost double that.
Click to expand...
He didn't used to but decided to try it out & then terribly tried convincing his audience it was a good thing. Turned me off completely.
 
Recently went by a small Toyota dealer in a small city. They had 15 new Tundra’s lined up on the front of their lot. Then saw a tv ad offering $ off and special financing on Tundra’s. The Dodge dealer was showing 15 Rams on their lot. Tells me sales are slowing.
 
loneryder said:
Recently went by a small Toyota dealer in a small city. They had 15 new Tundra’s lined up on the front of their lot. Then saw a tv ad offering $ off and special financing on Tundra’s. The Dodge dealer was showing 15 Rams on their lot. Tells me sales are slowing.
Click to expand...
To think people with more money than common sense were paying $10-20K over MSRP 12 months ago for a Tundra.
 
loneryder said:
Recently went by a small Toyota dealer in a small city. They had 15 new Tundra’s lined up on the front of their lot. Then saw a tv ad offering $ off and special financing on Tundra’s. The Dodge dealer was showing 15 Rams on their lot. Tells me sales are slowing.
Click to expand...
It also doesn't help that getting one configured correctly is difficult if not outright impossible. If I'm looking to buy a truck I want a single cab long bed 2wd with a N/A 4-5 liter six cylinder and a 5 speed manual transmission. All I want for gadgets is aircon, FM, Defrost. Cloth bench seat, manual crank windows, manual locks, no screen, no fuss, priced around 25-35k. What can I say I like them very very simple and honest. Problem is they won't sell you that anymore.


Oh, sure, sales guy's always 'Here's 15 fully loaded crew cab 4x4 brodozers with a pathetically laughable 5.5' box that's six miles off the ground! 70 grand it's a bargain!', but when you tell them you want something simple and affordable they just lock up like a deer in headlights, stammer a bit, then try again to convince you that a 7 year note on a truck way too big for your needs is the right path to go down because they've got 15 of them on the lot that they need to get rid of yesterday. And even if you do convince them to stop trying to sell you that 4x4 crew cab, when you sit down with the configurator tool(Or just browse it yourself on the manufacturer's website) you still haven't really got a choice in the matter. You can't check individual options anymore. You just get a few trim packages and even the most 'basic' of those packages has 3/4ths of a best buy included...

I know I'm not the only one that would like cheap and cheerful work trucks again. Maybe the only one that wants three pedals(Demand for the 7mt Broncos seems to imply otherwise as Ford is still offering it which means they're selling well enough to be profitable, but I don't see any moves towards returning manuals to half tons anytime soon), but there's definitely an untapped gold mine for single cab 2wd six pot pickups with few bells and even less whistles. Build a truck like I described, price it at 25-35k, and demand will exceed supply 3 times over.

Hell, if Ford brought the ol' 4.9 I6 back with a 4MT or 5MT in a single cab 2wd pickup even as just a heritage edition I might be tempted to give modern vehicles one last try. But I guess, until then, I'll stick with my bullnose F150 and my 71 Chevy...
 
C6 Modellsport said:
It also doesn't help that getting one configured correctly is difficult if not outright impossible. If I'm looking to buy a truck I want a single cab long bed 2wd with a N/A 4-5 liter six cylinder and a 5 speed manual transmission. All I want for gadgets is aircon, FM, Defrost. Cloth bench seat, manual crank windows, manual locks, no screen, no fuss, priced around 25-35k. What can I say I like them very very simple and honest. Problem is they won't sell you that anymore.


Oh, sure, sales guy's always 'Here's 15 fully loaded crew cab 4x4 brodozers with a pathetically laughable 5.5' box that's six miles off the ground! 70 grand it's a bargain!', but when you tell them you want something simple and affordable they just lock up like a deer in headlights, stammer a bit, then try again to convince you that a 7 year note on a truck way too big for your needs is the right path to go down because they've got 15 of them on the lot that they need to get rid of yesterday. And even if you do convince them to stop trying to sell you that 4x4 crew cab, when you sit down with the configurator tool(Or just browse it yourself on the manufacturer's website) you still haven't really got a choice in the matter. You can't check individual options anymore. You just get a few trim packages and even the most 'basic' of those packages has 3/4ths of a best buy included...

I know I'm not the only one that would like cheap and cheerful work trucks again. Maybe the only one that wants three pedals(Demand for the 7mt Broncos seems to imply otherwise as Ford is still offering it which means they're selling well enough to be profitable, but I don't see any moves towards returning manuals to half tons anytime soon), but there's definitely an untapped gold mine for single cab 2wd six pot pickups with few bells and even less whistles. Build a truck like I described, price it at 25-35k, and demand will exceed supply 3 times over.

Hell, if Ford brought the ol' 4.9 I6 back with a 4MT or 5MT in a single cab 2wd pickup even as just a heritage edition I might be tempted to give modern vehicles one last try. But I guess, until then, I'll stick with my bullnose F150 and my 71 Chevy...
Click to expand...

My advice would be to find out the dealership that won the state bid in either your state or a contiguous one and go talk with them. They know how to order as close to what you want as you can get.
 
Tdbo said:
My advice would be to find out the dealership that won the state bid in either your state or a contiguous one and go talk with them. They know how to order as close to what you want as you can get.
Click to expand...
I just stick to the old iron that's configured the way I want it instead. Why go through all the hassle of trying to get something that's 'close' from a new lot when I can shake a few grand at Marketplace and buy a dentside, bumpside, or bullnose with the 4.9 I6 and a 4-speed manual in short order?

Or, hell, if I was bandying 30 grand around, I'd just ship the 85 I already own off to a professional restoration hall and tell them to make it brand new all over again. Be a better spend of the money than trying to buy anything brand new. It's literally the archetype for what I want in a truck! 300cid I6, 4-speed manual, aircon, defrost, FM, cloth bench seat, manual locks/windows, no gadgets, single cab, long bed, 2wd.
 
It's a shame Ford basically stopped selling cars and went all in on trucks. If Ford got rid of that junk DCT A/T in the Focus and Fiesta and put a regular 6 speed A/T in them they would have sold plenty of them. The Fusion was an excellent car but Ford didn't keep it updated enough to compete with the Asians and then killed it off. Not everybody wants a truck or SUV but Ford "had a better idea".

Also, if you think pickups were expensive over the last couple of years the new UAW contract will boost the price even more.
 
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