OT: Talking Cars Tuesday - The Blue Oval
In honor of Jim Hackett, today let's stay brand specific. What's your favorite Ford of all time? For the purposes of this thread we'll include Lincolns, Mercuries, certain Mazdas, Volvos, Jags and Astons. Ever own one? Never own one but have one that you admire from afar? Have a favorite vintage? We can do threads for other favorite companies in the future, but here's to Hackett and the Blue Oval
The car folks had to get the Ford Family's blessing for two recent design elements. The first is the Raptor fascia, as it does not have the blue Ford oval on it, but rather is this:
Second, for the steering wheel of the Explorer Platinum, which has a milled aluminum Ford Oval rather than a blue one:
they went through the same process launching the Flex. No front oval on that either...
Not very. The Mustang II's all had F O R D on the front and back - that was typical of Fords of the 1970s. The Fox body Mustangs, most if not all had the blue oval on the front, and then the fourth-generation Mustangs had the mustang logo on the front and the oval on the back. It was only in 2005 that the Ford markings really disappeared from the car - it hadn't been done that way since the original.
The Mustang II.
I have to imagine for Ford its like the HS prom picture we all try to bury...
Lincoln Continental. My dad had a 1991 navy blue continental that was a fricking boat. Loved that car. Literally one week after he brought it home, I ran into it with the riding lawn mower and put a huge dent in one of the doors. Not my proudest moment...
I currently have a 2015 F150. Has a great ride, and the "sport" mode is actually really fun for a decent sized truck.
Also, did you ever get six girlies in it? Or was that just Mike D?
Especially the late 60s and early 70s. I really like my new ford explorer a lot. love the Land Rover look.
Riding around in model T's at greenfield village really makes me respect their engineering. They move along grat, are easy to fix and work on, and are a really great ride.
Their are too many iconic cars in the other brands to get into, but the Vantage is probably one of the prettiest cars ever made.
with the 225 H.P. four-barrel and three speed manual on the floor. I was my older brother's car, and I learn to drive a manual on it. Loved 2nd gear when the secondaries opened up.
Oddly enough, the worse car I ever drove was also a Ford. 1971 Maverick with the worst steering linkage ever put in a car.
If I had to pick, maybe a 1960 Ford Country Squire station wagon. That, or a Fourth Generation F-Series pickup (1961-1966).
The Seinfeld / Sarah Jessica Parker episode was about an old Country Squire. It was a good one.
http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com/sarah-jessica-parker-a-little-hyper-aware
In the picture you attached, Seinfeld looks like he could be Gilbert Gottfried's twin brother. That's not a compliment.
The Squire here is too recent for my tastes. I like the rounder, glassier, and even less safe versions from the early to mid-1960s.
early 70s Grand Squire 10 seat wagon, especially the "way back" seats. The all-metal floor when everything in the back was folded flat was great for hauling lumber, etc.
Never owned a true Ford, although I did own an early 2000's Volvo, which I loved. I always had a soft spot for the SHO's of the early 1990's but never owned one.
Best Ford ever:
Attainable Ford:
They don't sell the ST Wagon here! Boooooooooooooo. (I would want one)
It is very sad. I like the hatches as well but wish we could get the real wagon.
Somehow I managed to learn stick driving my dad's SHO around the driveway and neighbor hood. Still not sure how I pulled that one off.
I owned a 1998 V8 SHO, which was argubly the worst of the line and had a catastrophic issue with the camshaft spinning, but I loved that car and after welding the camshaft, gave me 150,000+ miles before I sold it to a friend. The new ones are amazing.
Looks like an exotic. The TTV6 and DCT are probably the way to go, but if I had that kind of money I'd probably rather have the slower V8/manual combo from the last gen.
I thin kthe last generation GT will stand up better to the test of time. It captured the classic while being modern.
really constitutes an American made car anymore. Most Honda's and Toyota's are as American as any Ford or Chevy on the road.
I'm old school this way. I don't care where the car is put together or even where the parts are put together. You buy a Honda, the money still winds up in Japan for distribution as people in Japan see fit.
Put another way, the Detroit economy rides on three companies - I really don't care if another one put a plant in Tennessee.
You couldn't be more wrong. "The Money" is often described as overhead or engineering salaries, and that happens all over. Toyota has a massive engineering complex in Texas, and one in Ann Arbor.
When I was looking at either the GTI or the Focus ST, both were designed in Germany. Both had final assembly in Mexico (some Foci are assembled in Michigan). Both transmissions came from Germany. The VW Engine was German, the Ford British.
If you do truly want to get a vehicle that's got a huge percentage of "American" content & overhead, get a pickup truck.
As someone who also works in the industry (as you know), there really is a big difference between having an engineering center in a place and having headquarters there. If Toyota closed up shop today, whose economy would tank? Ann Arbor's, or the city of Toyota, Japan? Likewise, if Ford closed up shop today, which economy would suffer more, Detroit, or Cologne?
It doesn't really work that way. You can't just bring money back to Japan or Germany or wherever without penalties. The money likely stays in the U.S. under the parent company's subsidiary and a lot of it goes right back into the manufacturing and R&D done here. For example, Toyota just opened a $150mm research facility in Michigan and is putting another 2bn in plants in the U.S.
Apparently some folks in Detroit liked it so much they took the wheels off of it. Twice.
Probably explains why I was paying close to $400/mo to insure it there...
Wife had an '07 Focus that treated her really well. It was a good little hatchback and a throwback to when small cars were cheap cars. Now, small cars are nice (I say this as someone who owns a C-Segment hatch).
I drove the Focus ST before buying my GTI and it was a little quicker and a little rougher than the GTI. The biggest problem I had in the ST is that my former-hockey-playing ass and legs didn't fit in the seat well. The supplier discount made the GTI cheaper and that was all she wrote. The ST was fun though. I really like that Ford is committed to having "Fun" cars, they do that probably as well as anyone with the FoST, FiST, Mustang, and Raptor.
Ford F100 SportCustom because it was my first vehicle. Most iterations of the Mustang, but definitely not the Pinto-looking Mustang II version. The Shelby Cobra, but only technically a Ford. I always thought the Tarus SHO was pretty cool too, kinda a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Baddest ass Fords though are the GT40 old school and the GT new school.
I'm biased because my dad worked their as an engineer for 35 years and always had the coolest M-plates to bring home but to me, Ford has the nicest interiors (Sync/MFT issues notwithstanding) of any of the domestics. They have a simplicity to them and a common language that's scaleable from their econoboxes to the higher dollar stuff-- have to wonder if that's a Volvo holdover.
As to a specific ride, still wish that Lincoln had a RWD-based coupe or sports sedan. The Lincoln MKR concept from a few years back was a stunner. Even a modern take on the Lincoln LS would work.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go plug in my CMax.
Not sure when, but I've seen Ford documents discussing the platform.
Based on the Mustang platform.
Mustang is built on the CD4 platform. Every other vehicle on CD4 is FWD or FWD/AWD, including, for example, Lincoln MKZ, MKX, and Continental. And, Fusion and Edge. 'Platform' is a very elastic term but to your point, there are actually three Lincolns on the same platform!
I guess I'm thinking that they could use either the Ecoboost, or the Coyote, to make a fantastic sports sedan.
Fusion Sport has the 2.7L Ecoboost V6, along with Edge and MKX. MKZ, Continental offer the 3.0L Ecoboost (up to 400 hp). No V8s other than Mustang and trucks, though...
But I think you're wrong. Isn't the new Mustang on the S550 platform? I think I've hinted to you what I do before, but I make parts that are very clearly FWD or RWD based, and I recall a volume projection that had "Lincoln S550" on it at some point.
The platform is called CD6. S550 is a particular model (Mustang, as you said). That's the clarification, but I really shouldn't divulge any actual plans. Other than to say that plans change almost daily. For example, everyone knows about the 3.0L diesel coming in F-150. I recall a two-day period two years ago in which that engine was in, then out, the back into the F-150 plans. All in two days. Regardless of what you recall seeing, things change frequently, that's all I'm saying.
Navigator is RWD!
Also, plans change daily in this business; best to not make assumptions about what one sees at any given moment.
I always have and always will love Mustangs, although I've only ever personally owned one, a 2003 GT.
My favorite Ford car ever is the 1969 Mustang Boss 429.
I drive an Escape and it's been an unreliable piece of shit since day 1. I really regret buying it. THAT SAID, we have also owned an Explorer, a Fusion, and a Focus, and they were all excellent.
My hope is that Hackett brings Ford back up to speed. It seems like Ford's general design language is really dated. Maybe just me, but it feels like they haven't done refreshes on anything but pickup trucks in ages. Also, the pricing is absurd. I should not be able to get a heavily optioned Golf for the price of a base model Focus. The Escape is likewise significantly more expensive and, I hate to say it, worse than the Mazda CX-5.
I'm not trying to be contrarian here. I know lots of people on the board work for Ford. But I am in the camp that loved Mulally and thinks that the blue oval really lost its way under Fields. Hopefully there will be a return under Hackett's leadership!
2013 model year. It's the year they did the refresh. Constant recalls. Sync stops working if it's too hot or too cold outside. Phone often auto-dials 911 via bluetooth. Changed phone and problem persists. I took it to the dealer and was told it's a software issue within Sync. They recommend I tell everyone I know to never text me an emoji, because apparently it wil crash my Sync system somehow.
Read an autoblog article a while back saying it was one of the most-recalled cars in modern history.
Road noise/NVH is also horrendous. When I can, by the grace of God, get a call to go through, I often have to yell to be heard.
The strike plate beneath the car started disintegrating as well. I don't do any offroading. I don't ever even drive on dirt roads. All highway miles.
I like the engine and the seats are comfortable. Those are the positives.
Interesting. I have a 2014 Escape and have almost the exact opposite experience. I don't love the engine. I suspect it's because of the turbocharging - turbo engines are the new wave (especially at Ford) for gas mileage purposes, but I've come to realize that when they promise X fuel mileage and Y horsepower, it's an either-or proposition. It's advertised as getting 28 highway, but not at the speeds I drive - always a problem, but one exacerbated by turbo engines, I believe.
On the other hand, Sync has never given me even one tiny little problem, and it's close to the quietest car I've ever driven.
Huh! That's really interesting to hear. I was just looking, there have been 14 recalls so far on my car. Hopefully your testimony means that they sorted out most of the issues once they moved beyond the launch year vehicle. I don't mind my turbo actually. To your point though, that's just personal perference!
Glad to hear it's been a good car for you!
Do you have the 1.6L engine? That would explain a lot of the recalls.