Here's what bugs me the most. They ignore the Ranger year after year. 2008 was the last year of the 3.0 if I'm not mistaken. Ford Motor company needs to do something. What's the one model that you see the most of at antique car shows that still draws alot of attention other than a T-Bucket? The F100. I think that if Ford really wanted to dominate the midsized truck area they should bring the 1956 Ford F100 body style back. It would probably do well but not that well because that would be more expensive than the F150 because they'd have to retool their factory for that purpose.

 

That's what's hot right now. Old school body style with modern technology. the prime examples: The Camaro, The newer Shelby GT350's which are getting ready to return according to Barret Jackson's 2010 auction broadcast. And the new Challenger. Also we can't forget the new Shelby Mustangs either.

You're partly right. A Fuel Efficient V8 in a smaller vehicle would do well in today's market. GM royally screwed up with the Colorado and Canyon. Those 2 models suck.

That's what killed Chrysler. The first neons to hit the market were terrible but the second and third years were great. The Neon started going down hill in the year 2000. And the avenger sucked.

 

 

Hell yes! That's what I'm talking about. I'd buy either one of those in a heartbeat. The only thing missing from a design and personal stand point would be a set of 1965 AC Cobra Side pipes. That would be kool.

 

what are you talking about? i'm not missing ****...

 

used to work at a ford dealership, which was owned by a guy named "Ron Ford" (yes that was his birth name) and his son, owned a car almost identical to that cobra... so nice, he brought it in once or twice while i worked there... the dealership has a museam type section too... 32 ford low boys, duce coupes all types of stuff like that...

 

No kidding. That's what I would do. You still hit one out of the park. You mean you wouldn't like to see a side piped exhaust?!

 

oh, hell ya i would! i thought you were saying that i forgot it in my post... it's there you just didn't quote very well...

i really like those trucks though, i'm almost liking the sedan delivery more than the p/u

 

I'd like to see that musem section. look at my last name under my avatar. I'm old school through and through. Did you ever get to work on a Model A sedan by any chance? The reason I bring up my last name is that my family has the "engine secret" that alot of people always want know and I am forbidden to even mention any of it on here unfortunately.

 

I'd pull a Will Smith "I'd take these ones". I like them both. The running boards look kool but that's just not me (I always found ice on them in the winter time the hard way).

 

lol, what are you talking about? "engine secrets"? nah, no one with a model A brings them into a dealer for service... the dealership is back home, and the vehicles he has there are out of his personal collection... he apparently has a batman like garage, never seen it though... i'll take pics next time i'm there, my buddy works at that dealership now, going through his apprenticeship. i could actually get him to send me some pics of what he's got on display right now...

 

anyone remember those 1998 EV rangers? they made like 400 of them or something like that. why wouldnt they bring those back?

 

Becasue EV's Suck for the most part. Ford Crushed most of them. Some made it into private hands but if you end up with one be prepared to spend a mint on battery replacement. EV's will never be practical as long as they are powered with batteries. No one is going to accept that when they drive there car they should be expected to park it for hours before they are able to drive it again. That is not how americans are.

~HJ

 

It really depends on which batteries you're talking about too. Those Lithium Ion batteries are extremely expensive to say the least. There are a few EV kits out there but the amount of money you'll spend on them is unreasonable. That's one of the worries my little brother has with his GMC Sierra hybrid. The damn battery costs more than the truck's even worth.

 

I was talking about the knowledge of what I can do to achieve that paticular distinctive sound out of any engine really. That would be nice to see that private collection man.

 

i've never seen it :(

 

Now that sucks. A garage full of vintage fords and haven't been able to see it just plain blows.

 

i've only heard rumors also, but every so often he takes all the ones on display at the dealership out, and replaces them with ones i've never seen before... i've seen it happen 2 or 3 times...

 

Maybe Ford Motor Company needs to do something that aint been seen or done before. That would be a challenge considering the fact that everything you can possibly think of has been done at point or another.

 

how come you quoted me for that?

i should add, that he has no relation, what so ever, to henry ford

 

I know that. I just hit the wrong button is all.

 

How about they just market this **** in the states...

Ford Ranger Thunder - Jennings Ford new car sales

going to try and arrange a test drive if I can get a salesman to ride around for 20 minutes knowing he isn't getting a sale.... Will take pics if it happens.

 

Lithium Ion batteries in a car will put it over the top, They still are batteries which means you can drive X amount of Miles and it will take XX to recharge it. That is not how we built our society. Electric vehicle will never replace the gas engine in their (EV's) current form. It will be a niche novelty vehicle for people who have too much money and feel the need to wear their "i'm too good for a fossil fuel burning car"

Cars like the Clarity are more on par with what the future will bring, because it works like a car. You get in it, you drive as far as you can, you stop fill it up and 5 minutes later you are on your way again. This is not possible with an EV. To switch to EV's as a society would be a step backwards in technology.

Whether you like it or not, nothing will replace oil as long as it is this cheap. There is no technologuy out there that comes close or will come close for decades. This is just a fact.

~HJ

 

That's basicly what I said dude. The EV's are not worth it to me. Oh sure it's pretty kool to see someone build a dragster out of it and try to make something that's unique but it's not availible for the working man or woman's budget. The answer is right in front of them and they don't see it. the only way you can get an extreme amount of mpg's is WEIGHT REDUCTION and better areodynamics. But to get the mileage that everyone is after the car or truck wouldn't be that safe in my book. The reason I say this is because one good gust of wind and it's all over due to the utralite car or truck not having enough weight and god forbid you see one of those in a collision.

 

i agree with you on the aspect of weight vs wind, however, weight in a collision is all relitive... your vehicle's weight doesn't mean ****, without something to compare it to... now the most obvious, and accurate thing would be what it is hitting, if you have a 2000lb truck hitting a 2000lb car (net weight, inc gas cargo and passengers), both vehicles will absorb the same amount of energy, now you take the exact same colision, but you drop them down to 700lb cars, like a smart car, for instance... 700lbs is a large motorcycle... mine weighs almost that, regardless though, it's for demonstration purposes only... if it hits another vehicle that is 700 lbs, each vehicle is going to absorb an equal amount of the energy, again... so the fact that a lighter weight vehicle is not as safe, is not necissairly true, in a collision aspect...

back to the wind issue, this is only an issue comparitvely to surface area, AND aero dynamics... however, aerodynamics generally don't take into consideration cross winds... this would be a factor that the engineers would look at, if building a light weight vehicle though... and aerodynamics was already mentioned that it would be improved

so really the only time that these smaller vehicles would become an issue for safety is in the transition period of going from the large heavy vehicles we have now, to the smaller lighter ones... and the simple solution to that is the average weight of a vehicle drop by 30-40 lbs each year, across the board, all manufactures... in 10 years time, the average vehicle will be 350 lbs lighter, which is equal to an extra 35 hp (roughly) and thus a savings of probably 10-20% in fuel, with the same motors, not taking into consideration the aerodynamics... as this transition takes place, the older, heavier vehicles will naturally depreciate and end up in junk yards, as is the life cycle of a vehicle...

so 20 years from now (provided these events i mentioned, were set in motion today) we would be looking at an average vehicle weight of roughly 700 lbs less than what we have today... and in the advances of technology, it would be significant!

however, i can now bring up the case of oil companies being the largest corparations world wide, and controlling most other industries, and the case that every time a revolutionary new design or idea, which would drasticly reduce fuel consumption, the oil companies buy the patent and bury the design, this can be seen in severl examples. first was a revolutionary design of a motor using 2 combustion chambers in an internal combustion motor, i believe it was designed by honda, the top chamber would contain a rich fuel mixture, ignited by a spark, this would then ignite the lower, and larger combustion chamber, containing next to no fuel, much too low for a spark plug to ignite, however, open flame (upper combustion chamber) can ignite it... the design was patented and before release on any vehicles, was purchased by an unsurmountable amount of money, by the oil and gas industry, and was never heard of again...

more recently, within the past 5-7 years, there was an inventor, i believe from canada. who designed a welding system (arc type) which ran on water, ordinary tap water, it was cold to the touch, it projected a small cold water vapour stream, and when it contacted metal (to which i assume the machine was grounded) it would cause a very hot flame or arc, not entirely sure, and thus welding was created, the man had a patent on it, and this was being shown on the tv show "daily planet" which is seen on discovery channel. The man went on to explain that he had converted his car, which i think was a taurus, to run on water, showing a quick shot of the motor, which was completely different than stock (i assume ground up home made motor) and explaining that he had been in contact with several of the major car manufactures, who were anxious to see the design and put it into production... i have heard nothing from this since... when i talked to my dad about it, shortly after seeing it, he even agreed that it would disappear, due to oil and gas companies...

now i'm not trying to say that exxon and the other majors are in control of the entire world, all i am saying is they want what they need...

even if one of the above ideas did survive, and cars were more fuel efficent than ever, what do you think would happen? do you think that the gas price, right now, is higher than it ever has been before, because of the recession? doesn't that sound a little bit counter productive? the gas prices are high because newer models are more fuel efficent than ever before, which means the oil and gas companies aren't making as much... they have to charge more, they want the average person to be shelling out a certain percentage of their yearly income to gas... if the average fuel economy goes up, the gas price will follow suit... so in a way, it's these people driving hibrids and smart cars that are making us die with prices... the only real benifet to having cars that do 50mpg and up, is the change of our environmental impact... we are doing the world a solid, but i doubt that even at our peak of emissions, this giant mass of rock and water would really care how much polution comes off of it... after all if in the grand scheme of things, we were not ment to burn gas, dead dinosours would not turn into gas...

sorry for the ridiculiously long post, but i have a lot of time on my hands at work here...

water car seen here:
http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/ca...05930NFT5H6pW#