hi everyone
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Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 10
Likes: 2
From: Virginia
hi everyone
Hello. New here. Signed up because forums are great places for info in the event a problem ever pops up. Plus there seems to be something of a pipeline directly to Ford, which may have its uses.
Might be interesting to note that when I was in elementary school back in the early 1960's, I wrote to Henry Ford II and asked for an autographed photo. Lost it in 1973 when I forgot it hanging in the showroom office I used as a rookie Ford dealer sales rep.
I tend to be somewhat old fashioned when it comes to trucks. I'm still furious no one installs a manual transmission anymore, or offers vinyl seats, or anything much by way of color choices. For example, you can have any interior you want as long as its dull, boring gray or black.
My '79 F100 was green exterior/green interior w/300 six and 3-spd, my '88 F150 was fire engine red exterior/red interior w/302 and 5-spd, and my '94 F150 was dark blue exterior/light blue interior w/300 six & 5-spd. They were all 2WD, and I did just fine in the snow.
My 2014? 302, w/AT, and again a 2WD. Well, each of the OEM's have decided the "lesser" units are available only in white. Beats me why. Like it would cause civilization to crumple were they to put a basic unit out there in, oh, red, or green, or blue. With a matching interior. I reckon they are afraid it might curve your spine and keep America from winning the war.
I won't even broach the subject of the prevailing MSRP's. I had to search as though I sought the Holy Grail in order to locate the one I eventually did get. Wherever I looked dealer lots are packed full of four door, three quarter ton, diesel land cruisers equipped with all leather interiors in de rigueur black or gray, and gaudy chrome wheels equipped with useless street tread tires, costing both arms and both legs.
I suppose I'm showing my age and may qualify for a curmudgeon award, but some of us need a pickup to be a pickup. My border collie loves to ride with me. He's shaggy and sometimes he's sopping wet. I haul supplies and gear for our horses which can be messy. There's grounds keeping work to be done, which means the eight foot bed gets overloaded with tree stumps or growing things.
I like Fords because they're tough. Just the basic half ton unit is built to take a beating and hold up. It took a 150,000 miles on my '94 before it flunked the annual state inspection because I wore out the front end. I remember when Dearborn graduated from straight axles on the front to the Twin I-Beam. That's one hard front end, and pretty indestructible. The Ford engineers might have been interested in examining my '94. Not very many people can do what I did.
Guys like me are a shrinking demographic. Our son feels that the four door behemoths are, in his words, "all that". He's one to plug his phone into the dash and crank the music up. It seems he enjoys satellite navigation within a mere twenty-five miles from home. And just enough pickup box that's sufficient to haul his big, four cycle dirt bike.
Back in the late 1950's, I loved to ride in the pickups of the day - short bed with exposed fenders, six cylinder motors with a three speed column shift, no radio at all, and unless I'm mistaken the heater was optional. People then managed to put in a full day's work, haul God-only-knows-what, then go for a ride into town, all before 8:00 A.M. Certainly those days are gone and society progresses (in spite of itself but progresses nonetheless).
But right now the only things I miss from previous pickups are cruise control (having become something of a cruise junkie), a sliding back window, and a CD player. Me and Gizmo the border collie need Merle Haggard on the way into town.
Might be interesting to note that when I was in elementary school back in the early 1960's, I wrote to Henry Ford II and asked for an autographed photo. Lost it in 1973 when I forgot it hanging in the showroom office I used as a rookie Ford dealer sales rep.
I tend to be somewhat old fashioned when it comes to trucks. I'm still furious no one installs a manual transmission anymore, or offers vinyl seats, or anything much by way of color choices. For example, you can have any interior you want as long as its dull, boring gray or black.
My '79 F100 was green exterior/green interior w/300 six and 3-spd, my '88 F150 was fire engine red exterior/red interior w/302 and 5-spd, and my '94 F150 was dark blue exterior/light blue interior w/300 six & 5-spd. They were all 2WD, and I did just fine in the snow.
My 2014? 302, w/AT, and again a 2WD. Well, each of the OEM's have decided the "lesser" units are available only in white. Beats me why. Like it would cause civilization to crumple were they to put a basic unit out there in, oh, red, or green, or blue. With a matching interior. I reckon they are afraid it might curve your spine and keep America from winning the war.
I won't even broach the subject of the prevailing MSRP's. I had to search as though I sought the Holy Grail in order to locate the one I eventually did get. Wherever I looked dealer lots are packed full of four door, three quarter ton, diesel land cruisers equipped with all leather interiors in de rigueur black or gray, and gaudy chrome wheels equipped with useless street tread tires, costing both arms and both legs.
I suppose I'm showing my age and may qualify for a curmudgeon award, but some of us need a pickup to be a pickup. My border collie loves to ride with me. He's shaggy and sometimes he's sopping wet. I haul supplies and gear for our horses which can be messy. There's grounds keeping work to be done, which means the eight foot bed gets overloaded with tree stumps or growing things.
I like Fords because they're tough. Just the basic half ton unit is built to take a beating and hold up. It took a 150,000 miles on my '94 before it flunked the annual state inspection because I wore out the front end. I remember when Dearborn graduated from straight axles on the front to the Twin I-Beam. That's one hard front end, and pretty indestructible. The Ford engineers might have been interested in examining my '94. Not very many people can do what I did.
Guys like me are a shrinking demographic. Our son feels that the four door behemoths are, in his words, "all that". He's one to plug his phone into the dash and crank the music up. It seems he enjoys satellite navigation within a mere twenty-five miles from home. And just enough pickup box that's sufficient to haul his big, four cycle dirt bike.
Back in the late 1950's, I loved to ride in the pickups of the day - short bed with exposed fenders, six cylinder motors with a three speed column shift, no radio at all, and unless I'm mistaken the heater was optional. People then managed to put in a full day's work, haul God-only-knows-what, then go for a ride into town, all before 8:00 A.M. Certainly those days are gone and society progresses (in spite of itself but progresses nonetheless).
But right now the only things I miss from previous pickups are cruise control (having become something of a cruise junkie), a sliding back window, and a CD player. Me and Gizmo the border collie need Merle Haggard on the way into town.
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Joined: May 2013
Posts: 3,871
Likes: 361
From: Cranbury, NJ
Hello and welcome on board! Great to have another Ford fan here. Forum like this is the best way to make new friends and learn something new about a passion that runs deep. Feel free to reach out if anything needed!