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351cid

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351cid last won the day on March 9 2017

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  1. Our family gatherings used to look like a used Ford car lot with maybe 1 or 2 "other" makes. A couple weeks ago; I walked out into the parking area and took a look around. The only 3 Ford's were my Mustang, son's Excursion, and my daughter's F-150. Everything else was Asian. Even my brother, who'd owned F series trucks since the 90's, bought a new Tundra. Ford has pissed off a lot of former customers from either deleting products (cars) or building shit products. Sad to see what the once great FoMoCo has become.
  2. Reading through this topic reminds me of what Sears was doing around the millenium change with Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances. We got your money, now...eff off. There is an expectation for big ticket items to perform past warranty limits with recomended service applied; albeit not forever. I think it's not unreasonable to expect 200k trouble free miles out of a powertrain today. Continued failures, will indeed, piss off enough people that Ford will be excluded from their shopping list. This will not bode well for their future. I've stated many times that I WAS a dedicated Ford customer...still everything in my stable has a Blue Oval on it. That will not be the case in the future. The expense of the new vehicles precludes me from taking a gamble on something that my gut says will be a black hole for my checking account. My 2013 Fusion has really reduced my confidence in the technology that every vehicle employs. At 75k, it seemed to start with one gremlin after the other. Nothing devistating (thusfar); but annoying none the less. My 2013 Mustang is based off an older design and has far fewer gremlins. Ford has quality problems. The next generation of buyers may not care about how long a product lasts since society has morphed into the "gotta have the latest, greatest gizmo" mentality. But us old guys still use a little common sense for big ticket purchases and expect something to outlast the payments. Ford has given us the finger. I return the favor.
  3. They (Ford) can claim it was "new from the ground up". Pulling the body off the frame tells me it was a tweaked midsize frame. Too many dimensions were in common, as well as too much interchange. Not saying that's bad, just shows what a good chassis the 1965 design was. I guess kinda like the Coyote was a new engine; when in fact, it's based on the Modular series.
  4. I beg to differ, sir. Pull the body off of a 72 Gran Torino & a 2006 Crown Vic (I've done just that) and you would see the Panther was a tweaked mid size.
  5. I'm both disappointed with and pissed at Ford right now...42 years of Ford ownership. That took some doing! I still have a tendency to gravitate toward Ford when contemplating the next purchase; but I'm pretty sure it will not be since they no longer sell sedans & their SUV product quality sucks at best. When the Mustang Coupe with a V8 is dropped; that will be it.
  6. The last generation was fairly different. R&P steering was one of the biggest changes. Panther was closer to the 72-79 midsize. My springs (front & rear) are P71, body to frame mounts, rear cross member, toe board patch rear disc brakes, & a few other things I can't think of unless I pull out my "build notebook".
  7. You are correct...and that chassis died in 2011 as the final Panthers. I have soooo many P71 Crown Vic parts on my 72 Gran Torino Sport. I'm even looking at adapting the rack & pinion to a 73 Ranchero I'm starting on. Another factoid. Not sure about now, but the chassis for Grand National, Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Sprint Cup cars was pretty much a Ford chassis design with a Chevy truck rear trailing arms. "Cup" cars were Ford chassis & front suspension, with Chevy truck trailing arms supporting a Ford 9" rear, and a modified Ford Top Loader (Jerico) transmission.
  8. "Mercury isn't going anywhere..." Ford said that one week before they announced it was being discontinued. I don't believe a thing FoMOCo (or any other manufacturer) says. Ford knows the PR nightmare that would ensue if they announced the Coupe was being phased out. I believe that is the plan and Ford is working that way now.
  9. And so are the fanbois. I was as big of a Ford man as there ever was. In my 43 years of automobile ownership, I've only had 5 non Ford products...and of those, two had Ford engine swaps. It really took some screwing up to turn me against FoMoCo. They accepted the challenge.
  10. Go elsewhere & buy a truck that isn't pre-rusted. Geezus, that pig has more rust than my 2004 F-250...and I live in a salt state.
  11. Yet another quality product brought to you by the new Ford Motor Company where quality is job zero.
  12. Why is this happening? Looks to me that my prediction of Ford "being profitable at all costs" is coming to fruition. The ONLY thing that keeps Ford in the black is the F Series trucks. Is surface rust formation on a 3 month old truck a quality isuue? Probably not per se, but it is a PERCEIVED quality issue. Damm...it appears to me that Ford is trying to take themselves into bankruptcy.
  13. We get the shit screwed out of us on fuel taxes. NM & OR have both fuel tax & per mile rates. The way trucks pay fuel tax is as follows: total miles driven (all states) over the quarter is divided by the total fuel purchased (all states) to get an average mpg. Then miles per state are calculated, divided by mpg to get usage. Fuel gallons purchased is subtracted from that, then multiplied by the tax rate plus any applicable surcharge. Bottom line comes out to trucks pay 10-15 times fuel tax than do cars. We pay our share. Don't get me started on tolls ($115 to cross the GWB). Where the real issues are; not fuel taxes. It's where that money GOES is the issue. Fuel tax revenues have been an ATM for states for far too long & now the golden goose is dying.
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