Red Horse

Go to Yu Tube and search New Holland Basildon. This was the big Ford plant..pretty impressive.

Likewise dodge/ ram/FCA. Although from every thing I see and hear, they are already low balling the 5500 vs the 550.

Kevin, The Mack Granite with Cummins power is showing up in a lot of the towns around me as a good front line single axle dump. For sure F'liner and International predominate but the Granites are getting good press. The other trend that continues is a lot of towns continue to buy class 5 dumps. Ford owns that market now but Im sure the GM/International class 5's will show up assuming they do something about tilting hoods and plow head gear! No doubt the Granite cab is overkill for class 6 but again, can't believe they want to jump into that market as crowded as it is.

for sure! Less of the "Jukebox" look of the GM IMO. remember when a grill consisted of a shroud and shutters😎!

Love that green! Got the H & K color code from Art for my B!

Kevin, Hope you are wrong about them being the last, but when I see how little attention they give class 6 and 7, you might be right. Then again, Hackett makes all kinds of speeches about .."trucks and commercial vehicles" as Ford's strong suit. Then again to him, a Transit Connect is probably his definition of "commercial vehicle". I myself see a big future for class 6 and 7-in particular class 6 given driver shortage as well as continued expansion of e commerce where even groceries get "boxed" and delivered. And look at Volvo- they spend money on a plant to build Mack mediums??? Guess they think medium duty as crowded as it is, is the place to be for the future.

Agree, it is a good wt rating to be in-in particular when GM/International are there. Key question I have is just what components did they tweak to meet the 22,000 lb rating. Also the GM/Int JV marketing pitch is their chassis is much more capable than the 450/550 chassis which is not a continual rail. So now Ford is jumping into the 22,000 lb class 6 range with that same two piece rail design?? I think the biggest selling point Ford will have is the 7.3 gas. To your point on landscapers- they don't run the mileage to pay out the MPG savings-diesel over gas. But they need the power. some of these guys around here have high cube dump bodies (for mulch) and they are towing 18, 20 ft trailers-both open and boxes that are jammed with all kind of equipment. these guys need power-7 months a year! By the way, I was hoping they were going to in essence hang the 650 hood on an existing 550, and call it a 600-guessed wrong on that.

F 600 is 22,000 lb GVW, the GM/NAV 6500 is 22,000 GVW -correct? 650 is up to 26,000. I'm sure you are correct-it will rob some 650 sales. However, I'm sure Ford will gladly take those F-600 sales vs. losing out to GM/Nav sales at 22,000. Then again you can get a 650 I think with a rating somewhere between 19,500 and 26,000. F-600 I'm sure will be the least costly 22,000 lb GVW out there. I have to say though, I thought for sure either they would have a new purpose built cab to be used for 450-750 as well as E series (with a lot of mods) thereby eliminating 3 cabs at OAP but I guess they just did not have the funds- might have had to cut some costs on wall hangings or some other trappings at the Train Station.😠

Go to ..."Other Trucks" thread and see Bullheaded's favorable comments.

for sure! As I posted on another site in response to why Ford gave up on heavy trucks in Brazil-make that South America... "Like I said-"political /economic climate" Country was in the tank. But don't you think the decision was easy for Hackett? Short term objectives are always the easiest. Was there excess capacity in that current market? I guess so. Ford unfortunately blinked first."

Wow- Long career-could probably teach some of the new guys a thing or two!

Kevin-we shall see if Ford has any surprises next week at the Work Truck Show in addition to the new 7.3 V-8. Surprised they let that cat out of the bag a couple of weeks ago. Good to read your comments about cost of designing a new cab. I can't believe they (Ford) continue to build 3 cabs at the Avon Lake plant that builds 650, 750 as well as 450 and 550 chassis cabs. the 450/550 get the aluminum SD cab while the 650/750 get the steel cab and the E series cut aways still get their old Econoline cab. Talk about an opportunity for savings! Or so it would seem to this dummy. Oh and for sure class 6 at least in the case of Ford is the hot market-you are right-10-1 over class 7. I did look at totals for 2018 and class 6 was 71,525 units while class 7 was 63,927. And with the new class 6 GM/International JV just starting to hit the dealer lots, Mack thinks they can in essence spend for a new assembly operation and be cost effective? 9 players in class 6 now and 6 in class 7. Crowded market as is.

Good luck Rich. that project will kill the shortcut off 25 on Friday afternoons😫

I'll believe it when a I see a drop down side window!

Got that right..Hackett's claim to fame?...he is a "cerebral thinker"!

Well I'm only as good as my memory from hanging out in an uncles heavy truck garage as well as my Wagner book but I would say 54 was when they first offered a factory tandem and that put them in class 8. !958 was probably the first big year as that was the year the Super Duty V-8's went into production.

Sure Liz, And I know you have answered this before but.........Simple question...I know you NEVER got any favorable treatment because of your native American roots. HOWEVER..with 1/1024 "proven" native American lineage, why would you even THINK of saying anything BUT Caucasian on any application??? Careful how you answer this now Liz, this is a test as to your true integrity. Crack another beer before you answer.

Hah-as for the teaspoon more, look at the side boards- steel. Think of the operator skill of those boys running cable backhoes and shovels.

Brocky-right church, wrong pew-you mean when Daimler took over😎

One other thing-VERY safety conscious fleet-it even has a right hand mirror-all 3" of it! As does the International in back of it. Safety pioneers! As for turn signals, that is what your left hand was for😎. It always amazes me that such a simple device as another mirror took so long to be accepted.

Makes you wonder-at least I do-how did they ever make any money? They could not have had significant volume? Sure economy in buying an existing cab but just to engineer it to work with their chassis? Then again when they were building these "kit trucks" the federal regs they had t deal with were Im sure a fraction of what they are today.

Is that a driving front axle or are my old eyes deceiving me??

This truck is now retired. But still on the job! Every year it is outlined in Christmas lights and is Powell's Christmas display!

Good point. Once a guy gets burned the memory lingers on. The 6.7 Power Stroke is another example. The fact that it has nothing in common with the 6.0/6.4 is not considered. All the good memories of the 7.3 Power Stroke are forgotten. I also think the fact that they were even INVOLVED with the Cat truck fiasco is not a plus for them. In any case as one of the last "American" class 8 builders, I hope they make it - and VW remains a minority investor.

Kevin I can't get over the aggressiveness of these guys. No of their presentations look less than professional. For sure takes bucks and dedication to do what they are doing. And given the level of competition they face, even more guts. And by the way-thx for the continuing education. I'm one of those guys who has never been to Europe other than one trip to Tuscany. I still have this impression that all the eastern euro countries are dependent on mule drawn carts!