Red Horse

Kevin-ok sounds good- I guess I'm thinking worst case where the economy of same glass, floor pans etc would make for the least costly option. But to Maxidyne's point, I'm thinking -again, broken record-with OAP building 450/550 chassis cabs, Ford is shipping aluminum cabs to OAP for those trucks, and steel cabs still in use for 650/750. Should be enough volume to come up with a truly competitive "big truck" cab that serves 450-750, and future "850" tandems. And when the new GM class 4,5,6 hit the market in force with their tilt hoods, unless they are significantly more expensive than the old alligator hood Fords, Ford -and Dodge will be in a dog fight.

Kevin, IMO IF -big IF-they ever decided to get back in the conventional 7/8 market in a serious way, I would hope for a purpose built cab. What benefit is there to these ultra wide cabs with short mirror extensions? Now my B-61 is narrow and confined for sure, but in the old days, my experience with 4000/9000 Whites, Louisvilles, and R models worked well-enough- room all around and great visibility-in particular the Fords and the R models (U and DM's too). And for sure I'm not talking about a "large car" that never sees anything but interstates. I'm talking about the true vocational market. Perhaps the over the road guys like all that space between the side glass and aren't worried about backing into a ready-mix plant that was laid out 60 years ago with a load of bulk cement or an old bulk plant with a load of no.2 fuel. But the true vocational market I think has different needs.

Glad to see they abandoned the " Transformer" look so many "Euro" tractors have (IMO). Be interesting to see what the power trains are-and if this migrates to SA

Kevin, I wonder how they (as well as Ford) can compete in a market that has such low demand figures-at least I think the market is small based on numbers I have seen. Certainly nothing like the US class 7 and 8 numbers right? Or are the safety/environmental compliance regs easy compared to ours that developmental costs are relatively low?

10-4 on the "full time".! And OD, when did you plant that-? March 1st? Then again big difference between VA and MA-think we had more snow in March than Feb! In any case very nice.

I would hope if Ford is contributing to the cost of this training the number would be a lot higher than 40%. What is really sad IMO is when a couple of these political hacks (in particular Bernie) make a lot of noise about every kid's ..."right to a college education" but they never talk about an education in a meaningful occupation where there is a real need.

Amazing what you can do when you have talent!👍

Paul, On Cape all week but Rich will be a good visit..."5500 pick up"??? this a 5500 chassis you put a PU body on??

Blackdog2- where are you on this-guy lives in Cheshire and works in NH!

Thx for posting Jim- I KNEW I should have gone to Museum last week. I have seen pix of this B-60X before. I believe this is a Matt Pfahl restoration and he has had it in some of his ads. In any case I looked at chassis no. and guess what-my B is chassis is 3731! I refer to mine as a B-61X as at some point in time it was converted from the EN 464A/TRDX670, to I believe a 673/TRD 720, and then eventually the 673 was replaced with the current ENDT 675. My front axle is the same FA 519, the rear is also a RAD 111 and according to build sheet was same 9.05 ratio (current is 6.07). As my build sheet indicates it was delivered to the Boston branch, and as it indicates original color was green, I wonder as close as these chassis numbers are if my truck was also a Derenzo order. All of my records also indicate the truck is a 56 vs a 55 so as the Derenzo chassis no. is 3 numbers higher than mine, something doesn't foot. No dates on the build sheet.

I do believe he needs Overnight????

Well to ad to the mix, VW and Ford announce they are exploring some sort of joint effort. this is an excerpt from a Motley fool story yesterday; Why Ford and VW might team up on commercial vehicles The one area of potential cooperation that Ford and VW chose to call out in their statement -- commercial vehicles -- is interesting. It's one part of the vehicle market where VW's and Ford's strengths and are complementary. Ford, of course, is a major player in commercial vehicles in the U.S. and Europe. Not only does it sell hundreds of thousands of F-Series pickups to commercial customers every year, its Transit line of commercial vans is a global best-seller. But (by truck standards, at least) those are mostly smaller vehicles; while Ford does have a heavy-truck business, it's fairly small -- and it doesn't make anything like a big tractor-trailer truck or a full-size bus. VW, on the other hand, does make big trucks and buses. Its Scania and MAN subsidiaries, which build heavy trucks, buses, and big engines, generated over 27 billion euros ($31 billion) in revenue last year. There's also a VW-brand commercial-vehicle business, which makes vans and a small pickup that compete with Ford's offerings, but its global sales trail Ford's in those segments. Could Ford benefit by working with VW on heavier trucks? Could VW benefit by working with Ford on commercial vans? Could both benefit by pooling their technology and knowledge, perhaps in a joint effort to create self-driving commercial vehicles? Note this makes no mention of VW's 17% stake in Navistar and it makes no mention of the big trucks VW builds under its own flag. Makes me wonder, why would VW want to help Ford, once one of International's strongest competitorws in class 7 and 8, get back in business? Unless of course their attitude is they want a piece of EVERY pie that is out there. And as for the other side of this coin, if their interest is just in the small commercial van business, what's in it for Ford who is I think the true gorilla in the world market with all the Transit variations. How about it KSC, your view on this.

OD-Outstanding! Don't see how I could have missed so many! Then again that is what happens when you spend a lot of time in conversation. thanks again for this and the ongoing "on the road shots" Bob

rich- Case also known as Ingersoll. Never owned one but I think they were pretty rugged hydro garden tractors. that one was I think the biggest in the series. With some chains and a good counterweight you might even be able to push some snow!

Maxi_as to who is running Ford? My guess is the financial press because they are the ones that print the horror stories or the glowing reports that make the stock go up or down. In any case I'm thinking of moving to Detroit and getting into the remediation business-there has to be a fortune made in making that new purchase safe for all the millennials that will be flocking to Ford to work in this beautiful building. Oh- I thought St. Paul's closing was also related to the value of the property for "best use". Guess the market changed?

With Hackett at the controls I'm surprised that hasn't happened already. As he continues to get bad press, the usual "cure" for bad press is a new.."bold move", that "focuses on our core business"..Like "cars"-...er no- I mean SUVS and trucks. Then again, does VW, (MAN, Scania) have a diesel that could be utilized in 650-750? How about it KSC??? By the way, who isn't in bed with VW now? Is there anyone left?

I wonder what percentage of Bosch's business is diesel related? They may have very good reason to get very creative.

6000 sq ft truck plant!!! Impressive-sounds like a snow ball's chance in hell-unless they are subsidized and they give them away. And Ford can't afford to offer another diesel option in 650/750!

A true New England legend!

Looks like Paccar had a hand in this!

Return of the " Two Story Falcon".......too bad we won't see it here.

This sounds like a rumor that some guy got from his brother -in law who has a cousin that cleans the offices at Tesla! The only financial blast I got on my Iphone today as far as Tesla goes is the stock went up because the genius writers at Consumer Reports gave them good marks because they did an electronic tweak and improved the Model 3 braking distance.

So that qualifies it to wear an oval surrounding that bow tie😎

Rich- a beauty for sure-The colors almost look like Ideal Block Co. colors-could you make out the name on door?

Unreal-have difficulty understanding how things have gone this far. Then again when you look at the crap we accept on TV, the lack of good roll models, the decline of the family, it is not hard to understand why things are trending the way they are. Just heard West Hollywood was giving Stormy Daniels some sort of good citizenship award!