Maxidyne

Exchange rate is about 3 BR Reals for a Dollar, so price is around $45k. Brazil was another missed opportunity for Mack, their import restrictions are a PITA but the market is so big you can't ignore it. Missed opportunities like that are how Mack became a pawn in Volvo's acquisitions instead of the worldwide brand leader Mack should have become.

That's typical Class 6/7 operations, truck sits more than it's parked. For example, at UPS a straight truck sits parked until afternoon, then makes a 10 mile or so trip to a medium sized shipper where it sits a while being loaded. Another 10 miles back to UPS, where it maybe sits a bit before a door opens up to unload it. Repeat a couple more times a day 'til the truck gets parked for the night. So we're talking about maybe 10-20k miles a year for an original owner that will maybe keep it 10 years... Well within the life expectancy of an F650/750. Class 8 linehaul is a whole different world where a UPS Mack will cover 500 miles on the day shift, then cover another 100-200 miles on the night shift running to the intermodal yards and suburban hubs.

For most Class 6 and 7 applications the F650 and 750 are more than adequate and quite affordable. If you need more payload or run a hundred thousand miles a year you're going to need a more expensive premium truck, period.

And as a Super Tenere rider, I have to thank Ford for saving Yamaha back in the 80s! Yamaha builds a lot of high tech mobility, from the Toyota S2000 back in the 60s to even the power wheelchairs they currently build.

What torques me is that Ford is boxing themselves into the SUV and truck business. Looking at past history, buyers will move to SUVs and trucks when gas is cheap, then swing right back to high MPG sedans when gas prices rise. Then Ford, GM, etc. scramble to tool up to build small cars again while the rest of the world's car makers have small cars ready to go. There's also the possibility that the auto affordability crisis forces buyers back to sedans, and perhaps with a vengeance when they figure out that the "rugged" SUV they've been looking at is nothing more than a jacked up wagon/hatch with an even more jacked up price tag. Ford is especially vulnerable to this consumer awakening, what with their best selling SUV in North America, the Escape, being sold as the C-Max high roof sedan in some markets. The dragged out wait for the Ranger and even more tardy Bronco don't help either. And if Ford can keep the slow selling Flex around, why can't they bring existing heavy truck products like the Cargo here?

Stopwatching the train from the video, it looks to be doing at least 30 MPH. At that speed, the stopping distance likely exceeds the sight distance by a good margin= Probably no way the train crew could have avoided the crash. Truck driver clearly at fault, wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place.

Sounds like nice powertrain specs- You've got the low RPM Maxidyne with peak torque at only 1020 RPM and a broad enough power curve that you can shift just the main box. Or to keep the revs up for engine braking split the main box gears, or just split top gear and use it as an overdrive. As for adding a pup and pushing the GCW up to around 90K#, the truck will move it, but not all that fast.

Pretty typical- the Ro-Ro ships and container ships have economies of scale and efficiencies that trucking can't match.

I didn't know you have a 12 speed! With those close ratio gears you can use some of the more "peaky" power curves. But I'd still be conservative with the HP increases- This is a 27 year old truck and one has to allow for some wear and age in the engine and drivetrain.

Glen is right- You might be able to get it up to 400 HP, but the power curve will be to narrow to work with the Maxidyne's wide ratio transmission.

I'm not totally up on it, but I'll take a shot: R, U, F- Slightly narrower than the standard 34" width, but splayed out in the front. Some F models from the late 70s on had a deep center section of the frame. RD, DM, ect.- similar, with thicker, deeper. doubled up frame rails Mack Western, Superliner I- straight rails with aluminum optional, one piece front crossmember/engine mounts. and axle mounted steering gear. MR and LR- similar to RD and DM with deep center section on MR and IIRC some LRs had a drop center section Superliner II, MH, CH, CL early Granite- a development of the R/U/F frame CH and CX from around 2004- Volvo frame Granite from around the same time- Volvo frame. I'm sure I made some errors there, please correct them.

There's a few big fleets that have CX612s, ABF, UPS, and USPS come to mind. I imagine ABF sells off a few as they upgrade their fleet, but expect they'll have a lot of miles. No UPS truck leaves big brown alive, they part them out so that's not an option. USPS is overdue for a fleet replacement and they all have automatics, but may be a year or three before they become available and they're 2006 models.

Sad to see FCA trashing Lancia's excellent reputation... They actually took the mopar minivan and badged engineered it into a "Lancia Voyager".

That's one of the reasons for Daimler's success- They can supply anything from a car to a van to a heavy hauler most anywhere in the world in quantities from one to the thousands. With nothing below a 10 ton or so truck and limited heavy haulage options in many markets, Volvo Truck can't offer "similar one stop shopping".

One of the advantages of the Volvo D16 over the Cummins ISX15 is the Volvo's superior engine braking, which counts for a lot when you're running at over 50 tons. Volvo's "logic" is that it's not worth the bother to do the emissions certification and parts support for an engine that sells maybe a couple hundred units a year. What Volvo fails to see is that the certifications are already done and paid for, and the parts are already in stock. As for volumes, if they had priced their 16 liter engine more reasonably and leveraged commonality of parts with Volvo's other product lines the North American volume would move up from hundreds to thousands per year.

Interesting... Thought I'd read that International was having Mayflower build their cabs?

I don't care one way or the other, but good to see Detroit finally getting some investment.

Already happening- I'm on a Facebook group of truckers shooting for 9 MPG, and a lot of them are downsizing from 13 to 11 liter engines.

Given that several truck makers may be merged or spun off during the production life of any new truck that they're designing, Volvo would be wise to design their trucks to fit every makers engine!

Could be a non-compete agreement with GM instead- Volvo dropped the FL cabover without explanation about 20 years ago. Mack sold the 1st generation of the current "slant window" Renault version, but it was dropped around the time Volvo bought Mack. But you can still buy a Volvo FL here, you just have to go to a Paccar dealer and they throw in a Cummins B series engine.

Paccar uses that cab too and may have an agreement blocking Volvo from using it in North America.

Should be interesting to see what upgrade Mack will offer for that engine with the wide ratio transmission- IIRC there was a 370 HP Maxidyne offered.

This is not a new business model- A lot of businesses like hotels are more in the real estate investment business than the hospitality business, as long as the room rates cover the operating costs they're OK, they'll make most of their money when they sell the property. For about the last 15 years of their existence Hostess was a more of a real estate investment play than a bakery, seemed like they closed the bakeries on the most valuable properties rather than the ones that were losing money. That came back to bite them in the late 90s when they closed their Natick, MA bakery, assuming the shopping mall across the street would make for a quick and profitable sale. But the property took years to sell while they spent a fortune trucking in bread from a replacement bakery in Maine. They went bankrupt in 2012 and all their couple hundred properties went up for sale as the market bottomed and were sold for pennies on the dollar. For example, Franz bought the whole operation in the northwest- 4 bakeries plus trucks and depots for 40 million. The Seattle bakery they got in the deal had been stripped of all baking equipment, but within a couple years they sold it for 20 million and to a developer and got back half their investment. Had the creditors been a bit more patient and the court dragging their feet a bit they might have gotten another billion for the assets. Hopefully Ford will be buying at the bottom of the market to reduce their risk...

There's good reasons why this magnificent building's been abandoned for decades- It's a half million square feet, has to be rehabbed to historic standards, and that will probably cost at least $100,000,000. Then again, you could do ten of them for the cost of a new car or truck platform...

Good point. Ford is something of an anachronism, the only automaker I know of that still owns a working farm among other assets. The Ford family and employees control most of the stock, which tends to keep corporate raiders and the short term profit mentality that comes with them away, which may have saved Ford from the bankruptcy flu that was going around Detroit a decade ago. The "official version" is that Ford needs all this extra office space for all the new techies they're hiring who will design the electrified automated Fords of the future. But aren't they in the middle of a major rehab of "glass house" and the surrounding headquarters complex in Dearborn? To be honest, this lack of a clear direction is sadly reminiscent of the years when a senile Henry the first struggled to run Ford... But again, maybe there's a plan. Ford has been taking their sweet time redeveloping the Twin Cities Assembly Plant site that closed nearly a decade ago, while the land has probably doubled in value. With "peak auto" perhaps imminent, perhaps Ford is investing in urban real estate as a hedge in case the millennials won't buy suburban mobility?