Ford CEO Alan Mulally's turnaround plan might not be able to overcome the weight of history, but these guys sure seem to have a handle on, gulp, reality. To wit: FoMoCo analyst George Pippas' [above] acknowledgment of the American consumer's shift away from pickup trucks. Pippas' remarks come via BusinessWeek, which reports that April light truck sales (pickups, minivans, SUVs and crossovers) dropped by 17.4 percent across the board. That's compared to an overall passenger car increase of 4.5 percent. And a total new vehicle sales decrease of 7.8 percent, to 4,819,709 units. So, what does GM make of the pickup truck cash cow barbecue? "We certainly think the pickup truck market will bounce [back], but it's hard to say how quickly and how high that will go," pronounced Marketing Maven Mark LaNeve. Chrysler? "We don't see this market as a sea change against pickup trucks," spokesmouth Stuart Schorr said. "But it is a challenge. That's why we're developing hybrids, for instance. But Americans will continue to want pickup trucks." Toyota used PR-speak to split the difference between realism and delusion. ""Consumers are delaying their purchases now," admits ToMoCo GM Bob Carter. "But it's going to recover in the future." One thing for sure: the future isn't now. [thanks to jthorner for the link]
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Another reason Ford will probably be the last domestic standing.
The number of people who buy full-size pickups as a lifestyle accessory ebbs and flows with the price of gas. If we are to accept that the current situation is basically permanent, then Pippas’ comment is right on the money. The rest of them are still drinking the fat-profit-margin Kool Aid from the 90’s.
Europeans do perfectly fine without pickup trucks.
My cousin over there has 5 children. But when I suggest he get himself a minivan, he gives me a blank stare. He’s perfectly happy with his wagon. I have no idea where he puts his children, but somehow they fit.
Unfortunately the dudes driving the jacked up Dodge Rams and Ford F150s in my neck of the `burbs still haven’t gotten the memo.
– Driving around sans bedcover/cab and tailgate in place? Check.
– Driving with the foot consistently pressed on the accelerator? Check.
– Driving with huge wide tires, to better increase rolling resistance? Check.
It’s gonna hurt when it comes down to beer money or gassin’ up “big red”..
EJ_San_Fran,
Volvo wagon: wife in the passenger seat, 3 kids across 2nd row, 2 in rear jumper seat, easy and safe (relatively).
Yep, I’ve heard this one before. “It will be any day now.”
Yep, I took the family on an 1800 mile trip around the Southeast a couple years ago. The vehicle of choice was a 2000 Volvo V70 wagon, non-turbo.
Overall mileage: 30.5 MPG
That was doing a quarter of the driving in town and three quarters on the highway. Seated 7, extremely comfortable and safe, and plenty of nice handling and features.
Minivans are pretty decent alternatives but the NA market requires some smaller engines with healthy low-end torque. That particular combination you can only get on the opposite side of the pond.
I’d get a pick-up if gas was cheaper.
Someday I can dream of owning what I really want.
“but I have to have towing capacity”
Okay, what do you need to tow?
“My boat or my camper”
Necessities indeed!
Reading the story on this site how those massive GM SUV hybrids are an utter sales failure, it does make me ponder if the suv fashion craze is indeed over. If people still lusted for such vehicles, to my mind the hybrid would highly sought after.
I also can’t hep but notice how pickups have morphed over the years. The 50’s & 60’s pickups were about the size of a current Toyota Tacoma.
@priznat
This is a digression, but having the tailgate up is actually best for gas mileage. Mythbusters had an episode on this – tailgate up was best for gas mileage, then having a topper, then no tailgate. Seems counterproductive, but the numbers don’t lie.
Apparently, a bubble of air forms in the truck bed which blocks air from coming down in the bed at speed, though I can’t judge the validity of that.
Perhaps the Ford Ranger will live on in it’s current form another 5 years.
Adonis
You are right, I have watched pickups go down the hiway with a dozen empty beer cans in the bed with no tail gate. they all go to the front.
Gangsta Rap music isn’t dead, but the fad is over and is winding down. Over the top spending isn’t dead and gone, but suddenly being frugal is trendy and cool.
There will be hangers on, but the monster truck thing is done. The 20″ bling wheels, the jacked-up-to-the-sky suspensions and all the other foolishness is rapidly heading to whatever happy hunting ground automotive fads retire to. Buh-bye!
Commercial vehicle fleets going forward in North America are going to start looking a lot more like the European and Japanese commercial fleets. Dodge is already there in the van category with the Sprinter family of entries. No surprise they are lifted directly from the European market thanks to former parent Daimler. I bet Daimler wishes they had left Sprinter under their Freightliner brand instead of putting it with Dodge. Ford is getting into the game by bringing over the Transit Connect. There are lots of great commercial vehicles on the world market which get their jobs done with less fuel consumption than the typical ‘merican V-8 powered full sized pick ’em ‘up truck.
GM had access to world standard commercial vehicles through Isuzu, but whilst selling the family jewels they sold their stake in Isuzu. Toyota, rarely missing a beat, stepping in and bought what had been GM’s share. Toyota’s management isn’t perfect, but they are darn good.
North American fuel prices today are about where Europe’s were five years ago and the trend is up. Logically then you can expect to see more fleet convergence. Luckily for Ford this plays right into Mulally’s One-Ford-Worldwide strategy.
Interesting times. Too bad it didn’t get done in the 1970s when we had our first chance.
I wonder if all the mid-size pickups like the Frontier, Dakota and Colorado/Canyon will be replaced by a true compact in the next redesign.
Right now they are all too big to me small and too small to be big.
My father has a Frontier 4X4 with the 4.0L engine, it averages 14mpg in mostly city driving.
Now if Ford would just offer the Ranger 4wd with the 2.3L and a 5 speed they would have a winner.
Benders: Ford put up all the company assets to get a 44 BILLION DOLLAR loan to stave off bankruptcy.
How will Ford be able to repay that loan?
F150 sales have hit the toilet, and while Ford seems to be pleased Focus sales are up, there’s no real profit in that car.
Excepting Edge’s, the rest of the model sales are stagnent.
Mercury = dead brand (barely) walking.
Lincoln = see Mercury.
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RayH: Ranger to be discontinued after the 2009 model run.
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RedStapler: The Ranger is hopelessly obsolete.
Even if Ford went all out with a 5 speed O/D 4WD, how many ppl will buy one?
Super Cabs have rear seats fit only for kiddies.
The styling changes can’t disguise the fact the Ranger is 26 years old.
The realistic assessment of Ford’s management (no hope for GM or Chrysler, is there?) gives me pause to wonder if they will be the last American auto manufacturer standing, too.
Yes,they have reached rock bottom, just as they had in 1945. They were “calculating” company expenses by weighing invoices, for God’s sake. The flathead V8 was out of date, they had no replacement ready (and wouldn’t until 1954), the cars used antiquated 1930’s technology in their chassis, and morale was terrible.
The car that literally saved Ford was the 1949 Ford. Except for the V8 (dating from 1932) and six cyl. engine (dating from 1940), it was all new and modern. Ironically, the design was a cast off Studebaker styling job rejected as too mild by Studebaker! The engineering was finally at least up to date as in 1949 technology.
Perhaps Ford’s foray into HSD type hybrids could pull them out of the ditch this time. They are already way ahead of the game and know pickups and SUVs are dead in the water.
As for the Ranger, I suspect that the “new” Ranger will be the world pickup being designed for manufacture in South Africa for distribution in much of the world. Naturally, due to the Chicken Tax tariff in the United States dating from the 1960’s, the truck will also have to be assembled (if not manufactured) within NAFTA for sale here.
I’m going to go ahead and be somewhat open-minded next year and actually have put the Mazda 6 on our potential shopping list. I just wish they’d do a hybrid. (This is in addition to our Prius – we want to be able to tow a 1500 pound pop-up). I can’t quite bring myself to consider a Ford brand just yet. But the Mazda 6 is manufactured in Flat Rock Michigan (my home and current state) and are known to be very good cars.
“But the Mazda 6 is manufactured in Flat Rock Michigan (my home and current state) and are known to be very good cars.”
Funny isn’t it? The Mazda 6 is arguably more “American” than the Mexican Fusion is :).
For everyone that didn’t read the article, Toyota was just as ‘delusional’ as GM and Chrysler with respect to truck sales recovering.
FWIW:
Chevy Silverado 37,231, 160,010 YTD, -20.8%
GMC Sierra 13,196, 57,403 YTD, -11.2%
Ford F-Series 44,813, 192,951 YTD, -15.5%
Toyota Tundra 13,350, 54,134 YTD, + 23.5%
Toyota Camry 40,016, 147,018 YTD, +1.3%
Honda Accord sales aren’t yet available, but it was the best selling vehicle in March (!). Year-end sales numbers are going to be really interesting – will a passenger car be the top-selling vehicle in the US market for the first time in over 2 decades?
Camry Hybrid is now outselling Camry V6, impressive fuel economy vs. transmission teething problems.
I don’t think it is necessary to stereotype pick up truck owners. I hope no one classifies me as I drive my Prius. With my Save the Whale and Hillary bumper stickers. While I am on my way to Starbucks. To get a triple decaf latte and read The NY Times. With my tie dyed T shirt with peace symbol.
“With my Save the Whale and Hillary bumper stickers.”
Skooter, that’s really not fair, as Bill has lost a lot of weight. :-)
@Adonis:
That is interesting! Rather counter intuitive but I can see it.. I did have a friend who had a fullsize silverado and he did a lot of highway travel, he did swap out the tailgate for a mesh one and claimed to see an increase in fuel efficiency.. However this was back when gas was ~30 (cdn) cents a litre in Alberta (that’s like, about a buck a gallon) so I imagine the whole fuel efficiency thing was more of a passing interest than a desperate need on his part..
Ah, for those halcyon days..
It’s amazing (not really) on how many really like not having a goddam clue. And relish in exhibiting their cluelessness to as many others as possible!
It’s a little know fact that when Europeans come here to vacation, they often rent huge gas guzzling RV’s and visit places like Death Valley in the Summer! And any other National Park within driving distance! Been there, sweated that.
The guy with the lack of knowledge of basic aerodynamics on the open bed/tailgate deal. WTF?
Tailgate UP is the best. Period. Google it. Been hashed to death on actual scientific sites. Kick the horse again…
And the indisputable financial fact that I can take my family on vacation to San Diego and stay literally ON THE BEACH cheaper and get a better family experience in a camper than in a hotel! I’m not raising a hoarde of “Room Service” Metrosexuals!!
Sorry but I can’t do that in a Japanese suedo truck! I need a huge diesel crew cab with an 8 ft. bed!!
And last time I looked, only the BIG 2.8 made those with any degree of quality.
And no, Ford isn’t the Truck sales leader. Add GMC and Chevrolet and it’s a GM truck that has been THE leader for years. But apparently Chevy likes being the called the underdog.
I’m surprised they are only down 17%. That doesn’t sound as catastrophic as a 40-50% drop would be. Here in SoCal, the F150/Silverado crew cabs are THE family cars. Sure, some of these folks could be coaxed into something more reasonable, a crossover say, if gas goes any higher. But there is a fairly large core group that (thinks they) need(s) a big pickup to tow the toys (boats, horses, atvs etc) and there really isn’t anything else out there.
I say this as an unabashed compact pickup owner/fan. Am on my 5th Toyota, an 03 Tacoma. But I am in lust with the new Tundra. That is one seriously bitchin troca!
Yeah, the number of people that apparently live in 200 X 300 square foot “apartments” in NY or some other concrete jungle, don’t own a vehicle, and don’t have a job so they can spend all day posting anti car crap all day is truly amazing.
As far as the that buy pickups all being gone… yeah right. I guess all those construction workerscompanines will just put all their tools and materials in the back of their Prius to go to work… And everyone else that has a use for a pickup, I’m sure they’ll just do it now with their new “Smart” car. It is absolutely amazing just how ignorant people can really be…
I believe you can stay cheaper in a camper than in a hotel room. But you have to spend much more to purchase the big rig, fuel it, buy tires etc. Not to mention campers aren’t freelast time I checked. Actually the “cheapest” way to stay in San Diego is to buy a beach house, you can stay for “free”.
As far as the Metrosexual-hotel link, first time I heard this – not sure what you mean. Thanks for telling me – I’ll keep an eye out for this moral menace. At any rate I plan to use tents next time we go camping.
Am I living in “NY or some concrete jungle”? No, I am suburban dwelling family guy who lives in house more than 2000 SQ ft. I drive a 4cyl, manual tranny commute car (30 mpg mixed use) and we have a gas-hog minivan (20 mpg mixed use). When I had to haul 1000 lb of flooring I used the minivan. When I had to get a few tons of landscape material I paid home depot 50 bucks to deliver – a whole lot cheaper than buying a pickup.
Anyway in US we should drive what we want, I don’t support silly laws like CAFE. But higher prices will significantly reduce sales of the “big iron”.
The easy way to separate those who truly need a pickup from those who just think they do is to look at where they buy them, i.e., fleet sales. That’s where the true work trucks can be found and where people who actually need a truck buy them.
Of course, you won’t find any leather-seat King Ranches or Lincoln Mark LTs in the fleet lots. The fleet pickups have vinyl seats and roll-your-own windows. The only amenity on a fleet truck might be air conditioning, but then, when using a pickup for its intended purpose, there aren’t a whole lot of options that are necessary.
gawdodirt: “And the indisputable financial fact that I can take my family on vacation to San Diego and stay literally ON THE BEACH cheaper and get a better family experience in a camper than in a hotel! I’m not raising a hoarde of “Room Service” Metrosexuals!! Sorry but I can’t do that in a Japanese suedo truck! I need a huge diesel crew cab with an 8 ft. bed!!”
We use tents. No “room service” metrosexuals here.
@gawdodirt: And the indisputable financial fact that I can take my family on vacation to San Diego and stay literally ON THE BEACH cheaper and get a better family experience in a camper than in a hotel! I’m not raising a hoarde of “Room Service” Metrosexuals!!
Last time I was camping, I just rolled out a foam pad on a flat piece of rock, but if you’re afraid of roughing it up, there is no way a hotel/motel will be more expensive than buying and maintaining a camper and a huge diesel truck, unless you camp 200 days a year.
Of course, if you have a reason to buy the truck for work, that’s a completely different story, but don’t use a trip to the beach as an “undisputed financial fact” (excuse) for the purchase, because there is no way you can make it stick.
menno: The 1949 Ford was NOT a cast off Studebaker design in any way, shape or form. Quite the contrary.
Late in 1947, Ford prez Ernie Breech decided that the 1949 Ford design was too heavy, so a designer pal of his (can’t recall the name-could have been Holden ‘Bob’ Koto) that worked for Raymond Loewy and had worked on the 1950 Studebaker restyle, secretly designed a brand new ’49 Ford during his off hours. It took him a month….he baked the clay model in his wifes oven.
The only change Ford made with the design was to change the tail lights from vertical to horizontal.
So with a new lighter and sleeker 1949 Ford, the original Ford design became the 1949 Mercury, the Merc became the Lincoln, the Lincoln became the Lincoln Cosmopolitan.
When Loewy found out what had transpired, he fired the designer, who then went to work for Ford.
btw: the Lincoln model was basically a Mercury with a Cosmopolitan styled front clip. The Cosmo shared no sheetmetal with any other FoMoCo model.
Originally, the 1949 Lincoln was to have the flathead 292 cid V12 that had powered the original 1936 Zephyr, and subsequent Zephyr models and 1940/48 Continentals.
The V12 was an oil burning, underpowered terd of an engine, so it was dropped in favor of the new 337 cid flathead V8 1948 Ford F8 truck engine, which shared no parts with its smaller cousin.
Both the Lincoln and Cosmo used this engine thru 1951. In 1950, this engine was paired with GM’s Hydra-Matic, for use in Lincoln & Cosmo models only.
Lincolns used Hydra-Matic thru 1955.
1991 was the first year more ppl bought full sized pickups for pleasure than they did for work trucks.
When the price of gas hit 3 bucks a gallon, the ppl that had bought full sized pickups (and SUV’s) for daily drivers, began leaving the market in droves, and IMO, will never buy full sized pickups again.
The bud is off the rose…sales of full sized pickups have dropped over 25% since 2005 and will never return to the pre 2005 level.
All this is very bad news for the (so called) Big 3, who have depended on profits derived from full sized pickup (and SUV) sales.
Around here (LA County) the lots are choked with new and used full sized pickups, whose sales have hit rock bottom.
Toyota/Honda/Nissan/Mazda dealers don’t even want these pickups in trade, and low ball the trade in price by as much as 40% off the KBB wholesale figures.
Drive by any Ford/GM/Chrysler dealership on weekends, the lots are full of pickups, devoid of customers. And with the price of gas fast approaching 4 bucks a gallon, it’s only going to get worse.
Ford has shuttered over 20 dealerships in the past 18 months in LA & Orange Counties. Some of those FoMoCo dealerships dated back to the 1920’s.
BKW: “Toyota/Honda/Nissan/Mazda dealers don’t even want these pickups in trade, and low ball the trade in price by as much as 40% off the KBB wholesale figures.”
Automotive News recently reported that some Toyota dealers are flat-out refusing to take any more new Tundra pickups from Toyota.
rudiger: Automotive News recently reported that some Toyota dealers are flat-out refusing to take any more new Tundra pickups from Toyota. No question: Toyota is up to their eyeballs in Texas Tundras. Stand by for DEEP discounts.
Off topic:
Robert Farago, are you in any way related to Ladislas Farago, the late author and former OSS agent?
His books on WWII history are some of my favorite reads.
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Back to topic:
Consider the Nissan dealers inre to Titan/Armada’s.
Dealers around here (LA County) are still overstocked with 2007’s and some still have 2006’s!
Same thing applies to Dodge dealers and Rams…all the fat discounts and give-aways ChryCo has tried, aren’t selling very many of them. Want a new 2006? How about a new 2005?
Hi BKW. Well, all I can say about the Studebaker connection is that I saw photos of a Studebaker prototype clay from about 1947, which was done by some of the same crew that actually did the 1949 Ford, and the essential shape was 98% the same. The tail lights on the Ford being horizontal with a corresponding metal change to the fender, seemed to be one big change.
Take a look at the spinner in the middle of a 1949 or 1950 Ford and tell me again there is no Studebaker connection somewhere along the lines, eh? Ha.
This is not to take anything away from Ford, by the way! Quite regularly designers move from one job to another and take ideas.
Look at Ford’s designer of the 1961 Thunderbird, Mr Engel, who moved on to Chrysler. Take a peek at the Chrysler Turbine car some time. Wags even called it the EngelBird.
Then look at Engel’s 1961 Lincoln Continental design then take a peek at the 1964 Chrysler Imperial some time. Yeah, the Imperial design is more fussy, but the chrome strip on the top of the fenders is there. Plus, it was not an all-new car but a reskin (look at the windshields on a 1961-1963 Imperial designed by Virgil Exner vs. the later 1964-1966 – they are the same).
Finally, look at the Packard design from 1951-1954 done by John Reinhart, then look at the 1956-1957 Continental (especially comparing the instrument panels). Reinhart moved on to Ford.
Menno: Special Interest Autos around 20 years ago, told the entire story of how the the 1949 Ford came about, complete with pictures of the clay model in the stylists wifes stove. The article, I believe, was written by Michael Lamm.
There’s the same story in a book on auto styling, co-authored by Lamm.
From what I’ve read, only one person did the car.
I’ve been in the car hobby for over 50 years, and have been a Packard collector since 1965, so I’m familiar with Rinehardt’s 1951 Packard, which PMCC dubbed “Contour Styling.”
Richard Teague was responsibe for everything from 1953/56, the last two years are heavily restyled 1951’s.
Rinehardt’s Mark II came off far better, but anyone that owns or has owned one, will tell you the battery location sucked! The brakes were awful, too.
Yes, I can see 1961 Lincoln in the 1964 Imperial, the Lincoln, IMO opinion, comes off much better.
The 1961/63 Birds I never cared for, the 1964/66’s are far nicer…everything since has been a waste of steel.
Here’s one…ever seen pics of the stillborn 1957 Packard’s front end? It’s a dead ringer for the 1958 Edsel’s. The ’57 Packard (not the awful Studebaker built Packabaker), can be seen in the final pages of Robert Turnquists book, “The Packard Story.”
The former Packard prez, James J. Nance was prez of the Edsel Division in 1958, several members of the engineering and design staff moved to FoMoCo after Packard failed in March 1956.
I stopped by several dealerships today – Ford, GMC, Toyota, and Chevrolet. ALL were packed with pickups, and two were open for business. Fusions and Corollas were observed coming back from test drives. I think that pickups will still sell in big numbers but not yesterday’s big numbers. Even at a 30% reduction in sales, we are still talking big numbers. Tradespeople, industry, and those who simply will not buy anything else will support a large number but the manufacturing infrastructure is now geared for too much capacity. So a shakeout in production capacity is inevitable. Those who purchase trucks for reasons other than true “need” are the ones who are gone for good.
I live in the country. Lot’s of second/third-hand pickups and SUVs around, taxing themselves to the tune of 5-10 mpg. I wouldn’t care much if they weren’t a danger to everyone else. Especially on Friday/Saturday nights when during the course of bar hopping they plow into the guard rails and flip and injure/kill themselves, and unfortunately, others. The ones that aren’t incapacitiated or dead go out and buy another used pickup/SUV and raise it they next day or within a week. It’s a seemingly endless cycle out here in East Bumfuck. I keep thinking the supply of used pickup/SUVs will run out, but sadly that does not seem to be the case. Folks out here just don’t buy cars. If they make it to their 40s and 50s, they may at least become responsible drivers.
I suspect his is why my insurance went UP when I moved from the city/inner burbs.
thx_ztec: Actually the “cheapest” way to stay in San Diego is to buy a beach house, you can stay for “free”.
Except that you are paying for the house, not to mention property taxes and utilities (even when you aren’t using it).
That hardly sounds like “free” to me.
menno and BKW:
There is some controversy as to who designed the 1949 Ford. For the postwar program, as originally envisioned by Edsel Ford and stylist Bob Gregorie, there was to be a “big” Ford and a “little” Ford. Both were designed by Bob Gregorie, who had designed most of the prewar Fords and the Lincoln Continental. Edsel Ford died in 1943, which meant that this postwar plan lost its champion and Gregorie lost his chief patron.
Henry Ford II was released early from the Navy to run the Ford Motor Company, thanks to intervention from his mother (Edsel’s widow) and grandmother. The federal government actually feared that the Ford Motor Company, an important supplier of war material, would collapse if Herny Ford I were allowed to run it, as he had suffered a few strokes and was 80 years old in 1943. Believe it or not, there was even talk of the federal government taking over the Ford Motor Company and arranging its sale to Studebaker!
After Henry II was released from the Navy, his grandfather and Harry Bennett attempted to undermine him, so his mother threatened to sell her stock (Ford was 100-percent privately owned at that time) if Henry Ford I didn’t step aside in favor of her son.
He did, and Henry Ford II fired Harry Bennett and brought in Ernie Breech to run the company. Breech immediately decided that the big Ford was too big, and the little Ford couldn’t be sold at a profit. The big Ford became the 1949 Mercury. What was to be the 1949 Mercury became the 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan, only without the hidden headlights. Hence, the “sunken eye” appearance of the 1949 Lincolns, as those headlights were originally supposed to be covered. A proposed second-generation Continental was killed.
The little Ford was sent to France as the Ford Vedette.
Breech set up a competition between Bob Gregorie and George Walker’s group, retained on contract, to design the 1949 Ford. Some of Walker’s men worked with unemployed Studebaker stylist Dick Caleal to finalize the 1949 Ford. The clay was completed in Caleal’s kitchen. Caleal had some input on the design, but it was not entirely his.
Breech had also demanded that both teams use the 1947 Studebaker, designed by Raymond Loewy, as the size template for the new Ford. In the immediate postwar years, the 1947 Studebaker was the most advanced American car in the styling department. The Champion models were also noted for their economy and light construction.
Remember that there was a great fear that the end of war production would throw the economy into another depression, as happened after World War I. Decent fuel economy and low price were paramount. At the same time, Americans still wanted a car that didn’t look too small (hence, the decision to send the little Ford to Europe). In that environment, it made sense to look at the 1947 Studebaker as a template for Ford’s first all-new postwar car.
The model produced by George Walker’s group was ultimately chosen. Gregorie resigned, went to Florida, and designed yachts. Walker was later named head of Ford styling.
Note, however, that before he resigned, Gregorie had also designed Ford’s first all-new postwar pickup, which debuted even before the all-new 1949 Ford. Those trucks are very attractive and are becoming collectible, too.
The Deuce (Henry II) was brought in as prez of FoMoCo because the War Production Board deemed ‘ol Henry unreliable.
When Henry balked at making his grandson prez, Clara said she would sell her Ford Stock if ‘ol Henry didn’t relent.
The first thing The Deuce did when he became prez was to fire Bennett and all the members of the “Service Dept” ..Ford’s in-house security service known as Bennett’s “goon squad.”
Thanks for the ref on Dick Caleal, I couldn’t remember that name for the life of me.
btw: I’m also a Ford car/truck collector, and spend a good portion of my day (I’m retired) on two Ford truck websites created for owners/enthusuasts of old/new trucks, Broncos, and etc.