Hail and Farewell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E9vMQ2hVBgE
Bonjour,
The RANGER is not dead.
In Europe there is always, there's even a new model this year.
http://www.ford.fr/Vehicule_Particulier/Ranger
Olivier
I thought Ford made their last pickup in 1979. I bought what I thought was a Ford pick up in 1980 and it turned out to be a car with a pickup body on it. They had cut so many holes in the frame to lighten it for gas economy that the frame would flex when you turned the steering wheel.
Best
gus
That is actually old news. The plant was originally slated to be closed sooner.
For the past 30+ years there has been an "Annual All Ford Picnic" at the Twin Cities Assembly plant.
Each of the last four picnics have been promoted as the last one, yet they have been able to hold at least one more.
This year the "5th Annual LAST Ford Picnic" is being held this Sunday, June 3, 2012. It is actually the 33rd Annual Ford Picnic. It will be the first picnic where the plant is, in fact, shut down. It probably will be the last picnic.
I plan to be there once again with a Model T.
Ive had two Rangers and loved both. Scott
I had a 95 Ranger and put 500,000 km on it and did nothing but regular maintenance on it. Still had the original rad, starter, alt. etc.
Erik, I live less than 2 miles from the Ford plant. Do you have any details such as time.
Thanks,
Ford AUSTRALIA has just released a top of the range model which they had a lot of design input. A U.S.A.Ford team were so impressed with it that it may well go world wide [but probable assembled in TAIWAN].
Jason -
I responded to your private message.
Details are on the Early Ford V8 Club calendar:
http://www.earlyfordv8.org/early-ford-social-calendar.cfm
I don't get it. Why would Ford stop selling a popular small pickup? Last year I leased 5 of them for my company and as far as I can tell they are much better than the Chevy's we leased in the past. IMHO the beds of the Ford trucks are much more robust than any other trucks on the market. When we leased Chevy’s I bought used beds and installed them for the life of the lease and reinstalled the new beds when we turned them back in since we actually used the truck beds. The Chevy used beds were absolute beat up junk at the end of a 4 year lease. Not so with the Fords.
Paul
In 2006 Ford announced announced they would be closing the Twin Cities assembly plant in 2008. Many if not most employees took buyouts/early retirement.
When gas prices spiked, the demand for large pick-up trucks went down and the demand for Rangers went up. Ford then announced the plant wouldn't close until 2011.
State and local politicians pleaded for the assembly plant to remain open and discussed the possibility of assembling other Ford vehicles at the plant. However, the original plant was built in 1925 and the complex is considered obsolete. In order to successfully and competitively build vehicles there, the plant would need to be torn down and a new state of the art facility would then have to be built. That just isn't going to happen.
The Twin Cities assembly plant sits on a prime piece of real estate next to the Mississippi River. It is unique in that it is not located in an industrial area of St. Paul. It is a stand-alone industrial complex on the south end of a residential area known as Highland Park. Highland Park is a very desirable place to live - it has very well maintained pre and post WWII middle-class and upper middle-class houses including many million dollar homes, especially along the river. It's like a suburb within the City of St. Paul.
One of the biggest surprises that I have had at work (Walmart), was when a couple of fellows from south of the border rolled into our lot with a FOUR DOOR CREW CAB Ranger pickup. It wasn't a custom or a conversion but a genuine, made in Mexico four door crew cab Ranger. It was really neat and sure got my attention.