Horrible ford stories
 

Since the one thing we can agree on, (the whole shoot the moving car thread hopefully becoming a bad memory) is that we seem to all dispise the blue oval. You'll notice I never capitalize ford, ever!!! So I thought it might be fun to share our hate the ford stories, and it's a good way to blow off all of our holiday stress in a safe and useful manner.

We used to have Chevrolet Caprice patrol cars with the LT-1 350 small block with a 4 speed auto and a locking dif. After a horrible experiment with Chevy Luminas (aaaggghhh!!!!) we went to ford crown victorias (now interceptors) like just about everyone else. I don't think I've ever been around a type of car that blew trannies like these do. I have had 4 (FOUR) blow thier first tranny BEFORE 40k!!!!!!!! The Chevy's never did that bad. Plus ford must sub-contract brakes out to the french (also not capitalized) as thier ABS systems are horrible. They get confused on bumpy surfaces and seem to let go. They have also issued 3 recalls on the new 2003's already and 1 possibly on the upcoming 04 interceptor that ford is trying to correct behind the scenes. They also announced they will be installing an automatic fire surpression system in all 05 or 06 interceptors. They have a nasty tendancy to blow up when struck from the rear, just like the old pintos. If I was given an alternative to driving a ford, I would JUMP at it!!!!! I refuse to park it in front of the house. Please share your ford thoughts. Happy Thanksgiving.

Oh boy oh boy and invatation to bash fords. I'v heard the 4.6L like to blow head gaskets on a regular basis too. I'v got a freind that works at a ford dealership and tells me all about the new lemons that come off the truck at ford. He spends most of his days changing trannies and doing head jobs on 4.6L's and 5.4L's.

He was also telling me something about the new Exploders, something about the rear diffs or bearings exploding in them.

Fords seem to come from the factory rusting. The older F-150's were really bad for this, alot of even the 95's are rotting out the frames. My freinds dads 01 F-150 is already starting to rust around the rockers and cab corners.

I could go on forever bashing fords but i'll of for right now, but as a suggestion for an alternative to Crown Vics the R.I. troopers are crusing Intrepids now :rolleyes: and you think the fords used trannies?:D

I heard Chrysler will be putting out a RWD car soon that might be suitable for patrol work. I don't think a V-6 would work though. Not just for power, but I think they get beat up more then V-8's. I remember seeing an Outback Police Car in Drive magazine once. That was cool. I have also seen Volvo's, but they are just warmed over fords now. BMW 5 series is probably the best in the world, but WAY too expensive. The Poleizi in Germany use Audi's, VW's, BMW's, and Opel's. Short of using Caddy CTS's I don't think GM really cares about all the money they lost in police fleet sales. 75% of U.S. police cars were Chevy in 1995. Now they only have about 20% with the way inferior Impala. That's why I dread Subaru being under GM control in the future. I hope Fuji can hold onto a majority share.

i saw a show one time on speed or something that said cali used camaros for cop cars. i forget what show it was, but it seemed cool even tho i DESPISE camaros.

Your right. Starting next year with the introduction of the Magnum wagon, all Chrysler/Dodge full-size cars will be RWD, will the possible option of AWD on some, and a Hemi V8 option on all. The Intrepid will be replaced by a 4-door Charger, and the 300M by the 300N. The Concorde should still be the Concorde.

As for GM's partial ownership of Fuji, I really wouldn't worry about it much. GM may not be what it used to be, but they at least haven't done the ford thing, and have tried to leave the marques they purchase alone as much as possible. Saab is starting to get some direction from GM, but let's face it, Subaru makes a hell of a lot more profit then Saab. And I'm hoping that the new GTO is a sign of things to come from GM. And if rumors hold true, then you may get your wish of a V8 RWD GM sedan, in the form of the Holden Commodore being the basis for the next Impala/Monte.

Now for ford. There is not a car company in the world that I despise as much as ford. My list of reasons is far too long to list here, so I'll list my first and my worst.

First: My father is a ford fanatic, much like I with Subaru. His first new ford ever was an '89 or so V6 Ranger. At about 10K the engine blew, hard, with absolutely no hope of rebuilding it. When it went, ford gave him an even trade for an identical Bronco II, a little pricer than the Ranger. The Bronco hit about 30K before it did the same thing.

Worst: ford is trying to rebuild the automotive world in their image. They buy everything they can, and start putting their crap in it. Mazda, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, and Volvo have all fallen into fords hands, resulting in ford engines, chasis', trannies, etc... powering these cars. They were once great and respected marques, now they're just more ford junk. How long is it going to be before we se a Focus based Jag? And to make matters worse, to celebrate their upcoming anniversary, ford is now claiming responsibility for all the great cars the company built before ford even bought them. The E-type, the Range Rover, even Bond's DB4, ford had nothing to do with any of them. Sacrelige! This is also what backs their claim of 300 million cars sold before their 100th. If ford had been the one to start buying Fuji stock, you can guarantee we'd already have a Zetec FWD Impreza. ford is the anti-Christ of the automotive world.:mad:

Darksied you rock. Another person who refuses to capitalize ford!!!!!!!!!! I could really get into a Hemi Dodge police car!!!!!

Yeah, I know.;)

Anyway, for those that are interested, here are the prototype photos of the '04 Magnum SRT-8 wagon and '05 Charger R/T sedan. Be wared, however, as sweet as the Charger looks, the last time I saw a proto sketch was just after DC confirmed the car's release, and it didn't look as good. Much more rounded.

Magnum:http://www.cardesignnews.com/autosho...es/highlights/

Charger:http://www.acarshow.com/chgcpt.html

Also, one thing that's really p!$$ed me off about US manufacterers lately is how fast they are getting rid of their greatest names. Caddie is all alpha now, no more Eldos or Villes, and Escort and (soon) Cavalier are gone. Sure, they may not be most popular cars in history, but they are classic, established names, and are a helleva lot better than Focus and Cobalt. And Dodge is the worst of all for this, dumping the R/T designation in favor of the wholely lame SRT-#. R/T has probably been around longer than anyone currently working at DaimlerChrysler. I guess this is just me venting while we're on the subject of stupid American car company ideas and actions.

Oops, I also forgot. I don't want to get sued, so here goes. "Stupid American Car Company Ideas and Actions" is a registered trademark of the ford motor company.:D;)

it seems appropriate to mention that the alleged 4.6L stealth blew its gaskets right before i bought.
not to worry. they were replaced.
new thread - engine pic

Tsk tsk... you capitalised the "f" in ford just then. :D

Oh yeah...f'in ford! My sentiments exactly! :D

Thankfully I only made the mistake of owning one once. Regretfully it happens to be my wife's current car. :(

Not any more!:D

Sorry, no bashing here
 

I've owned a bunch of Fords with good success. My first car was a Mustang II, followed by a string of Mustangs of the 2.3T and 5.0 persuasion and a first generation Bronco. All decent cars. I've also owned Suzukis (Chevy Sprint Turbo), Dodges ('69 Barracuda, '74 Duster, 71 Dart, 024, 300M), Chevy's (Chevette, T1000), a lone Pontiac (originally diesel equipped '81 GP, swapped to a 327 Chevy w/TH-400 and 12 bolt rear-end). Maybe I've been lucky, probably I know how to pick a better than average used car.

By far, I've spent more $$$ on the SVX than any other vehicle that I've owned.

Todd

PA-SVX,


Nice to see that you made it to the Network.
Doesn't GM still make police interceptors in full size Chey or Pontiac (Paresiane in Canada) ?

Are you coming to the SVX Lancaster area diner meet tonight?

while my svx is transmission-less i've been driving my brother's '91 Mazda Navajo which is essentially a 2-door ford Explorer.. this thing has got to be the BIGGEST p.o.s. i've ever driven. to start, the engine has developed a healthy "skip" so that from a dead stop, you have to get on the throttle JUST RIGHT to avoid stalling the engine. of course, being a ford, it's got more rattles and shakes than i have fingers and toes. the rocker panels are literally nonexistant. like they don't exist. they're just not there. the exhaust simply fell off at the cat and had to be replaced with flexpipe and a cherrybomb.. finally, the driver's side window has become disconnected numerous times and refuses to roll down..

i could probably fix 70% of the problems i just listed, but you know what? i just don't care.

-adam

Nope...all I see are fords and the new style Impalas.

Anyone notice in those Charger concept pics that the front end looks just like an 80's Camaro?