Spy shots??

[Scooby074]

I thought there was supposed to be a f100 this year that was a ranger replacement.

I remember some discussion about it, but wasnt it going to be about 95% the size of the 150? Basically a fullsize?

 

[CliffordK]

Ahhh,
So the "spy truck" looks a lot like the Non-US Ford Ranger.

Of course, it is hard to truly judge the size without any scale to look at.

A kind of half-baked F100 might make sense for some markets.

I wonder if there would be a market for something in the class of the VW Caddy, Chevy Luv, Subaru Brat.

 

[94BULLITT]

I remember some discussion about it, but wasnt it going to be about 95% the size of the 150? Basically a fullsize?

I thought it was going to be a mid size truck. I just checked Fords website and the F-100 is not a future vehicle.

 

[JasG]

I don't know how you could have an aluminum unibody. The whole point of a unibody is the frame and the floor panel(s) are welded together. Personally I wouldn't want an aluminum frame. Any damage to the frame and you'll be replacing the whole thing. I know when Honda put an aluminum frame on their motocross bikes it didn't save any weight because of the extra material needed to make the frame stiff enough. Steel can flex a little but aluminum will only flex a few times before it starts to crack.

Honda had problems with cracking, but not stiffness. The aluminum frames were much lighter and way stiffer to the point they did in the early years crack because there was no give. The CR still has an aluminum frame today, along with at least Suzuki and Yamaha motocross bikes. So does the Goldwing and most sport bikes made today.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Yes the Ranger is no more for North America.

Ford dropped the ball there. They should have imported the "Global" Ranger with the diesel.

Seen tons of these in Belize. I bet 1/3 of the vehicles on the road were 4 door Rangers.

Chris

 

[swick1]

Honda had problems with cracking, but not stiffness. The aluminum frames were much lighter and way stiffer to the point they did in the early years crack because there was no give. The CR still has an aluminum frame today, along with at least Suzuki and Yamaha motocross bikes. So does the Goldwing and most sport bikes made today.

Confirmed as true by my mx mechanic.

 

[sld]

The Ford unibody thing was a complete hoax for April Fools day.

 

[crazyal]

you sound as if you cant weld aluminum?!?! Dont mean to disapoint you but if the factory can weld together a steel unibody, they can weld together a AL one. If you can weld in replacement sections on a Steel unibody, you can do the same for an AL one.

Unless the factory is going to find a way to weld aluminum to steel that would mean the floor pan would also have to be aluminum. Since the floor pan is welded to the rockers and frant and rear bulkheads they would also have to be aluminum, and so on and so on................ That's going to make for an expensive truck. On top of that aluminum comes in different alloys. the cheaper ones will dent easily. That's not an issue for a thick frame rail but for panels it's not so good.

 

[crazyal]

Honda had problems with cracking, but not stiffness. The aluminum frames were much lighter and way stiffer to the point they did in the early years crack because there was no give. The CR still has an aluminum frame today, along with at least Suzuki and Yamaha motocross bikes. So does the Goldwing and most sport bikes made today.

I had a 97 CR250. It wasn't any lighter than the steel framed bikes. The advantage, so they say, was that the frame was stiffer.

 

[crazyal]

I thought it was going to be a mid size truck. I just checked Fords website and the F-100 is not a future vehicle.

I read that Toyota is selling 20k Tacos a month. I think Ford is missing a market with not having a Ranger type truck. I'm guessing that Ford would rather say they sold the most F150 trucks vs splitting sales between the two even though they would steal sales from the Tacoma as well as the F150. I would think more sales would be better than trying for bragging rights. After all they already make the truck elsewhere.