Why Can't Ford Make a Tailgate Emblem That Lasts?

[Cat_Driver]

It mystifies me that Ford, who has been manufacturing vehicles for 100 years, can't seem to produce a version of their iconic Ford Oval emblem for their vehicles that lasts more than a few years. I mean, how hard could it be, given the universe of materials available today. I think they could invest an extra 3 bucks per vehicle to prevent this from happening to trucks that are still worth north of 30 grand.

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Look at these sales figures, and that is your answer - they don't need to fix the problem. People are buying more Fords than any other manufacturer.
Best-Selling Pickup Trucks: December 215 - PickupTrucks.com News

 

[ultrarunner]

They made a good one for the Model A's. Wasn't it porcelain on chromed brass or stainless steel?

Bruce

Yep... mine still look darn good after 85 years...

About 25 years ago I bought an aftermarket emblem that was imported from Taiwan and it still looks good too.

 

[Oaktree]

People are buying more Fords than any other manufacturer.

Not so fast. The Chevy & the GMC are the same truck, just different nameplates. Add those together and they beat the F series quite handily.

 

[MF283]

Never worried about emblems, always use a truck for what it is, a truck.

Ronnie

 

[aczlan]

Not so fast. The Chevy & the GMC are the same truck, just different nameplates. Add those together and they beat the F series quite handily.

Should be interesting to see how that works this year, IIRC last year, they were in the process of switching to the aluminum body F150 in Dec, so they weren't building any and a lot of people were holding off on buying to see how the new body turned out.

Aaron Z

 

[4570Man]

I don't care about the emblem. I'd be happy if they made a tailgate that lasted.

 

[TnAndy]

I don't care about the emblem. I'd be happy if they made a tailgate that lasted.

And paint that stuck to the primer.

My very LAST Ford pickup ever, new 1986 model, it came off in sheets, and the dealer's advice was "take it somewhere and have it painted".....which I did, and it stuck just fine. You'd think after a 100 years in business, they'd know how to apply paint. You'd be wrong.

 

[aczlan]

And paint that stuck to the primer.
My very LAST Ford pickup ever, new 1986 model, it came off in sheets, and the dealer's advice was "take it somewhere and have it painted".....which I did, and it stuck just fine. You'd think after a 100 years in business, they'd know how to apply paint. You'd be wrong.

Chevy had the same issue in the late 1980s as well. My grandfather had a 1989 Chevy 1500 pickup that Chevy paid to have repainted after the paint started falling off in sheets.
IIRC, that was when there was a change in the the type of paint to make it more "environmentally friendly" and it took everyone a few years to get the new paints figured out.

Aaron Z

 

[Ford850]

Not so fast. The Chevy & the GMC are the same truck, just different nameplates. Add those together and they beat the F series quite handily.

Not so fast. If you combine all of the full size GMC and Chevy pickups, they still fall short of the Ford F-series sales this year. The only way GM tops Ford's sales is to include the smaller mid sized vehicles since Ford doesn't make any.
Best-Selling Pickup Trucks: November 216 - PickupTrucks.com News

 

[TnAndy]

Chevy had the same issue in the late 1980s as well. My grandfather had a 1989 Chevy 1500 pickup that Chevy paid to have repainted after the paint started falling off in sheets.
IIRC, that was when there was a change in the the type of paint to make it more "environmentally friendly" and it took everyone a few years to get the new paints figured out.

Aaron Z

Yeah....remember seeing them too. My problem was Ford apparently declined to stand behind their screw up.