Why didn't Ford do it THAT way?

wythors · Apr 26, 2011

citmov said:
Wonder why they didn't choose to fix 2 big fox engineering fails: 1-ashtray and 2-ghetto bent seat frames

Must've been the whole cost factor but it's pretty sad that they knew about these problems but just chose to look the other way.

They made it through the 12-month warranty period. That's all that mattered.

Stuff like this is why American car companies had such a bad reputation for quality for so many years. Thankfully, Ford has pretty much turned that around.

Onefine88 · Apr 26, 2011

These are all good questions. But if you are old enough, "as I am" you'll remember that when these Mustangs were built back in the '80s they were cutting edge.

They were affordable musclecars of their time. LOL Unlike today, these cars were budget hotrods. Ford kept them simple, cheap, powerful for the time, and sold millions of them.

Also they were far superior over Mustangs built from '74 until around '82. Thats when things really started to happen again. An improved 5.0 was back after many years of absence. And actually made decent power for those days. After that, every year offered more power and options.

The SVO's were introduced in '84 and caused quite a stir. They were considered almost "futuristic" with modern/European options such as the inter-cooled turbo, disk brakes, "16inch wheels" have mercy ect, ect. The interior was awesome for that time!

With '85 brought roller cams the return of the 4barrel carb. '86 fuel injection.

In '87 when the aero cars came out along with 225hp/300tq it all went crazy!
Thats when the aftermarket took off and the current 5.0 era started.

As I mentioned up top, These were low cost, strong running, well handling hotrods for the day, cheap and affordable.

Dave,"wythors" Will you believe that when I bought my '88GT vert new it came with a 5yr/60000 mile warranty.

wythors · Apr 26, 2011

Really? I thought they were 12/12 or 3/36 up into the SN95 days?

Onefine88 · Apr 26, 2011

Yep came with 5yr/60k. We went through that warranty in a couple of years. 60k in two years. We parked it in '91 with 90k miles on it. Now it has a whopping 126K on it. And with the original clutch.

The point I was trying to get across in my long winded post earlier was the 5.0s were then what the 2011 5.0 is now.

Cutting edge for the time.

robo · Apr 26, 2011

Mustang5L5 said:
The heads didn't exist until 1992 for production purposes. There is also cost of engine certification.

Why not 5 lugs? Well say 50 cents a lug, times 4 lugs times a million or so cars is a lot of money. Do that for other non-essential areas and stuff adds up.

Ford isn't run by gear heads...it's run by bean counters. Sometimes they let's the engineers play, but only if there is $$$ to be made

exactly!

68stang351 · Apr 26, 2011

1bad67sbf said:
well said on the 4 lug but damn what a PITA they started from it.
mine is, why did ford use a unibody setup? my 67 has alot of rust for me to fix and what a bitch it is to have to do frame and body work as one.

As stated before, cost.

They already had the platform in the Falcon, which made the car cheaper. If they had started clean with a full frame car it would've have been a lot more expensive, and probably wouldn't have sold a million Mustangs in a year and a half.

NIKwoaC · Apr 27, 2011

89SSC18 said:
Now it has a whopping 126K on it. And with the original clutch.

Drive like an old woman or what?

Mustang5L5 · Apr 27, 2011

You gotta realize you are comparing new cars to 20+ year old cars? When did the seats start leaning? When did the ashtray break? Chances are we were into the sn95 years before those failures started to occur.

Usually parts get revved only when a product is current. So of 1987 ashtrays started failing in 1989, we might have seen a redesign. But once a product is obsolete (1994) then there usually is no support beyond buying aftermarket parts. Don't like your broken ashtray? Buy a new one or just buy a new car. End of story.

This is also the 80s and parts bin swapping was key. If ford could use two parts for one car, it saved money. This is why we have 4-lug brakes...which started in the 70's is a slightly different form. Eventually as ford rolled out new models, they used the same brakes. How many vehicles are fox front spindles compatible woth? A dozen or so? So why does ford need to spend money to develop new 5-lug brakes when they can rob them off a mark 7. Maybe the 4-lug was "fords thing" for all we know?

We will never know why these decisions came about. It's just not really right to sit here 20+ years later and play Monday morning quarterback asking why they didn't engineer these parts sooner and put them on. Initial cost os always higher, so these gt-40 heads prob cost ford big bucks for the tooling back in 1992. Now the tooling has been paid way off, and any head is pure profit. **** trickles downhill right?

We could ask why a model T didn't come with a 5.0? But they just didn't get around to it yet and it would prob have cost 3X the price of the model t.

S&B · Apr 27, 2011

well then how do you explain the SRT-4 ???

Mustang5L5 · Apr 27, 2011

S&B said:
well then how do you explain the SRT-4 ???

What about it?

1bad67sbf · Apr 27, 2011

dodge improved the srt-4 for 3 years to make it better until it went to a caliber in 06, IMO.

S&B · Apr 27, 2011

Mustang5L5 said:
What about it?

umm best car ever made, can run on anthing and makes 500 hp at the crank "claimed by owners"

and has cup holders. I even heard the bumper was made out of the same material as the bottom of the space shuttle

Boss 351 · Apr 27, 2011

S&B said:
umm best car ever made, can run on anthing and makes 500 hp at the crank "claimed by owners"

and has cup holders. I even heard the bumper was made out of the same material as the bottom of the space shuttle

Same cup holders as the space shuttle? Some serious Big Gulp holdage, right there!

Mustang5L5 · Apr 27, 2011

S&B said:
umm best car ever made, can run on anthing and makes 500 hp at the crank "claimed by owners"

and has cup holders. I even heard the bumper was made out of the same material as the bottom of the space shuttle

Well I'll be dammed....God is an engineer working for Chrsyler? WTF?

srtthis · Apr 28, 2011

S&B said:
well then how do you explain the SRT-4 ???

other then being a steaming pile of dog ****?

darthcual · Apr 28, 2011

Another thing not taken into account is N/V/H. They MUST make the car for the masses. Not hot rod gear heads. So, that drives the cost up. Example: Dog Bone. How much do you imagine those cost? How many of us pulled those off and threw them in the corner?

1bad67sbf · Apr 28, 2011

i love how everyone hates the srt4 and they are made cheap but you could order it from dodge with a 3 year 36k warranty and 355hp and 365tq at the tires and its only 2880 lbs without anything removed. even the stock stage 0 runs a 14.2 1/4 mile. they are what they are but its a hell of a good time to beat on one.

S&B · Apr 28, 2011

its not the timeslip its the people who drive them. but back on topic

I never understood why the very and the coupe didn't have the same trunk hinges. those big bar that open the trunk in my coupe are uber anoying

Boss 351 · Apr 28, 2011

Why didn't Ford put the LS6 in there in stock form? <- joke

1bad67sbf · Apr 28, 2011

S&B said:
its not the timeslip its the people who drive them. but back on topic

but wait I had an 05 for 3 years if it helps it was the old ladys car.lol i traded it for my 07 f150.

Why didn't Ford do it THAT way?

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Previously 89SSC18

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