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fullofit_
10-22-2006, 12:59 AM
Thursday, October 19, 2006

how did it get to this point
Current mood: pissed off
Category: Automotive


I sent a long letter to ford, It had much personal info in it so I cut the bottom and pasted it below. I am a life long Ford driver, err well perhaps I should say ; I WAS A LIFE LONG FORD DRIVER.









Perhaps I need to add some history to my relationship with Ford products; I have always encouraged anyone I knew to buy a Ford product when they were looking for a vehicle. I have been successful many times, and currently there are two 2002 fords in my driveway, and one 1995. There were always easy examples for me to point to, as I always had the keys to a fine example in my pocket.



The first car I remember riding in was my fathers ford Galaxy 500, a car we spent many a vacation in. I always remembered passing so many people on the side of the highways with their hoods up and my father would always say "Should have bought a ford".



The truck I learned to drive in was a 1973 ford pick up. I drove all over the back roads of Montana in that truck, loading hay bales, hauling grain, checking cattle, and just plain old having a good time. I spent three years driving that truck; the only time I had the hood up was when we change the oil and filters and tuned it up at the shop.



1979 The first ford I bought was 1965 Fairlane 500. It was a fine car and always provided me reliability.

I drove it for about three years, back and forth from Montana to Arizona several times a year. I never spent a moment on the side of the road with the hood up.



1982 The second ford I bought was also a 1965, a nice F-100 a wonderful step side truck I still regret not keeping it. It never let me down.



1983 The first family car I purchased was a Fairmont wagon, and aside of a service shop not replacing the oil plug and destroying the block, it was a very nice family car.



1984 purchased a 1979 F-150, ice cold ac and a great truck, traded it in on my next ford



1985 The next ford I purchased was a 1984 ford bronco II, and aside of discovering that the transmission fill level was located too low, (This caused the transmission to fail. When it was rebuilt at my friends shop we noted that even if the gear oil was at the bottom of the fill point it did not reach the gears well enough. We added an extension to raise the fill level to the top of the fill point. The first transmission went 65,000 miles. The second transmission lasted 300,000 and was still in the truck when it was totaled in a rear end collision) and the shifter ball would wear out, (after the third shifter I build my own and never had another problem with it) it stood the test of time. I drove this truck every day, I had a business in Palm Springs and in Phoenix, I think it could drive its self back and forth if I needed it to.



It was perhaps the best vehicle I ever had, with the D-4 axle code and a 3" lift, it provided me with a great ride both on and off road. It had just less than 400,000 miles on it when it was killed by a rear end collision.



1992. 1964 ½ mustang. Project car, fun to work on, however had to move before it was complete, sold it to a buddy. He completed it and bragged for years about all the fun I was missing.



1993 My first ford explorer is a 1991, pretty good truck. It had a few problems. Nothing your shop could not fix in a fine manner.



1997. Purchased my dads 1984 F150 4X4 camper special. Great truck, still own it and am looking for someone to give it to that will enjoy it as much as I have. It has the kind of sentimental value that makes you want to share.



1997 Ford 1995 Aerostar van, eight passenger xlt with front and rear a/c. Perhaps the best large family vehicle I have ever had, and if it had not been totaled in a rear end collision, I would still be happily driving it.



2002. Purchased a 2002 ford mustang which I traded in on my next ford due to the death of my Aerostar. This was one fun car, and the love of my wife's car memories, she badly wants one of the new 2007 mustangs.



2003. Purchased my new 2002 Eddie Bauer explorer from Berge ford. The truck caught on fire within the first three miles. I had to smother out the flames between the battery and the headlight with my bare hand. Returned to the lot and they replaced the headlight lamp and scheduled an appointment to fix the wiring harness. Not much of a maiden voyage. But it is fitting, as this truck has followed its bad first impression all the way through. As has your dealership, it is sad; as I now look at things I am not sure if it is the truck, or your service department that is the major cause of my dissatisfaction. I am having trouble deciding if I even want to chance taking the truck back to you to finish the items that are under warrantee



2004. Purchased a service van 1995 Ford E-250 used, cleaned up nice and is a fine vehicle.



2006. This week end I will be looking at purchasing a new car for my wife. This is usually a pretty painless process for me. Just drive to a ford dealer and pick a color. Well not this time, I will spend this weekend doing something I have never even thought about before. I will sit down and negotiate with a GM representative. My wife will not get that new mustang, as I can not see any reason to even look at one. Can you think of any reason I should not consider buying my first GM product? Also if you could get your press department to provide me with a statement for everyone in my family and all my friends that I have spent years representing Ford products as nothing short the best period. I expect to have a lot of crow to digest after all the times I have driven them to ford dealers to purchase ford products. It could save me a lot of pain if I can just send them all a nice note; I fear I lack the talent to write such a statement with out the help of professionals. I am no longer encouraging anyone to look at ford products, something I have always been very proficient at.



I see that GM is now offering a nice 100,000 mile warranty on their products. Do your shareholders a favor; DO NOT match that offer until you align your service departments with a customer satisfaction program that will prevent the last nail being driven into Fords coffin.



I guess you must be standing in front of your products, as I cannot see anyone standing behind mine.



Truly hopeful you can recover,

*****************




fullofit_
10-22-2006, 01:18 AM
Well I have been driving all night, and man do I mean driving:lol: :grin:
We looked at all kinds of crap today, even had some dimwitted sales girl try to sell me a corvette, but hell she didn't even know how much a tire for the damn thing would cost :slapper: all of the gm stuff look sad, the pontiac cars looked ok, but still really a pontiac? didn't my aunt drive one of those?:lol: so I stop at a dodge dealer just for the hell of it, and there it was, the car I swore I would buy again one day. See when I was 14 I bought a 1967 charger, I thought it was so cool mostly because the back seats folded down into the trunk, and it was real fast. it was in mint condition, so nice in fact that when my mom and dad split up, the bastard took my car and moved to washington state. I never saw the car again.

So when I sat in the daytona charger today, (hell I was sold on it when I saw it) I figured what the hell, no money down and off the lot we went.

not much room to move them on the price of this car, so I they are going to black out all three rear windows tint the front, put on some fancy schmancy wax and install a lojack.

I hope I did well, The only thing I don't like about this car is the chrome on the wheels, wish they were blacked out, also the headlights and fog, is there a kit to black them out? love the overall look, and the numbered addition is kind of cool.

oh yeah, did I mention it is a kick in the ass to drive!

King Savage
10-22-2006, 03:52 AM
Interesting story:) FWIW, I traded my wife's '05 yellow Mustang GT 5-speed for an '06 SRT Charger. I did it for her and now we fight, FIGHT, about who drives which car where (we have an '05 Pathfinder also).
Thsi is my first Chrysler product ever purchased and I love the car.

Enjoy!!!

a14umbra
10-22-2006, 07:28 AM
Welcome fullofit. My first car was a 65 Galaxy 500. It was blue, had an 8-track player hanging under the dash, and I loved it.

I've also had a 1971 Charger, a 1981 Charger, and a 1987 Grand National.

I love my Charger. Not as fast as the GN, but there's just something about these cars.

TripleTransAm
10-22-2006, 07:32 AM
It is no mystery how I feel about Ford. I don't know whether to feel more sorry for the company itself or the poor bastards who have to wake up in the morning and realize they have to go work for that company in any form (right down to the local dimwits who staff their dealerships and service departments).

I differ from the thread author in one way: I never did like Ford. I'm not a brand-loyal type of guy, and the extent of my dislike was more of a comical nature... since I always had a soft spot for the Trans Am, there was always the Mustang rivalry, and there was local anecdotal evidence such as experiencing the whiny AOD tranny up close and hearing family stories of shifter linkages dropping out of the car, tranny failures galore, etc.

However, I was faced with the only game in town when it came to 4 door "RWD muscle" sedan which was the Marauder and I wanted to give Ford a chance... GM had left us high and dry and Chrysler was pitching nothing but minivans left and right. So Ford literally had a chance to pick up a loyal customer and they royally screwed it up. From CRAP quality to questionable assembly to absolutely inept dealership staff. Looking back, I cannot express how different the atmosphere is between the Ford dealerships around here and those of Dodge or Pontiac... I always thought I had an exceptional relationship with my Pontiac dealer but now that I have the same with Dodge, I see Ford is the odd man out.

The LAST of both my Fords finally left my life a few weeks ago, and we couldn't be happier. It was a nightmare 3.5 years that has left me SCARRED. Only NOW am I starting to re-ignite my passion for cars... ME, the guy who chooses an online name as TripleTransAm, you'd think had boxer shorts with little embroidered muscle cars on them and used the sound of a revving V8 as the ring tone on his cell phone.... fed up with cars!

It shouldn't be a surprise that someone working for a company with these kinds of values would eventually inherit that sort of behaviour. I've been screwed and scammed SO badly by the owner of what used to be my least-hated Ford dealership that I cannot even begin to provide details until the issue has worked itself out in court, it's THAT bad.

Ford and all its evil can burn in hell for all I care. The only negative thing about Ford shutting down would be that its employees would end up having to seek employment at other car companies, spreading their evil to the others like a cancerous tumour that has been poked too many times. I don't want this... I say keep all that sh*t contained in one company, so at least we can keep an eye on them and enjoy the option of buying quality safe vehicles elsewhere.

fullofit_
10-22-2006, 12:40 PM
well, thanks to all. I hope to have some pics to post sometime today.

Steve, well what can I say, I am just as mad as you at the evil blue oval.
but if I were your therapist I would suggest you burn three mustangs a day to wake up with a smile in the morning!
should be real easy in that nice ride of yours
the best to all,
joe,

ps. am i the only one who hates the cruze cntl lever?

King Savage
10-22-2006, 05:48 PM
ps. am i the only one who hates the cruze cntl lever?


Lol. No, you're not.