Weekend Update 1/8/23

[brokemoto]

Didn't Ford have a "Maverick" sedan model in the late 60's?

Ford sold it from the very Late 1960s into the mid-1970s.  The very early models were not bad.  The later ones were not so good.  There was a two and four door model available.  If ever there were a station waggon version of it, I never saw one.

You might remember the Dodge Diplomat of the 1980s, one of the last rear wheel drive models that Chrysler offered, and, most of which were built under contract at the then still independent AMC factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin.   Diplomat was actually an old DeSoto name plate but it was strictly export.  Instead of a hemi, it had a Plymouth flat head six.  There was also a "ute" version, also strictly export,  that looked more like a Chrysler answer to the Ford Ranchero or Chevrolet El Camino than anything.  It, too, had a Plymouth six cylinder and some of the body parts were Plymouth, as well.  Many of them were sold in Australia.

You do see old name plates resurrected occasionally, often with a different body style or different badge than the original.

[nickelplate759]

Didn't Ford have a "Maverick" sedan model in the late 60's? I recall the marketing gimmick with it was a screw driver was all that you needed to perform many adjustments.

Close - 1970s.  (1970-1977, apparently)

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The new Ranger is too big. May as well spring for an F150. Can't figure out why they ceded the compact pickup market in the first place. 

Management by spreadsheet.

Honestly, I get it: they couldn't lose business to a competitor that doesn't exist and the cost of improving the existing Ranger (to keep it sellable) was likely higher than the sales they'd lose with people who move out of the market.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Sounds like you took adding stay-alive caps too far there Ed.

Hahahah. Truth.

[johnhale]

Management by spreadsheet.

Honestly, I get it: they couldn't lose business to a competitor that doesn't exist and the cost of improving the existing Ranger (to keep it sellable) was likely higher than the sales they'd lose with people who move out of the market.

Ed, the problem with that statement is they NEVER stopped making/selling the Ranger. Ford just stopped selling/marketing it to the US/CAN markets.

My Cyber Orange Ford Maverick Hybrid (it's really just Yellow!) gets about 38-45mpg.

[John]

Is that a hybrid John .

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed, the problem with that statement is they NEVER stopped making/selling the Ranger. Ford just stopped selling/marketing it to the US/CAN markets.

True. And VW also made the original Bug through 2003, but not for us.

I'm guessing Ford thought they'd make more by getting people to "move up" into an F150 than they'd lose out on. As Henry Ford said: C.R.E.A.M. lol

[bnsfdash8]

This is sooo wrong, but I love it.

Just like my B40-8W, so wrong but yet it works.

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I'm envious of all these Mavericks. I wanted to replace my F150 with one but I didn't want to wait or deal with the markups local dealers had on them so I ended up in another F150. I test drove a couple Rangers and while they were decent driving trucks nothing about them made me want to pay more for less compared to getting a slightly used, a little older bigger truck.

[garethashenden]

garethashenden:  Turnouts on bridges weren't common, but they weren't all that rare, either, especially in areas with a lot of small streams.  Model railroaders are probably less likely to use them than the prototype, because it's harder to hide our turnout linkages.

I would suggest adding walkways to both sides of the bridge.  Your brakemen needs somewhere to walk!  As an alternative, if there's no reason to walk alongside a train there, plank between the rails, so the brakeman can at least get from the cab to the switchstand, on a trailing-point move.

I think walkways are a good idea. Thanks!

[Roger Holmes]

My brother had an original Maverick purchased new in Army OD green. Ugly! By the time he traded it in you could watch the pavement go by through the rust holes in the floor.

[peteski]

My brother had an original Maverick purchased new in Army OD green. Ugly! By the time he traded it in you could watch the pavement go by through the rust holes in the floor.

I also was never a fan of original Mavericks.  Found hem unattractive.

[Bendtracker1]

I also was never a fan of original Mavericks.  Found hem unattractive.

This was my first car in 1981.
A 74' that had a 302 and floor shift.
I repainted it the original brown and added the orange stripes.

 

[Cajonpassfan]

WTH? How about some train stuff, eh?
Otto K.

[kiwi_al]

Enough already of the crappy Found On Road Dead.
Here's what real men drive 

[Dwight in Toronto]

Enough already of the crappy Found On Road Dead.
Here's what real men drive 

An El Camino?!  (Trying SO hard to look like a sports car!)