Autoblog

As is well known by now, Ford and Navistar have parted ways and the Blue Oval is developing diesel engines in-house to replace the PowerStroke lumps still being used. Slated to appear in Ford's trucks by 2011, the new oil burner code-named Scorpion is a 6.7-liter V8 with a host of innovations, some of them seemingly borrowed from cross-town rival GM.

But the first thing you'll notice is that mammoth radiator. PickupTrucks.com estimates that the cooler up front is up to 20-percent larger than the one on the 2008 Super Duty, and that one had already been enlarged by 33-percent over its forebear. The extra cooling could be needed for "extreme towing applications", and if there's one truck that's an extreme tower, it's the F-Series Super Duty.

The Scorpion diesel's innards will be enhanced with reversed intake and exhaust flow, something found on GM's Duramax diesel, and lighter aluminum cylinder heads. Nor will the Scorpion sacrifice mpg for its extra oomph: gains of 40 hp and 70 lb-ft will come with three more miles-per-gallon thanks in part to the truck's new 6-speed tranny that's debut as we speak on the new F-150.

[Source: Pickuptrucks.com]

Outdoor enthusiasts and urban cowboys get some love from Ford this year in the form of the Blue Oval's first-ever Cabela FX4-edition F-Series and the latest Harley-Davidson tie-up -- the first time ever the Bar and Shield logo has appeared on the heaviest-duty F-450 model.

Apparently, Ford has found that 76-percent of F-Series buyers hunt and fish, hence the newly expanded relationship between the automaker and the outdoorsy retailer. Consisting mostly of a paint and badge job, the Cabela buyer gets his or her choice of five two-tone paint schemes: Ebony, Oxford White, Forest Green Metallic, Royal Red Metallic and Silver Metallic -- all with Sterling Grey Metallic lower accents along the rocker panels, running boards and wheel arch moldings.

For the twelfth iteration of the Harley-Davidson edition, Ford will put blue-flames along the length of the vehicle and on the black leather seats. Also included are large chromed vents just aft of the front wheels. Expect plenty of Harley logos all over the truck, though a photo has yet to appear.

Along with these two new models, the Super Duty trucks receive an optional spray-in bedliner from the factory, an integrated trailer brake controller, the new Ford Work Solutions suite, Voice-Activated Navigation System with SIRIUS Travel Link and the heavy duty trucks first application of SYNC.

[Source: Ford, Pickuptrucks.com]

The tremendous pressure on the auto industry is rapidly unraveling even the most carefully laid out plans. Fuel economy is king right now, and trucks and SUVs have gone from cash cows to the 6,000-pound albatross around the necks of automakers. Ford has been giving us a steady flow of news regarding its plans to weather this wicked storm, including the decision to switch truck and SUV plants into facilities that can produce fuel efficient cars and the delayed launch of the 2009 F-150. Now we're hearing from Mike Levine at Pickuptrucks.com that the Blue Oval has all but killed the once promising Boss V8 engine program.

The powerful V8 engine was slated to appear on models ranging from the new Mustang to the best-selling F-150 and Super Dudy, but a stop work order has narrowed the Boss' available engine bays down to one model. Ford President of the Americas Mark Fields told Levine that while the program isn't being killed completely, it will now only appear in one vehicle. Levine has heard from three sources that the lone vehicle will be the Super Duty, which needs a more efficient replacement for the 6.8L V10. Ford has already spent a load of cash on the beefy pushrod, so killing the program altogether would have been a tough pill to swallow. Ford was also planning on more than one displacement for the Boss, but with it now only going in the Super Duty, it'll likely only appear in 6.2-liter guise.

Ford will likely move any and all monetary and development resources possible away from the Boss, and into the hands of greener projects like the US-bound Fiesta. The move makes abundant sense given the current realities Ford is facing, but it still saddens us that we won't get to mash the pedal to unleash 400 naturally aspirated ponies any time soon.

[Source: Pickuptrucks]

If you own a 2008 Ford F-Series truck, your Fun Friday is made less so by the news of a recall for your truck that involves its seats. Apparently, the front driver's seat on these trucks fail to comply with federal rules for seat back strength, as a weld that connects a bracket and the seat back could crack. The report didn't mention whether cracks have occurred during normal use of the seats or when they're subjected to high loads such as in an accident, though it did say no accidents or injuries had been reported due to the weak welds.

Of the 100,000+ vehicles subject to recall, 87,000 of the trucks are in the United States, while the remaining 14,000 are in Canada, and all are either F-250 or F-550 Super Duty Models.

Ford won't be sending notifications out until later this month, so F-Series owners who just can't wait can call Ford at (800) 392-3673 for more information.

[Source: The Detroit News]

On the final media day of the 2008 Chicago Auto Show, Mike Levine from Pickuptruck.com walked us over to the Ford display to show us an inconspicuous Super Duty sitting among a fleet of Ford commercial vehicles. He wanted to show us the bed, which was filled with DeWalt tools and Ford's new Tool Link system for keeping track of one's tools. The purpose of our visit was not Ford's new fancy in-dash computer for the commercial sector, but rather the spray-in bed liner that the truck was sporting. Called Tough Bed, Ford will soon become the second manufacturer to offer a spray-in bedliner behind Nissan, which began offering its Durabed spray-in bed liner on the 2004 Titan. Ford's Tough Bed will be an alternative to drop-in bed liners, which, while popular, can be susceptible to rusting the bed if water gets between them and the truck's metal. Ford's spray-in liner, meanwhile, is applied by robots at the factory and covered under the truck's three-year or 36,000-mile warranty. Head over to Pickuptruck.com to see Levine's detailed comparison between Ford's factory offering and a popular third-party spray-in liner called LINE-X. Honestly, we wonder what's taken the OEMs this long to offer optional spray-in bed liners, but now that Ford and Nissan are both doing it, don't be surprised if GM, Chrysler and Toyota follow suit quickly.

[Source: Pickuptruck.com]

click above for more high-res pics of the 2009 Ford F-150

The Ford F-150 is America's annual best seller, moving more units than anything else since Jimmy Carter was president. It's also one of the most challenged when it comes to cutting through the air, although we know there's worse. If the F-150 is going to clear the hurdle of new CAFE regs, that's going to change: its combined 16.5 mpg won't make it any friends come 2020.

Ford designers, led by North American Design Director Peter Horbury, are already looking at ways to make the next generation F-150 more aerodynamic, despite the all-new 2009 Ford F-150 having just debuted. The problem is, there simply aren't many options for making a difference: the only two components are the giant block of a passenger compartment and the massive drag-creating void of a bed behind it. Ford design did attempt to go a little aero with the front end of the 10th generation 1997-2003 F-150, but that, frankly, wasn't what people expected from an American pickup.

[Source: Auto Week]

Rather than wait for the 2009 model year to roll around, Ford has decided to introduce two new fuel saving changes to the 2008.5 Super Duty that should improve fuel economy for the big trucks by about 1.5 mpg. That may not sound like much, but for vehicles that barely break the double-digit barrier in mpg, it's a big improvement. The changes include reducing the rear axle ratio on certain F-250 and F-350 models and extending their underbody chin spoilers by 3.93 inches. If you're a truck person, you're no doubt wondering how Ford will maintain the maximum tow rating for these trucks while reducing their rear axle ratios. With big trucks, a higher rear axle ratio means more towing capacity, while a lower rear axle ratio provides better fuel economy. In this case, Ford says that these Super Duty trucks will still be able to tow the same amount of weight as before, though our friends at Pickuptruck.com suspect that 0 to 60 performance and acceleration in general, especially while towing, will drop. Click here to view the specific changes for each iteration of the Super Duty that's affected.

[Source: Pickuptruck.com]

If you roll in a Ford truck, you'd best be aware of the rules. If you violate 'em, the BFT patrol will be all over your case like stink on a monkey. And if you've been to the zoo, you know how monkeys stink. It's not good. BFT, as you might have surmised, stands for Built Ford Tough, and the rules detail activities and things that don't jibe with the image the F-Series projects. They include No Puny Dogs; No Scooters; No Manicures; No Cutesy Cell Phone Rings; No Fancy Coffee; and No Liquid Wrench, among others. Ford has helpfully provided a website that details individual violations captured on video by camera crews traveling with BFT cops. Case #073, above, documents a fancy coffee violator, while Case #235 (embedded after the jump) is an action-filled segment featuring a manicure infraction. We expect to see additional case videos added over time.

If you're driving, say, an F-250 4x4 with a pair of Vespas in the bed, a caramel macchiato in the cupholder, a Yorkshire Terrier in the passenger seat, and a BK Veggie in a take-out bag, we'd expect to see you get chased down, tased, "softened up" a bit, and probably locked up for 20 years without parole. If your Hannah Montana ringtone goes off at any point during all this, we fear that BFT would then be forced to get medieval on you. Consider yourselves warned.

[Source: BFT]

With the terrible fires ravaging California, many companies are stepping up efforts to aid in the relief fund, and Ford is doing its part by extending its A-plan vehicle discount to any family that lost a vehicle in the fires. To claim Ford's coveted employee discount, victims from the disaster need to show an insurance report, police report, or a note from FEMA. To sweeten the pot, Ford is also keeping any rebates on its products, which makes for some very hefty discounts indeed.

Ford also felt firefighters should get some love too since they're the ones battling the unpredictable blazes. Any firefighter in the state of California also gets the A-plan option, and all they need to show is their ID card. Ford also pitched in 11 Super Duty trucks and nine Expeditions plus $100,000 to the Red Cross. As we mentioned in our previous post that details what each automaker has donated, it's nice to see our favorite industry doing its part to aid in California's relief. If Ford can help someone buy a Fusion (with a great discount) who just had his Camry burn to a crisp, there's no harm in the Blue Oval gaining a little market share while giving a victim or firefighter a break.

[Source: Ford, Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty]

click above image to view more high-res photos of the DeBerti Super-Duty

Earlier we showed you a preview of three Super Duty trucks that Ford's brought to SEMA, and we hunted down the DeBerti version to see just how low they could get an F-450. This ground scraping pickup has a Dallas Smith Axleless Lo-Floor front-wheel drive conversion that puts the rear low enough to easily drive a motorcyle up onto the bed. Ford even put a motorcycle into the Deep-V bed to demonstrate its utility. It was by far one of the most popular vehicles in the company's display, which unfortunately made it hard to get photos. Still, with some patient waiting we snapped a gallery for your viewing pleasure.