Classic Cars

With Bob Gelber

Several articles back, I reported in this column that GM was in big trouble. This week it’s Ford’s turn to be in the hot seat. It was recently reported that William Clay Ford, Jr., great-grandson of the founder of the Ford Motor Company, has brought in a new guy to run the company. It’s an unusual step, because the guy that Ford hired is an outsider to the automobile business, his past experience being a top executive for Boeing. What bothers me most is why did Bill Ford hire a non-car-oriented guy? Certainly the market for 747s is much different than for automobiles.

I’m just a car writer but even I can figure out where Ford has gone wrong in the last decade. It’s simple. They haven’t built cars that people want and need, nor are the cars built as well as they could be. Sure the Ford Explorer became the best selling SUV in the world, and virtually every police force and old person in America drives a full-size Ford Crown Victoria. The original Ford Explorer handled dangerously, and gained a reputation for tipping over in emergency maneuvers. Most SUVs, because of their high center of gravity, handle precariously at their limits but because the Explorer sold in such large numbers, it flipped more frequently. Explorers have improved, but let’s be realistic, they ain’t sports cars.

The ancient Ford Crown Victoria has been an antique for the last twenty years. Separate chassis, solid rear axle, V-8 engine and ground-hugging weight. Ford has been building cars with these same specifications since 1932. Interestingly, Ford’s main competitor in this league is the equally primitive Chevrolet Impala. If you have an enlarged prostate and an AARP membership it was de rigueur to either drive a four-door Impala or a Crown Vic. The old folks love these cars for the simple reason that they remind them of their youth. Why the police departments use these dinosaurs I’ll never understand. To Ford’s credit, their new 500 Sedan and Fusion are two of the best sedans made in America. I’m particularly fond of the Fusion because it’s great value for the dollar. The build quality and driving dynamics are up to European standards. But, and it’s a big but, is the dependability up to Japanese standards?

When it comes to American cars, I guess I’m a Ford guy. I used to collect Ford wooden station wagons. At one time I had a 1951, 1949 and 1947...all at the same time. The 1951 was my daily drive and, with commercial plates, I parked it anywhere around Manhattan. One day, Roy Litchenstein, the late pop artist whose studio was down the block from mine in Greenwich Village, saw the Woody with my name in the side window. He called me and offered to buy it. I told Roy to give me a painting instead of the fifteen hundred dollars I thought it was worth, but, alas, he said no, so I took the dough. I should have insisted upon the art! The Woody ended up spending its life at Roy’s place in Southampton.

None of those old Fords ever gave me any trouble, mainly because they were simple machines, quite different from the cars today. Fast forward to today, and my daily driver is a 2003 Ford Focus SVT. This is one of the unsung hero cars of the Ford lineup. Two liters, 170 HP at 7,100 RPM, mated to a German Getrag 6-speed gearbox. The car is all stock, with heated leather Recaro seats, plus every extra known to man. How Ford ever marketed this car for as low as $21,000 amazes me. It’s that good. However, there is one caveat. Dependability. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve never had the SVT break down and leave me stranded, but it has been back to the dealer for repairs too many times. At around 15,000 miles the electric seat heating elements stopped warming my buns. At 19,000 miles the gas tank vent tube had to be replaced. At about 28,000 miles a gas sensor had to be replaced and just last week at about 40,000 miles an under dash computer board went bad and was repaired. All of this, thankfully, was done under warranty and Ford gave me a free loaner car, one of the perks of owning an SVT. To be honest, I still love the car, but I’m sick of going back and forth to the dealer.

Ford, please build ’em better. Most of the problems with newer cars are the sophisticated electrics. Send spies to Lexus and Honda factories and find out who they subcontract their work to. All that stuff is probably made in China, anyway. Spend more time developing more fuel efficient vehicles for the public. That’s what people want. I’m a car guy and I adore your $150,000 GT 40, I just wish I could afford one. The new Mustang is probably the hottest looking new car in the marketplace, but both these cars have not helped your bottom line. It saddens me that you will be closing 14 automobile plants and cutting 30,000 American jobs. Ask yourself “What would Henry Ford do?” He would build cars as strong as he could for a fair market price. He also took very good care of his workers. Not a bad idea, and as you know he dominated the marketplace with his Fords. And good luck to that new Ford guy, Alan R. Mulally. Hopefully, he can inspire the crew to build Fords as well as Boeing builds airplanes.

Bob Gelber, an automotive journalist living in the Hamptons, appears regularly on television as an automotive expert. You can email him at bobgelber@aol.com