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Ford Five Hundred/Mercury Montego
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i did finally see that after much cursing about how geocities doesn't let you link.
I did have it working for awhile.....nothing major, just a picture of my SHO after a wash job. Kinda irrelevent to the discussion, kinda sho-ing off a bit.
My point from the last photo is that even though Ford had many design successes in the late 80's and through the 90's, one could argue that the original Taurus was to an extent a knockoff of the Audi 5000, and the 89 Tbird was an interpretation of the BMW 6 coupe.
So I don't think that necessarily means any sort of A6 knockoff for the 500 would be bad. The Tbird and Taurus still maintained a unique identity while drawing some on the cars its emulated.
The messy dash was one of the worst looking ever. The 2000 was what the 96 should have been, 2 years later it's already outdated.
The dash colors used in the 96, 97, and 98 models were also quite dreary. My 99 with the floor shift and tan colored dash is a big improvement in looks over a 96 with bench seats, column shifter, and wierd plastic color.
I only bring it up because I don't think most people have seen a 96-99 Taurus dash with the floor shifter.
Or put it other way, thats why reproduction rates are so dramatically down after imports become major players. In Europe population is shriniking in alarming rate, there were no bench seats and column shifts since 70s.
IMHO.
That being said, all my cars have consoles.
Honda consoles kick other Ford consoles.
When they kick Pontiac consoles, all the cheap gray junk falls under the seats.
Ford interiors have been improved in the last two years... but generally, they are boring and unergonomic.
Grand High Poobah
The Fraternal Order of Procrastinators
I agree that Ford should sell the bread and butter sedans. I think Mazda is their performance niche brand, if nothing other than to separate it from Ford products in segments where they go head-to-head.
What is missing in the FoMoCo stable is a move-up product. No matter how hard they try, Fords will never be considered "premium" products. I also think that Mercury, and to a lesser extent Lincoln, will never be more than dressed up Fords.
For this reason, I think acquiring Volvo was a key move for FoMoCo. It has its own ID, and is seen as a true step up from Fords in the market and can create a bridge to the other PAG brands at the top of the range.
The Car Connection has reported that the Lincoln LS may get a new 5.0L 32 valve V8 (based upon the current 4.6L V8) with 400 hp by 2004 to compete with the 400 hp Cadillac CTSi.
The Ford 500 may look like a Passat, but it will be a substantially larger car.
The Gran Marquis is Mercury's bread and butter car. It sells well, is highly profitable, and it's owners are amoung the most loyal of any model.
As a matter of fact, I'm trying to get my elderly parents to look at one. They are both depression era people, and they think Mercury's are overpriced cars for status concious people, and the Gran Marquis too exorbitant.
Hard to find a Crown Vic.
Interestingly the UAW complains about people buying US built Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys because the profits go back to Japan. Last time I checked the profits from all those European PAG brands goes to Detroit, but I guess that doesn't matter.
There are numerous labor laws about this subject, but basically if a union member wants one of the replacement jobs, they have to give it to him.
It is also a little misleading to say Honda never has lay-offs. I live in Ohio, and Honda hires a lot of temporary employees from employment agencies, mostly for the less skilled jobs. It may be true that "Honda" employees don't get laid off, but they do have lay-offs, only of the temp workers.
The lack of a union gives employers much more flexibility. The presence of the UAW keeps the transplant companies on their best behavior. The threat of a union is enough to keep from treating their employees like crap.
BTW, how 'bout a Ford 500 SHO? I sorta like the sound of that!
I will miss the Taurus, because I like the name. "Taurus" just does something to me, and I like to hear it said...okay, everyne can stop giving me strange looks as if I have something wrong with me.
Don't know about the 500. The styling does nothing for me. If I wanted a European car, why buy a copy?
Anyway, hopefully this new 500 will be more desirable, if not they are going to end up losing.
http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=6163&sid=17- 8&n=158
Source: The Car Connection SpyPics: Brenda Priddy
Here we have the spy pics from TCC.com taken by Brenda Priddy. http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=6163&sid=17- 8&n=158
And the original sketch released over a year ago, courtesy of Edmunds.com
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//pictures/- VEHICLE/2004/Ford/100076355/003847-E.jpg
On the side profiles, you can tell the overall curves were as seen on the sketch. Also the grab type handles, and side mirrors are exactly as the sketch indicated. The only part the differs is the rear seat side windows, where the sketch shows a more raked window cut out, and the spy pic shows it's more upright. The 3rd side-light obviously camouflaged.
The front, you see the grill and headlight are pretty much as the sketch indicated. And if you see clearly, the under chin spoiler cut outs creases can be imagined through the covering.
From the rear spy pic, you can also see through the camouflaging, the crease of the rear tail-light. It's very Mondeo like, or M-B like, diagnoal to front bottom type.
I would say the sketch was very dead on and very accurate. Too bad the same can't be said for the Montego, but that's another topic...
-Andrew L
The Maxima has a sportier nature, not exactly what the 500 itself will be, although the price range is the same. The buyers on the other hands, differ a bit.
-Andrew L
Are you sure you are looking at the 2004 Maxima and not the 2003? There is a big difference. Edmunds shows base MSRP for 2004 Maxima at $27,490 and base MSRP for 2003 Avalon at $26,430, both including destination.
-Andrew L
But I've called my local dealership and they never heard of a 500.
Does anyone know when this car is coming out?