Visit to Ford’s Headquarters, from the Model A to a Tonka Truck
Last week, when The Car Guide dropped by Ford’s head offices in Dearborn to attend seven conferences in two days—covering hypothetical market trends in today’s society—we also got some time to have a little fun.
Before the end of these, conference-filled days, probably to seek redemption for putting us through these long discussions, Ford allowed us to take the wheel of a few vehicles and admire a couple more. Here are a few notes of what we checked out.
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In the entrance hall of Ford’s headquarters, there are a few beautiful creations on display that allowed Henry Ford to leave his mark in automotive history. We were polarised by a perfect example of a 1903 Ford Model A and a replica of the 1896 Quadricycle, the very first car created by Henry himself. There’s also a 1911 Model T and one of six 2003 Model Ts. The latter is in fact an exact replica of a 1914 Model T, built in 2003 to commemorate Ford’s 100-year anniversary.
F-150 times 10
We got to drive a 2017 Ford F-150 equipped with a new 10-speed automatic transmission. No technical details were revealed, but it will be matched to the 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 that now produces 375 hp (up by 10). The test course set up by Ford was perfectly suited to this transmission, and we didn’t feel any harshness during gear changes, and unlike FCA’s nine-speed automatic we tested several times during last couple of years, doesn’t hesitate to use the very last gear, number 10 in this case.
However, I would’ve liked to count the number of speeds myself, but the short test didn’t really allow it. This transmission obviously emphasizes fuel economy. During normal acceleration, according to the dashboard indicator, the tranny often upshifted two gears at a time. The three tallest speeds have overdrive ratios. I was curious to try out this transmission while hauling a heavy trailer or with a loaded bed, but that will have to wait.
Feeling like a kid again
The F-150 might be a big vehicle, it looked like a midget beetle beside the spectacular Tonka, an F-750 dump truck built on collaboration with Hasbro, which owns the Tonka brand name. This unique truck (only one unit was built) was unveiled last year to celebrate Ford’s return to the work truck market after being in the shadow of Navistar for several years.
To create the Tonka truck, Ford took a 2016 F-750, painted it in the same yellow paint as the Tonka toy trucks, applied custom decals designed with the help of Hasbro and revamped the front end to resemble the diminutive toy dump truck. Even if 60% of F-750 units are sold with a gasoline engine, the Tonka is equipped with a 6.7-litre Power Stroke turbo-diesel V8, which develops 330 horsepower and 725 lb.-ft. of torque.
We may have seen it all in our career as an automotive journalist, we can’t help but to be amazed by this truck and to reminisce our childhood, playing in our sandbox with our beloved, scaled-down Tonka truck. It’s the kinda feeling that makes us realise that we didn’t completely waste two days of our lives sitting through endless conferences.
