Q&A on Saxty'y book

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Steve Saxty
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Q&A on Saxty'y book

Post by Steve Saxty »

From Retro Ford Magazine this month... https://porterpress.co.uk/blogs/news/st ... now-author
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Re: Q&A on Saxty'y book

Post by ESSEXV6ESSEX »

Hi Steve,

As you say in '86 and Capri production ending it came at the right time as the tooling for Capri was almost at the end of its life and Cologne being retooled for Scorpio and Fiesta do you think Ford should have ever had a sideline business and retooled for heritage parts as per BL? I appreciaite Henry Ford used the phrase "History is Bunk" or something similar but it oftern makes me wonder with a Global company like Ford or Ford in Europe (as was) anyway why they never bother?
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Steve Saxty
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Re: Q&A on Saxty'y book

Post by Steve Saxty »

Well, of course, it's easy to say yes they should have worked on keeping older parts in stock. But as you note Ford was, and is, very cost-conscious and far less romantic about plumbing their history. The difference might, in part, be that BL/Rover was closer geographically to its suppliers and parts made in lower volume than Ford's globally-sourced components. Across Europe Ford was so much larger than BL/Rover but Ford is not held in the misty-eyed regard that Brits have of the brand. So the company was possibly too large and too mass-market to pay attention to such things as it would make little economic sense. And Ford will never, ever make a capital investment that doesn't make a positive cashflow return. Another later employer of mine, Porsche does BTW but their customers completely happy paying £3,000 for carpets. Ford enthusiasts expect to pay very little for parts - I see people attacking a guy on FB selling a new RS500 bumper for £1,200 which seems a bargain to me, indeed my book at £45 gets some (not too much)pushback despite it being handmade and really a £95 book for the same reason. The price of something is what people are used to paying and (sadly) many Ford enthusiasts won't pay an appropriate sum for their hobby, books, car parts etc and so Ford is probably right to stay away from a poor business.
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Re: Q&A on Saxty'y book

Post by ESSEXV6ESSEX »

Makes sense. I didn't realise elsewhere in Europe people don't have the same affection for Fords as us Brits. There could be an argument that whilst Ford may not make a profitable business from a venture such as this in short, thee could be worthwhile investment if future sales increase because of the links to heritage? Almost like a loss leader.

Back to the book: Rod Mansfield and Patrick le quement seem wholly entertaining people. I may have misinterpreted Bob Lutz but I can imagine he could be a difficult character? I was too late into the world for AVO but SVE amazes me, 10 guys 1 year and produced legend after legend, that would have been a great place to work, they must have had a lot of late nights and good relationships with other departments within Ford to get all the material product made thar differed from mainstream. Looking at codenames and naming the final model, I assume there must be a process as to who chooses the model names? Who has final say? I assume there will be extensive checks completed to make Scorpio for instance doesn't mean 'boring' in Turkish etc? I always wondered if Sierra came about with a play on words as in C sector Aero car?
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