F Series Production.

Not enough demand to make worthwhile for Ford - we're probably the only rhd country that would take them up

How dare they make a profit..... if they didn't make a good profit to cover the conversion, taxes, compliance costs and warranty do you think they would do it just for the love of it?

What other choice do you have..... you can't do it yourself and the others doing small volume conversions may not produce a vehicle of the same quality or after sales support and backup.

The good thing is they are looking at expanding and employing more people....... no profit + no expanding = no employment.

Good on them for doing it.

yep - they're providing a service that Ford won't

with set-up and red tape expenses they'd have to charge a fair whack to before they even get to profit

they'll charge what the market will stand and there are alternatives - not many and still expensive

What annoys me about all the RHD conversions, is they still have LHD hangovers, such as the gearshift and indicator levers on the wrong sides, and wipers that don't clear to the edge of the windscreen.

I guess if you have bulk money to play with and the desire for the American dream, then a few tens of thousands is neither here nor there, and nor is LHD hangovers.

Nephew has a Chevy with the Cummins diesel and Allison automatic.
He paid $170,000 for it and spent another $20,000 on acessories and loves it - but I think they pretty over-rated, and certainly over-priced.

He pulls something like $2M a year profit out of his business, so it's all just pin-money to him. Just traded his 47' Randell for a 53 footer, because he needed to improve his standing amongst the multi-millionaire set, I guess. [:-)

After owning a 4WD F100 many years ago (bought it new and it cost me twice as much as a new Statesman), I can tell you, anything with "F-series" on it, is the greatest rip-off of all time.

A capable enough 4WD, but thirsty and expensive to run - and I had to spend thousands on installling aftermarket power steering as it only came with manual steering that ensured you couldn't keep it in a straight line for any more than 50 metres.

The factory finish on all Fords is spoilt by Ford scrimping everywhere they can. The mounting brackets for the radius rods on the F100 were installed with holes punched through the brackets, along with holes punched in the chassis - then bolts smaller than the hole diameter were installed.
With 80,000 kms of work on gravel roads, the mounting brackets came loose due to the poor bolt fit, and they then started to move back and forth on the chassis.
To say that looseness made handling interesting, was an understatement!

All in all, the Japs build better vehicles than the Americans, because the Japs are just plain fussy when it comes to fit and finish and performance of the end product.
When you see Jap trains running to within seconds of their timetable constantly, you get an inkling of how anal they are about perfection.

Ron N,
maybe you should have a look at these CONVERSIONS. They come very highly recommended.

New F trucks don't use heaps of fuel and will use less than a 200 series cruiser pulling the same weight. Times have changed from years gone by. Can't comment on the interior, but son had one for a work vehicle in Canada and liked it very much.

Ron, you'll love German, Italian and French cars....put your indicator on and the bloody wipers come on and vice versa.


;)

Steve - Yeah, been there, done that. It gets interesting driving around Europe, I can tell you.

Despite having driven LHD quite a bit, you still tend to fall back into the old habits when you relax.

Scariest part was taking off at dusk from a Basque hotel up in the semi-rural hills above Bilbao - tired after a long day - and wondering why the bloke coming towards me a km away, is on the wrong side of the road?! Whoops!

Cheers, Ron.

G/Day Ron ,My landrover Defender has all the LHD features!..Got them all in the price..LOL.,...Even wants to keep steering to the left when it feels like it.


Cheers Axle.

It's nice to know how some who had a bad experience 20+ years ago still think those problems are still around today...... Maybe it's time to move from the past to the future.

BTW..... Windows 3.1 went out years ago as did the Amstrad CPC and 28k dial up modems.

Have a few friend and people we do work for who have a mix of current Yanky Trucks, the fuel and power figures they quote are unbelievable and outperforms our 200 series in both, most are getting similar economy to our new Ranger.

There are still a few trade offs that can't be fixed but the good fare outweighs the bad.

Nothing will ever change with Ford's attitude to cheapness of constructiion.
Ever had a 7.3 V8 Navistar diesel apart, alongside a Ford 7.3 V8 diesel? - and compared how many shortcuts in construction the Ford diesel has over the Navistar diesel?
The same goes for ZF transmissions manufactured by Ford under licence.
They buy the licence to manufacture then the bean counters set to, and find ways to make every single component as cheap and nasty as they possibly can.
There's a reason why Ford sales have plummeted in Australia and why they are closing down their factory here.

So the what was the reason for Mitsubishi who closed and Holden and Toyota who are closing?

What don't you understand about small volume manufacturing costs and efficiency, change of peoples requirements, a flooded market with low import tariffs and increasing employment wages, entitlements and luxury working conditions.

Would you like me to list the other Australian manufactures who have left for the same reasons....... Or was it because of their poor quality products as you think?

Don't think you can compare Performax with an older style conversion. Performax don't really do a conversion, they basically remanufacture the car/truck. Having seen their factory it's pretty impressive.

@Ron N. Never heard anything but praise for the Ford/Navistar 444/7.3. That engine is held in high regard even in the F-series trucks. I have heard about some of the Ford-built ZF transmissions you mentioned though. But that 6R140 is supposed to be one tough transmission.

Performax...does that sound more like a condom than a car import company?