Ford announced an enormous loss today for the 2nd quarter. The loss was larger than expected at $8.7B. Ford also announced that it is accelerating the move to small cars by stating that a total of 6 small vehicles form Europe would be manufactured in the Americas for our market.
Only 3 of the vehicles were named: Fiesta, Focus, and Transit and these three had already all been announced. Two of the remaining three will probably be crossovers, and the third is speculated to be the Mondeo. However, the Mondeo overlaps with the Fusion/Milan/MKZ/Mazda6 - so how Ford will work this needless duplication remains to be seen. Note that the Fusion/Milan/MKZ will be slightly updated for 2010 (model year 2009 is abbreviated) with enhanced engines and a hybrid powerplant for the first time, but this work is just a stopgap until a revised Mondeo-based car goes worldwide.
Past examples of European Fords brought to North America were all de-contented from their European counterparts. The European Mondeo for example, was an up-market product in Europe but was de-contented for North America as the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique. Now that small cars are important again, will Ford provide the wide range of up-market options and accessories that Europeans expect - options that would in fact make these cars desirable to North American buyers and profitable to Ford? And will we see the performance versions of the Focus offered here - the ST and RS?
I'm also glad to see that the new Explorer has been moved up as well. The Explorer has done well on it's all-independent and thoroughly modern suspension and is certainly a better product than it's counterparts from GM or Chrysler. However, it's original mission - literally a vehicle to explorer urban byways and highways, has been compromised by the increased size and weight of the platform in recent years. Here's hoping that the new Explorer breaks new ground while returning to it's original mission. Note that the Expedition and Navigator will move to the Explorer plant... perhaps those vehicles will be downsized to the current Explorer platform? They are certainly pointlessly large as they stand now, and in fact have been so even before the current fuel price crisis.
Note the references to advanced technology below:
Direct Injection: Ford is very much behind the curve here compared to European imports or GM, and especially for use on naturally aspirated engines. Note Mazda's recent announcements where DI was said to be planned for their entire range of engines by 2012 - and within the overall Ford organization they are responsible for all small 4 cylinder engines. This is a clue that we should see this by 2012 in all 4 cylinder engines up to 2.5 liters in size - unless it's treated as a premium feature and is only offered as such.
Twin Independent Variable Cam Timing - having cam timing independently adjustable on both intake and exhaust is important for both emissions and economy. This is one thing missing on Ford's new 3.5/3.7 liter V-6 engine, and it shows against the competition. With horsepower of only 265/270 (3.5/3.7) against GM's 3.6 engine with 300/306 (Camaro/Cadillac) the new Ford engine isn't competitive. Revised cylinder heads, valvetrains, and Direct Injection would provide more competitive power while also improving economy and emissions thru efficiencies.
PowerShift transmission - this a double-clutch "automated" manual. It's already offered in Europe. Look top Ford to use more off-the-shelf transmissions like this in the longer term.
Finally you'll note that mention is indeed made of new Mercury products including a small car that is implied to be unique to Mercury. Could this be a new Capri, built off the Focus chassis?
Ford Press Release follows.
FORD ACCELERATES TRANSFORMATION PLAN WITH SMALL CAR OFFENSIVE, MANUFACTURING REALIGNMENT
Ford adding new fuel-efficient small cars and crossovers to North American product lineup
Six European small vehicles coming to North America from global B-car and C-car platforms
Three large truck and SUV plants converting to small cars; retooling begins this December
Ford, Lincoln and Mercury lineup to be almost completely upgraded by end of 2010
Ford plans to be the best or among the best in fuel economy with every new product in its segment
Hybrid vehicle production and lineup to double in 2009
Capacity for North American four-cylinder engines to double by 2011
Ford, Lincoln and Mercury confirmed in company’s North American brand portfolio
DEARBORN, Mich., July 24, 2008 – Ford Motor Company [NYSE: F] today announced a significant acceleration of its transformation plan with the addition of several new fuel-efficient small vehicles in North America and a realignment of its North American manufacturing.
The actions represent a considerable shift in Ford’s North American product plans and investments toward smaller vehicles and fuel-efficient powertrains in both the near- and mid-term in line with rapid changes in customer buying preferences.
In addition to bringing six small vehicles to North America from the company’s acclaimed European lineup, Ford is accelerating the introduction of fuel-efficient EcoBoost and all-new four-cylinder engines, boosting hybrid production and converting three existing truck and SUV plants for small car production, beginning this December.
“We continue to take fast and decisive action implementing our plan and responding to the rapidly changing business environment,” said Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally. “Ford is moving aggressively using our global product strengths to introduce additional smaller vehicles in North America and to provide outstanding fuel economy with every new product.”
Mulally said the company is more focused than ever on its transformation plan, which calls for:
Aggressively restructuring to operate profitably at the current demand and changing model mix
Accelerating the development of new products that customers want and value
Financing the plan and improving the balance sheet
Working together effectively as one team, leveraging Ford’s global assets
“The progress we have made in working together to create a ‘One Ford’ global enterprise during the past two years gives us a unique competitive advantage in today’s environment,” Mulally said. “We are in a stronger position than ever to leverage Ford’s global assets to address the North American business environment. We also are building on the past few years of progress in continuously improving our quality, reducing our cost structure and introducing strong new products.”
Aggressively Restructuring Ford will convert three existing North American truck and SUV plants for small car production, with the first conversion beginning this December.
The moves are in addition to Ford’s announcements in May and June that it is reducing its North American production plans for large trucks and SUVs for the remainder of 2008, as well as increasing production of smaller cars and crossovers.
“We are transforming Ford’s North American manufacturing operations into a lean, flexible system that is fully competitive with the best in the business,” said Mark Fields, Ford president of The Americas. “We remain committed to matching our capacity with real consumer demand, and we are equipping nearly all of our assembly plants with flexible body shops, ensuring we can respond quickly to changing consumer tastes.
“In addition, we are adding four-cylinder engine capacity to meet the growing consumer demand, while expanding production of our new EcoBoost engines, six-speed transmissions and other fuel-saving technologies,” Fields said.
Among the manufacturing realignment actions:
Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, Mich., which currently builds the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator full-size SUVs, will be converted beginning this December to production of small cars derived from Ford’s global C-car platform in 2010.
Production of the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator will be moved to the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Ky., early next year.
Cuautitlan Assembly Plant in Mexico, which currently produces F-Series pickups, will be converted to begin production of the new Fiesta small car for North America in early 2010.
Louisville (Ky.) Assembly Plant, which builds the Ford Explorer mid-size SUV, will be converted to produce small vehicles from Ford’s global C-car platform beginning in 2011.
Twin Cities (Minn.) Assembly Plant – which was scheduled to close in 2009 – will continue production of the Ford Ranger through 2011 to meet consumer demand for the compact pickup.
As previously announced, Kansas City Assembly Plant this year will add a third crew to its small utility line for the Ford Escape, Escape Hybrid and Mercury Mariner and Mariner Hybrid.
In tandem with the realignments, Ford will continue to offer targeted hourly buyouts at its U.S. plants and facilities, working with the UAW to secure competitive employment levels. Ford also said it remains on track to reduce salaried-related costs by 15 percent in North America by Aug. 1.
Ford North America still expects to reduce annual operating costs by $5 billion by the end of 2008 – at constant volume, mix and exchange, and excluding special items – compared with 2005. In addition, the company said it plans to continue to reduce structural costs beyond 2008.
The company also confirmed Ford, Lincoln and Mercury will remain in its North American brand portfolio. Ford said it will work with its dealers to broaden and accelerate its dealer consolidations, which will result in a dealer network that reflects the changing industry size and model mix.
Ford also updated its current North American planning assumptions, which include:
U.S. economic recovery to begin by early 2010
U.S. industry sales to return to trend levels as the economy returns to health
Product mix changes are permanent, but some recovery will occur from the current share-of-industry for full-size pickups – though not back to levels experienced previously – as the economy and housing sector recover
Oil prices to remain volatile and high
No near-term relief from current level of commodity prices
About 14 percent U.S. market share for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands
Accelerating New Products Ford is adding several new North American products in the near- and mid-term, and shifting from a primary emphasis on large trucks and SUVs to smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles. By the end of 2010, two-thirds of spending will be on cars and crossovers – up from one-half today.
“We are accelerating the development of the new products customers want and value,” Mulally said. “We sell some of the best vehicles in the world in our profitable European and Asian operations, and we will bring many of them to North America on top of our already aggressive product plans.”
The new products include six European small vehicles to be introduced in North America by the end of 2012. Ford’s acclaimed European products are set apart by their world-class driving dynamics, exciting design and outstanding quality.
“While we have no intention of giving up our longtime truck leadership, we are creating a new Ford in North America on a foundation of small, fuel-efficient cars and crossovers that will set new standards for quality, fuel economy, product features and refinement,” Fields said.
The Ford, Lincoln, Mercury line will be almost completely upgraded by the end of 2010, including:
2009 Ford F-150, on sale in late fall with the most capability, most choice and most smart features of any full-size pickup, and with more than a 7 percent fuel economy improvement
2010 Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Lincoln MKZ sedans, on sale in early 2009, with Fusion’s and Milan’s four-cylinder fuel economy expected to top Honda Accord and Toyota Camry
2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid, beginning production late this year and on sale in early 2009 – with fuel economy expected to top the Toyota Camry hybrid
New Ford Mustang – coupe, convertible, and glass-roof models – in early 2009
New Ford Taurus sedan – with EcoBoost engine and even more advanced safety and convenience technologies – in mid-2009
New European Transit Connect small multi-purpose van in mid-2009
New Lincoln seven-passenger crossover – with EcoBoost engine – in mid-2009
New European Ford Fiesta, in both four- and five-door versions, in early 2010
New European Ford Focus, in both four- and five-door versions, in 2010
New Mercury small car in 2010
New European small vehicle that will be a “whitespace” entry in North America in 2010
Next-generation Ford Explorer – with unibody construction, EcoBoost, six-speed, weight savings and improved aerodynamics for up to 25 percent better fuel economy – in 2010
With every new product, Ford expects to be the best or among the best for fuel economy. This is aided by one of the most extensive powertrain upgrades ever for Ford. By the end of 2010, nearly all of Ford’s North American engines will be upgraded or replaced. In addition, within two years, nearly all of Ford’s North American lineup will offer fuel-saving six-speed automatic transmissions.
The improvements build on several Ford fuel economy leaders today, such as:
2009 Ford Flex, which is the most fuel-efficient standard seven-passenger vehicle on the market, topping the 2009 Honda Pilot
2009 Ford Focus, with highway fuel economy of up to 35 mpg – better than the smaller 2008 Honda Fit and 2009 Nissan Versa SL and a key reason Focus retail sales are up 50 percent
2009 Escape, with a new 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and six-speed transmission delivering best-in-class highway fuel economy of 28 mpg – ahead of Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V
2009 Ford Escape Hybrid, delivering 34 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway, making it the most fuel-efficient utility vehicle available
Coming in 2009 are the first applications of Ford’s new EcoBoost engines. EcoBoost uses gasoline turbocharged direct-injection technology for up to 20 percent better fuel economy, up to 15 percent fewer CO2 emissions and superior driving performance versus larger-displacement engines.
EcoBoost V-6 engines will be introduced on several vehicles next year, beginning with the Lincoln MKS and Ford Taurus sedans, and Ford Flex crossover. Four-cylinder EcoBoost engines will debut in 2010 in both North America and Europe. Ford will offer EcoBoost on more than 80 percent of its North American lineup by the end of 2012.
Ford also plans to double capacity for North American four-cylinder engines to more than 1 million units by 2011, to meet the consumer trend toward downsized engines for fuel economy. The smaller engines will deliver significant fuel savings.
In addition, Ford plans to double its hybrid volume and offerings next year – and is looking to expand further going forward. Production of the all-new 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan Hybrid begins in December – with fuel economy expected to top the Toyota Camry hybrid.
With these new models, the Ford Escape Hybrid – now in its fifth year of production – and the Mercury Mariner Hybrid, Ford will offer four hybrid vehicles. That will make Ford the largest domestic producer of full hybrid vehicles in North America, second only to Toyota in sales volume.
Ford also is introducing six-speeds with PowerShift that offers the fuel economy of a manual transmission and convenience of an automatic; start-stop engines that shut off when the vehicle stops; electric power steering; direct injection, and Twin Independent Variable Cam Timing engines. These technologies will be progressively introduced within the North American lineup by 2012.
“One Ford” Driving Ford’s product transformation is the company’s “One Ford” global product development vision, which will deliver more vehicles worldwide from fewer core platforms, further reduce costs and allow for the increased use of common parts and systems.
In the next five years, Ford will build more than 1 million vehicles a year worldwide off its global B-car platform and nearly 2 million units worldwide off its global C-car platform.
“Ford is investing most where consumer growth is taking place – and that’s in highly fuel-efficient global small cars,” said Derrick Kuzak, Ford group vice president of Global Product Development. “One of every four vehicles in the world today is a ‘C’ or Ford Focus-sized vehicle, and we expect the segment to grow more than 20 percent to 6 million units in North America and 25 million worldwide by 2012. We see similar strong growth in the B-segment, where the Fiesta competes.”
With Ford’s global product development plan, all of the company’s vehicles competing in global segments will be common in North America, Europe and Asia within five years. In addition to B- and C-sized small cars, the company’s Fusion- and Mondeo-sized C/D cars and utilities will be common globally. The same will be true for commercial vans.
Ford said it is uniquely positioned to take advantage of its scale, already acclaimed global products and the strength of the Ford brand around the world to respond to the current changing marketplace and to begin to grow profitably. The company said its success in growing market share and profits with smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles in Europe is now the template around the world.
“We remain absolutely committed to creating an exciting, viable Ford going forward – and to transforming Ford into a lean global enterprise delivering profitable growth over the long term,” Mulally said. “We continue to make progress on every element of our transformation plan, and we are taking decisive steps in the near term to ensure our long-term success.” Risk Factors
Statements included herein may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on expectations, forecasts and assumptions by our management and involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated, including, without limitation:
Continued decline in market share;
Continued or increased price competition resulting from industry overcapacity, currency fluctuations or other factors;
An increase in or acceleration of market shift away from sales of trucks, sport utility vehicles, or other more profitable vehicles, particularly in the United States;
A significant decline in industry sales, particularly in the United States, Europe or South America, resulting from slowing economic growth, geo-political events or other factors;
Lower-than-anticipated market acceptance of new or existing products;
Continued or increased high prices for or reduced availability of fuel;
Currency or commodity price fluctuations;
Adverse effects from the bankruptcy or insolvency of, change in ownership or control of, or alliances entered into by a major competitor;
Economic distress of suppliers that has in the past and may in the future require us to provide financial support or take other measures to ensure supplies of components or materials;
Labor or other constraints on our ability to restructure our business;
Work stoppages at Ford or supplier facilities or other interruptions of supplies;
Single-source supply of components or materials;
Substantial pension, postretirement health care and life insurance liabilities impairing our liquidity or financial condition;
Inability to implement Retiree Health Care Settlement Agreement with UAW to fund and discharge retiree health care obligations because of failure to obtain court approval or otherwise;
Worse-than-assumed economic and demographic experience for our postretirement benefit plans (e.g., discount rates, investment returns, and health care cost trends);
The discovery of defects in vehicles resulting in delays in new model launches, recall campaigns or increased warranty costs;
Increased safety, emissions (e.g., CO2), fuel economy, or other regulation resulting in higher costs, cash expenditures, and/or sales restrictions;
Unusual or significant litigation or governmental investigations arising out of alleged defects in our products or otherwise;
A change in our requirements for parts or materials where we have entered into long-term supply arrangements that commit us to purchase minimum or fixed quantities of certain parts or materials, or to pay a minimum amount to the seller (“take-or-pay” contracts);
Adverse effects on our results from a decrease in or cessation of government incentives;
Adverse effects on our operations resulting from certain geo-political or other events;
Substantial negative Automotive operating-related cash flows for the near- to medium-term affecting our ability to meet our obligations, invest in our business or refinance our debt;
Substantial levels of Automotive indebtedness adversely affecting our financial condition or preventing us from fulfilling our debt obligations (which may grow because we are able to incur substantially more debt, including additional secured debt);
Inability of Ford Credit to access debt or securitization markets around the world at competitive rates or in sufficient amounts due to additional credit rating downgrades, market volatility, market disruption or otherwise;
Higher-than-expected credit losses;
Increased competition from banks or other financial institutions seeking to increase their share of financing Ford vehicles;
Changes in interest rates;
Collection and servicing problems related to finance receivables and net investment in operating leases;
Lower-than-anticipated residual values or higher-than-expected return volumes for leased vehicles; and
New or increased credit, consumer or data protection or other regulations resulting in higher costs and/or additional financing restrictions.
We cannot be certain that any expectation, forecast or assumption made by management in preparing forward-looking statements will prove accurate, or that any projection will be realized. It is to be expected that there may be differences between projected and actual results. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of their initial issuance, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For additional discussion of these risks, see “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our 2007 Form 10-K Report.
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 229,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company’s core and affiliated automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo and Mazda. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company.
I finally found some images of the Ford Profile and Mercury Premys show cars. These Ford Mondeo variants were introduced at the 1994 NAIAS in Detroit.
The Mercury Premys is very convential, it's simply a styling exercise for what became the Mystique.
The Ford Profile is much more extensive. Besides the body kit, the car features the all-wheel drive system from the European Mondeo, as well as a supercharged 2.5l DOHC V-6 (a supercharged 3.0 DOHC V-06 was planned for Jaguar, but was cancelled) and an interior by Recaro. The concept was shown for several years, in a variety of colors including bright yellow. Ford actually wanted to build this car, but was unable to justify the high expense since the plan was for the Ford Contour to be a severely decontented Ford Mondeo. Several of the Mondeo features and options would be left out of the car when it made the trasnistion across the Atlanta and all wheel drive was one of them ( as was a diesel engine). Ford later relented and rebadged a slightly decontented FWD Mondeo ST200 as the SVT Contour.
These images join several hundred others in the Concepts, Prototypes, and ShowCar area of the Ford section. You can view them there, as well as look thru the Ford- Concepts blog category as new ones are added.
Looking thru my website readership statistics, I've found that a number of people have searched and found Capri and Cougar pages and blog entries in amongst the 12,000 total pages that make up this site. To help surface all of this material I've added separate categories in my blogs for the Capri and Cougar. For the Capri, I'll cover both the American and German models... and maybe sometime in the future will say a few words about the obscure and thankfully dead Australian model.
I've been blogging for several years, and have discussed about the likelihood (very very very small) of a new Cougar based on the S197 Mustang. I've also covered the SVT-powered Cougar S on my site... there was exactly 1 prototype built (and later auctioned) before Ford cancelled the project after the decision was made to drop the European Mondeo (Contour) from production in the United States. I saw it in person, I photographed it, and web readers have found the pics on my site (1 is below). There have also been other Cougar or Cougar-esque (ex: the Mercury Messenger) concepts, prototypes, and showcars presented by Ford over the last 10 years - and those are also covered on my site.
And while I never owned an American FOX-chassis Capri (see my blog entry yesterday for the story of what happened there), I did own a German Capri and even ice-raced it (picture below). I wrote up that story up a few years ago from my tortured memories of the frozen wasteland of Buffalo.
The one Cougar I owned was in college - a '70 XR-7 (picture below). I wish I had it today because Cougars are appreciating in value and should continue to do so.
As with all my blogs, you can explore old postings two ways:
"Index of all Postings" to the upper left of the site
"Prior Posts by Date" to the upper right.
While Ford is 100% dead in the water on any possibility of a new Capri or Cougar (due to Bill Ford's incompetence)... I would believe that those names could come back again some day if small, lithe, and comfortable small coupes come back into fashion. Alas, the S197 Mustang is too large to make a modern Cougar or Capri... perhaps the upcoming all-new Australian chassis in the next decade could yield a new Cougar.
My procession of 11 brand new Fox and SN95 Mustangs ('79 thru '03 comparison chart) almost started with a Mercury Capri. It was late in the 1979 model year, the all-new (although Fairmont-based) Mustang had been on the market for several months, and better yet I could now actually afford my first brand new car.
At the time, I lived outside of Buffalo New York in the suburb of Williamsville. I was still in college, but I'd already started in my chosen industry. I had been driving in TSD rallies, and had talked to some SCCA folks at the car show a few months earlier and wanted to get involved in autocross. I spotted a red/red '79 Mercury Capri hatchback, with V-8 engine, manual transmission, and no other options (standard high-back vinyl buckets!) in the lot of a Lincoln-Mercury dealer located across from the Boulevard Mall near Maple and Niagara Falls Blvd. The price was workable, the dealer arranged financing ($145/month for 4 years), and a final deal was agreed upon. Until, that is, the dealer also insisted on adding rust-proofing and some other treatments.
Now this is Buffalo - the snow and rust belt. And it was a Ford, which meant it was doomed to rust as all Fords did then. But I was already a car enthusiast, and the thought of having rust-proofing on the cart was unacceptable. Rust-proofing back in those days was a black oily asphalt-type "goop" - you literally couldn't work under the hood without getting it on your arms. I didn't want it, but they wouldn't take no for an answer. So the deal was off, and they decided to keep my $100 down payment (can you believe the prices in those days?). What a bunch of jerks, and soon thereafter the dealership went out of business anyway. Good riddance.
Fortunately, a Ford dealer in the area (Al Maroone on Transit) had a '79 Cobra Mustang left on the lot - although it was a turbo 4-cylinder. This interested me technically and I appreciated the mid-range grunt the engine offered (although it had the HP of the 302 V-8, it didn't have the torque), and the handling was much better - the nose of the car was probably 100 pounds lighter. Downside: the car was yellow and had a large hood decal. I made the deal anyway, started autocrossing, and a year later zipped the decal off the hood. It was the first of two turbocharged 2.3 liter 4-cylinder Mustangs I owned (the second was an SVO several years later), and the first of three cars I've owned powered by turbocharged 2.3 liter engines (the third was a MazdaSpeed6 - whose engine trumps the first two 2.3s by far in sophistication, smoothness, mileage, power, torque, reliability, and every other possible measure).
The Cobra Mustang did well on the autocross track... although it didn't make for much of a high-speed trackday car. The Cobra had even smaller brakes all around than the V-8.
I really liked the good looks of the Capri versus the Mustang. I always thought I'd built a Mustang with the flared fenders of the Capri (even though they didn't have any more room inside than the Mustang). . Here's a commercial for an '80 Capri so you can see what they looked like (ignore the ugly hood scoop - that came along in 1980).
I never did get my Capri... although a few years later I did pick up an old German-made Capri as a winter car. That was an entirely different and unrelated Capri, with a 2-liter Pinto engine, a long-tube header, and an out-sized Weber carb. It also solved my winter rust problem, since I could leave my Mustang in a garage all winter.
Coincidentally, my late-model Mustang career was book-ended with "Cobra" Mustangs. The first one ('79) was good enough to start the entire string... the last one ('03) was an absolute quality disaster from the engineering nincompoops of SVT. You can read about the '03 here:
Going back in time to Buffalo NY, 25 years ago. November in Buffalo is a time I remember well...
Being a car-nut, it meant that the summer racing season (autocross and Open Track events) was over and it was time to put the car away for the winter. Of course, I stretched it out for a few weeks from the first sub-zero day until the first snowfall, since I certainly preferred driving my nice summer car instead of my old winter car. But at some point the first snowfall comes and it's time to switch cars. My summer cars were Mustangs, and my winter cars over the years were a mix of German Mercury Capris and American Ford Escorts. The Capri will be the subject of an entire post in the near future... I believe I picked up the car just before the winter of 1981. I'd run 4 snow tires and get by ok; although obviously traction wasn't perfect in this rear-wheel drive car. At the time I was a college student, so money was in short supply and the tires weren't always in great condition. The Escorts came later and were much better winter cars - they could run all year with just all-season tires and of course front-wheel drive made for far better traction.
So the major downside was that I had to put the good car away and get out the old car. If there was an upside, it was that this time of year was also a really great time of year for TSD (time-speed-distance) car rallies. I was a member of the Southtown Rally Club (as I think it was named - if it exists anymore I can't find it) for a number of years, as well as another rally club. We ran rallies all year round, but the fall and winter were the best of times because the climates and roads got progressively more challenging.
The object of a TSD rally, if you haven't been on one, if to match the time and mileage of the route setup by the rally master. A route you identify as you are driving it from the provided instructions. It isn't a speed event, but it is about maintaining an average speed on the public roads it was run on. You have to decipher instructions and follow the route the rallymaster created - solely with instructions such as "turn left at 3.2 miles past last turn". Periodic checkpoints would check your progress and time. Off-course checkpoints would catch you if your measurements were off - for example if you saw a turn at 3.1 miles and took it. Many participants found themselves completely lost if they didn't interpret the instructions correctly.
The fall rally season would start in the October timeframe with an all-day rally that ran over several counties south of Buffalo for a couple of hundred miles. This would start in the morning and run until dinner time, when the prizes for most accurate time and navigation would be handed out. The rally was named "Discover America", the rallymaster and event organizer was Tom Krajewski, and - incredibly - it's still running these days. I remember that my Ford dealer in Arcade NY was usually a sponsor. The owner, Les Halazi, enjoyed rallying a lot. The first time I met him, he was driving an untitled Ford Futura right off the showroom floor (it'd be sold with a couple of hundred miles on it).
The next big rally of the season was the annual Halloween rally, which besides navigational challenges included stopping by graveyards to pick out clues. Prizes were given for the most involved costume. In 1981 (or 1982?), my friend and I went as the the Bell Hoop Elves from the Wizard of Oz. Weird costumes, and it took a lot of nerve to wear them. But it was a purposely calculated risk (and also there weren't any other costumes to rent by the time we got around to picking out some) and we won the best costume award because of it. I've got a picture, but it will *never* be seen in public. I remember that we had to drape the back of the hoop over the back of the Recaro seats in my Mustang in order to drive. Furthermore, on the way home that evening after the rally party, some kids thru some rocks down on my car from an overpass. Once I got out of the car, I gave chase in the outfit - I can't imagine what they were thinking!
The winter rallies would get progressively tougher - the conditions would worsen, snow and ice would be the major problem. I remember that the driving was just as tough as following instructions. By the time the snow really piled up around the end of November and beginning of December, we were well tuned "winter drivers" and could handle anything as long as the road was passable at all. And sometimes it barely was... one rally post-Thanksgiving in approximately 1982 had us driving a Camaro with 2 old snow tires down roads in the southern counties that had walls of frozen snow and ice over 10 feet tall on each side of the road. It was literally driving down tunnels... it was outright hazardous... and the car was not at all prepared for it. Nonetheless, we tied for first place overall... and the jerks organizing the rally gave the prize to the other car solely because it's owner had prepared for rallies with a professional rally computer and 4 snow tires. We felt we should have gotten the first prize because we had a far tougher driving experience in a far more challenging car that obviously took a lot more skill to overcome. But our prize was a 20 pound turkey... and neither of us had any need for that.
So while the season was tough, and getting a lot tougher, all of us made the most of it and managed to continue in our motorsport hobby, such as it was. And that's how it worked in Buffalo - whatever your interests were it was important to dive right into them or else you ended up hibernating all winter and hating the climate even more. That's why you see Buffalo Bills fans sitting in their open stadium (under any conditions - even wind chill well below zero) and enjoying their game. And that's why we went out and drove challenging roads all year round, no matter the weather. Call it making lemonade out of lemons, it was good times.
