The Pain of Reality

My car finally turned 20.

On March 11, 2006 my convertible officially became two decades old. I've owned it for 10 years now...man, time is just flying by. I remember being the eager, mid-20's dreamer willing to do anything to have that car. Then I acquired it by pure fate. Now it's sitting in the garage, awaiting another summer of use, needing a few things (as any older car does) but otherwise none the worse for wear. I once loved the car more than life itself...as the years go by, I now tend to view it more as an old friend, awaiting the chance to get opened up whenever asked. It is, after all, just an old, comfy machine, the equivalent of a pair of well-worn slippers or favorite pair of jeans.

Yet it's so difficult--for me, nearly impossible--to not think about the 'glory days' of our cars, of when Things Were Right™ in Ford world. Twenty years ago, as my car was rolling down the assembly line in Lorain, OH, I was a junior in high school a mere 75 minutes from the plant, and not a car guy at that point (hard as that may seem). But I did like art, and artistic things short of bland MTV pop culture. With the Lincoln-Mercury dealership right next door to the high school, the fantastic shape of the Cougar somehow managed to send out its invisible electric current through the school walls and straight into my soul.

When our Cougars and Thunderbirds were unleashed, they literally broke the mold for what an American car was in the 1980's. The road map forever changed, every automaker began to copy the look (some rather blatantly... coughcough ChryslerLeBaron coughcough), and in general, we started to have some fairly good-looking cars by the end of the decade. If it's one point in the 1980's where most automotive journalists can attribute the largest change in auto design, it's with the 1983 Thunderbird and Cougar. There was another point, a few years later, with the 1986 Taurus/Sable. Arguably, it happened a third time with the 1989 Thunderbird/Cougar. Things were just fine in the 1980's with Ford.

Folks...we shall never see those days again. They are gone, bye-byes, never to return. Why do I say this? Because Ford has made things so convoluted, so frustrating, so backwards that we are virtually guaranteed never to have another time when Things Were Right™.

Let's look back to where things for Ford started to take a turn for the worst: the mid-1990's. Despite the shine and polish applied by all the automakers, it was in reality a bleak time in America, when cars were starting to look and feel the same, and the only aspect of a vehicle that started to gain respect was with horsepower. But cars weren't the cash cow--trucks and SUV's were. I still remember that day in 1997 that Ford announced they were killing off the MN12 Cougar/T-Bird. I kept asking, "Why?" Not 'why' as in, "Why our cars?", but 'why' as in, "Why did Ford let this happen to these cars?" What exactly did the powers-that-be at Ford think they'd accomplish by eliminating these cars? On paper it was probably a good decision. Looking at the declining sales numbers, it made some sense. But read into things a bit more and it becomes baffling. These were a world-class pair of cars, on a chassis whose bugs had been worked out almost immediately, in a plant that was very efficient and with one of the best labor forces in Ford's worldwide arsenal. And Ford still dropped the ball with them. Everything that Ford ever asked of these cars, they did, and admirably to boot. They never complained, never devolved, never betrayed their purpose, and always stayed true to themselves and their heritage. In short, it was a car line that was already paid for and profitable. Yet Ford chose to let them sell themselves, which in the 1980's would have been great (in fact, that's exactly what happened), but this wasn't the 1980's anymore. Ford was caught resting on its laurels. Instead of pushing the cars with advertising support, instead of proving that they could still hold their own with the newer cars, instead of investing for the long term with a freshening, Ford unceremoniously killed them off with the stroke of a pen. A nice write-off it was, I'm sure. But no amount of stitches will ever sew that hole shut...after all, I still remember the pain of that day.

And it wasn't just the Cougar/Thunderbird that suffered. Our Lincoln Mark VIII cousin was next to go, the following year. And then we have the nightmare that was the 1996 Taurus. Again, what was Ford thinking? Making nearly everything on the car in an oval shape seems great...on paper. And then when you saw the real car it became increasing more difficult to keep your lunch down. Ford actually took one of the top-selling cars in the world and accidentally made it look second-rate in a heartbeat. The mechanicals were fine; the chassis still held its own; the interior was refined. That damned ugly exterior is what killed it. You just can't fix that kind of ugly, especially in AutomotiveLand (because if you could, we'd have had a good looking Pontiac Aztek by now). The 'beauty is skin deep' thing doesn't work with cars. Not even the almighty juggernaut known as NASCAR could boost the Taurus' sales. To be fair, a few years later Ford did improve it quite a bit, but it was too little, too late. In one fell swoop, Ford shot itself in the foot and sentenced its best-selling car ever to a lingering and painful death in the full view of the public. Not the smartest thing to do, especially when imported cars were starting to show strong sales gains. At this writing the Taurus is about to be finally terminated. What a waste of twenty years. Such a strong start, such promise, all wasted.

Should I even go into the 1999-2002 Cougar? A car with a decent premise, that actually did fill a niche, that showed the public that Ford could offer something different. Once again, promises never fulfilled due to internal decisions. Quite literally, the parts were all there to make a high-performance version, yet that didn't happen. Wasted potential yet again.

We've now witnessed the 'revitalized' lineup from FoMoCo with underwhelming results. The 500 is a decent car, and it does most everything well. The funniest thing about that car, though, is from its very launch it was under the shadow of a car yet to be released, the Fusion. I have never, ever seen any other car company do that...ever. It's as if Ford didn't really care one way or the other about the 500. "Here's the shiny new 500...but we've also got the Fusion right around the corner, and that's the car that will turn us around!" Say wha-? Are you serious? Now don't get me wrong--the Fusion is truly all that and a bag of chips. I'm still wondering how the same company did this...rob Peter to pay Paul?! How ironic that both cars are replacing the limping Taurus.

The Lincoln Zephyr is another example. This Lincoln version of the Fusion was badged the Zephyr in 2006...but for 2007 it's the MKZ. Apparently there is absolutely nothing original left in Ford's arsenal for Lincoln-Mercury division. Zephyr was last used on a Mercury...even the name was recycled from the start. And now Ford has committed Lincoln to the same nondescript alphanumeric naming convention as Cadillac, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Infiniti, ad nauseum. So let me get this straight--Lincoln slaps a used nameplate to launch a brand new car...and then it can't even let the name stand for more than ONE model year?! I guess Ford wants Lincoln to be like everyone else...which is just peachy if you don't want them to stand out. The way Lincoln needs sales, though, you'd think they'd want to. Let's all sit back and watch this train wreck.

Things started brewing to a head again in late 2005 when it was announced that Ford was not going to produce SVT vehicles as planned. The Sport-Trac Adrenalin--a true successor to the dead SVT Lightning program--was scrapped. All other projects were dumped, save for the Mustang Cobra SVT, now renamed the Ford Shelby GT500. How's that for a slap in the face to the SVT program! Its only vehicle left, and Ford removes both the legendary Cobra and the SVT badges from its nomenclature (although reportedly the SVT logo still appears on the door sills....well thank goodness for that). It has been nearly impossible to not equate Ford with SVT for the past 15 years. Its success stories are myriad, and every other major auto manufacturer now has a dedicated specialty/niche program that owes homage to SVT. Now, Ford has decided to quietly fold SVT into its Ford Racing division. The SVT era ends with a great car, but not with the loud bang so many people would have liked to see. Such a shame. Potential was never really wasted at SVT, but now that it is part of the larger Ford Racing banner, you can bet there will be plenty of wasted potential in the future.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the plan-to-end-all-plans from Ford: "The Way Forward". Massive job cuts, car line reductions, productivity cutbacks, and programs cancelled...seems like The Way Backward to me, and not in a good way. These self-imposed sacrifices are supposed to make a leaner, meaner Ford for the future. Yet again, a great concept on paper. We are still many years away from seeing whether or not it was the right plan. If the track record holds true, I'm thinking, "Not." As my brother says, "If you hadn't screwed up in the first place you wouldn't need to be born again."

So what is all this saying?

It is painfully obvious that Ford cares about one car--the Mustang--and one truck--the F-150--and that's it. Without those two vehicles it would be both financially and morally bankrupt. It has officially turned its back on anything resembling heritage outside of those vehicle lines. The rest of Ford's vehicles are doomed to have throwaway nameplates. And that, sad to say and even harder to type, is why we will not see another Cougar.

Where once I was optimistic about a Mustang-based Cougar returning to the lineup, I have had to face reality lately. It's not going to happen. Abandon all hopes, ye who longed for a new Cat for thy garage. If the guy running Ford Motor Company has "Ford" in his name and can't get things going right, then what hope do we have for the future? I look into his eyes and want to believe so badly that he will get the job done. I want to believe in his plans. I want things to turn around for the company. But I am a realist...they are giving me nothing in return--nothing that I want to own or drive, anyway.

I've seen my fair share of Internet banter about Ford. And I can say with certainty that most of the time, the average Ford fan can come up with a better plan for the company than what the actual company is doing. That is just so wrong, in so many ways. When did Ford stop listening to us? Why has it turned its back on our heritage? I realize that the automotive business is extremely tough and they can't get every car right, but I would think a company with that many resources should have more than two success stories by now. I'm starting to wonder why I am a Ford aficionado. These are dark days for the company. We have more dark days in the future. Why am I sticking with them again?

Oh yeah...that's right. I'm still trying to relive the glory days, when Things Were Right™.

I'm going outside to give my car a big birthday hug.

Until next time,

 < Back to SOTC Main

[ top ]