Ford never made anything any good over the 8 ton load market. 
Why.
shirtbox2003:
Ford never made anything any good over the 8 ton load market.
Well they did get up to the 32 Tonne stuff with their Transcons, Wouldnât you agree on this point, Regards Larry.
There were plenty of 32-tonne D-series slogging up and down the country, and when it was raised to 38-tonnes Transcons were quite commonplace. The Cargo followed at max weight too. They did quite a British thing IMO, by meeting the needs of the countless operators who just wanted a modest, cheap artic for general haulage at all weights. Robert
It depends on the definition of âcrack the heavy marketâ. 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_L-Series
The OP defines it anything over 8-tonnes (presumably gross). I assume he is referring to Ford UK (not Ford US). Here are three good examples: a D-series, a Cargo and a Transcontinental. Robert
Ford have a very big following in Turkey in the heavy end of the market from the odd (by UK standards) 8 wheelers to the new Renault cabbed units, but I believe most of them are now built there including the Transit vans.
MrJake:
Ford have a very big following in Turkey in the heavy end of the market from the odd (by UK standards) 8 wheelers to the new Renault cabbed units, but I believe most of them are now built there including the Transit vans.
Ford have been in Turkey for a very long time, under the name of Otosan. Robert
The Thames Trader was OK at 14 ton gross until the plating law came in. Also the D series was quite a good lorry at 16 ton gross. I drove a D series six wheeler at 20 ton gross which went well, but the firm I drove for didnât keep them long, as they werenât a long term lorry.
Cheers Dave.
We were looking at a better wagon than the Marathon and had a Transcontinental on demo = 1976 - It did 5 mpg and needed the brake linings sorted after a week. No way was it a governorâs motor. An owner driver with a light foot and respect would have liked it, but Daf Volvo and Scania had the job sorted. My opinion only. Jim.
Ford was good at what it made for the markets it specialised in, i.e. the light and medium weight mass produced fleet markets. The D Series served me well in my Mothers Pride Bakeries days, including 16 tons gvw rigids and 24 ton gvw tractor units, although they were never loaded up to maximum weight. A full load of bread and trays on the 16 tonners weighed 6 tons maximum, so they were well on top of the job. When they designed the Transcontiental, Ford had to go down the outside sourced component truck route.
gingerfold:
Ford was good at what it made for the markets it specialised in, i.e. the light and medium weight mass produced fleet markets. The D Series served me well in my Mothers Pride Bakeries days, including 16 tons gvw rigids and 24 ton gvw tractor units, although they were never loaded up to maximum weight. A full load of bread and trays on the 16 tonners weighed 6 tons maximum, so they were well on top of the job. When they designed the Transcontiental, Ford had to go down the outside sourced component truck route.
I remember a journalist asking a Ford executive about the Transconti - âWhich bit do you make exactly?â âAh,â he replied, âwe make the profit!â
John
I think that âperceptionâ was a great part of the problem, much the same as Bedfordâs. Both makers were thought of as âcheap & nastyâ whereas, in truth, they werenât a bad product, especially with â â â â â â â â etc. driveline, as in the Ford Transcon and Bedford TM. The cabs on both were, from the driverâs standpoint, far superior that the other British makes of the time.
Only my view, of course!
In GB, as has been stated, the Ford and Bedford was regarded as a mass-produced âcheapâ product. Was this the case in Europe? How was a D-series regarded, in comparison to a comparable DAF or Mercedes?
I always thought that the âposher versionâ of the D-Series cab (what was it called? Custom??) was a nice comfortable cab, more spacious and quieter than the tilting Ergomatic cab. Back in the day I heard Mercedes described as the Bedford of Germany, not being derogotory to Bedford, but to describe the wide range and markets served by Mercedes.
The D-series, even with a â â â â â â â or Detroit in it, still lacked that âbig lorryâ feel, mostly because the cab was small, narrow and comparatively low to the ground. The Cargo wasnât full-sized either, but with a â â â â â â â in it was up with the supermarket trollies - I even drove one to Germany once! As for the Transcon: well, that stood tall, had a European long-haul cab and if the 350-â â â â â â â version I drove was anything to go by, it was a proper 38-tonner. Robert
I did many hundreds of miles in a Willhire rented D series and liked it. The boss bought us Leyland Terriers, and they were just the same - a low budget cheap way of shifting stuff. Ford never realised the potential of building a classy long distance lorry, one that a driver would want to live and work in. The Transcontinental was a mix of what was best available at the time when operators were happy to cut the backs off AECâs and ERFâs and give their employees somewhere to kip. The mechanics Knew their Leyland 680âs or Gardiners. The Ford didnât stand a chance. It would be some time before people realised how good the â â â â â â â â engine was. By then the Scandinavians were top dog. Jim.
Davis Bros ran quite a few Thames Traders at 24 Gross , that was when he could get somebody that would Drive them mostly he would give them to new starts even they did not last before they were sick of them,stopping on the flat fully loaded they struggled to pick away, they called them Dagenham Dustbins,then they traded them in to Normands of Park Royal for the Mercedes Units by then they were absolutley knackered.
