Nice reference to keeping up appearances hilarious show

 

Yup! I feel so sorry for Richard.

 

Well....whats the tag say Gary?

 

Its an Oklahoma tag. The old green and white one.

 

Just looking at the trucks

 

I havent been around in Okie Dokie land long enough to recognize it.

 

They removed the Ford badging because the show was sponsored by AMC American motor company for it's first few seasons.

If you look at the General Lee, it too is missing it's charger and Dodge badges.

Rosco and Enos' patrol cars were AMC matadors for the first season as well. They moved toward the 1978 Dodge Monacos for the patrol cars, and when they ran out of those, they moved towards the Plymouth Fury sister car to the Monaco.

As for the three 1980/1981 pickups in The Great Santa Clause Chase, One is at least a 1981 due to the fact it has Amber front turn signal housings. All three were Custom models, and they looked like they were painted Spruce, by the color I saw. Monitors vary etc...


Yes, Dukes of Hazzard was one of my favorite shows...

So is Keeping Up Apearances, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Red Dwarf, Lost, X-files etc...

 

Interesting - I guessed there was some reason for it.

I had wondered if they were pre-market prototype vehicles the show producers had picked up cheap.

 

It also cuts down on the free advertising of products. Why you see cans of beer with "Beer" written on them instead of everyday products. If you look at Jessie's 1973-1975 pickup, notice the letters are removed from the grille, and the tailgate is either painted to hide the letters, or they added a piece of "something" to hide the Ford letters.

The tv producers want people to buy advertising to support the programs, not give away free advertising. And Trademarks used in tv or movies have to be paid for or signed off in contracts.

Why you see a "Some vehicles supplied by (insert Car Company Here)" lines in the credits. AMC was such a supplier to the Dukes of Hazzard and has a end credit etc.


As for prototypes, they usually have the prototypes around the proving grounds about a year before they are released to work out all the bugs.

Most of the pictures you see in the brochures are of the proving grounds, and of test trucks. Highly optioned pickups with no radios, or antennas litter the brochures.

If I remember rightly, the 1980 was somewhat rushed into production from what I can remember back in the day.

 

I counted at least five radios in my 1980 brochure, but not a single antenna.

I always heard that the 1980 trucks were late into production, due to re-tooling in the factories. Something like September for an initial assembly start date.

 

Interesting. Tell us more, Explorer. What was the general consensus about the 1980 re-design back in the day? Were these trucks received well and popular?

That could explain why the 1980 - 1981 trucks used the exact same hood letters as the 1978- 1979 trucks, and the same "Explorer" logo.

So does that mean that the 1980 trucks were rushed into production because they were falling behind?

 

From what I heard from the dealership, 1978-1979 grilles, hood letters, actually are based around the 1980 redesign concepts.

The 1980 redesign was the first truck to be designed using wind tunnel technology of the day for better fuel economy. Something extremely important back in the day with the 1973 oil embargo and the 1979 energy crisis. Feelings were the newer trucks would be too much of a change or a shock to people, less metal, a heck of a lot more plastics etc, so if the 1978 and 1979 resembeld the newer 1980 it wouldn't be as much of a shock and to see some familiarity etc... I've had my 1981 mistaken as a 1979 before etc. (I think some people are blind though )

Lots of weight reduction to increase fuel mileage. The Swiss cheese frames etc...

The 1975 Bronco redesign was held up two years because of the 1973 oil embargo. There are some great concept drawings around the internet though, but can't remember where I've seen them. By the time the redesign happened in 1978, a new design was already in the works.


Yes I've heard, and remember the same thing.

Combined with the 1979 energy crisis, the push for a more fuel efficent design, and the push for a 1980 brand new model advertising campaign, I heard that the release date for the redesign was brought ahead. The factories did not have the time for the switchout, that they normally did between July and August.

I also remember people at the dealers wondering where the new 1980s models were because they didn't show up at September as normal. I also remember news reports that Ford (and others) were having problems getting fuel to put in the new vehicles, and couldn't drive them off the line to be shipped.

This is what I remember from 30 years ago, but the memory can cheat.

 

I've personally never seen a 1980 truck assembled before late September, 1979, so that would support that theory.

 

So let me get this straight...

Are you saying that the 1980 prototype was around since 1977, and the grille design and hood lettering style from the redesigned (but not released yet) 1980 truck was actually used for the 1978 - 1979 update to the F-Series trucks?

Which means that the 1980 -1981 hood letters were technically not a carryover from the 1978 - 1979 model trucks, but rather the 1978 - 1979 model trucks "borrowed" the hood letters from the newer (but not released yet) 1980 - 1981 model trucks?

 

Ford started designing the 1997 F150 some time in 1994, so it's entirely possible.