why was there now ea-ed shaped ute

[-jjM-]

OMG, THATS XR LOOKS INSAINLY T0FF!!!
next project, ED ute lol

[outback_ute]

Ford actually came very close to dropping the ute altogether. I haven't seen sales figures but I gather in the late 80s they were declining in favour of the Jap utes which were significantly cheaper. Probably the coming of the Commodore ute spurred them to keep the XF ute in production. Then a couple of Ford engineers did some work off their own bat and showed they could upgrade to the 4L engine with minimal investment, that got approved and the ute was back from the brink. By that stage though it was too far through the E series body cycle to be able to do a full EF ute, hence the XH as the next best alternative of upgrading the front suspension and also making it look a lot more modern.

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by outback_ute

Ford actually came very close to dropping the ute altogether......
......
Then a couple of Ford engineers did some work off their own bat .....

True story, I have actually met a few of those involved and had a chat about that and what they are up to now. Two of the main players can be found on the UteMan forum from time to time.

Here's something I copied from that site that they had posted about themselves back in 2000 or 2001;

Anakie
.........
As I worked at Ford I had a strong view on the Ute and how it should do its job ,so I wrote to the Guru at the Research Centre and told him what the Ute should be like. To cut a long story short I was selected to join a small group of Engineers to give the XF a lease of life. In that period we were very close to losing the Ute as we know it totally.
Thankfully a small group of guys put up a strong case and the XG emerged. Because of its success the XH followed (best of the 'X' Series) and as we had proved we could do it, the next Ute was conceived (after a lot of late night Teleconferences with Cigar toting men in jackets who didn't understand why we all don't drive Couriers).
Thanks to the dedication of O'Man and two others (yes we all drive Utes) the 'Osprey' (the name was O'Man's idea) was put through its paces (We even took XR's to Birdsville via Innamincka). The rest is history and I'm proud to say it didn't turn out too bad at all .....

O Man
.........
Back to Ford in an electrical position in 1985 until they moved the section to Melbourne in '91, at which time I became a Senior Design Engineer foundation member of the Falcon Commercial Vehicle group. This group consists of a manager and three design engineers. One to look after all the sheetmetal parts, one for the hard stuff like axles, transmission, brakes, suspensions etc. and what is left was mine. That included electrics, interior trim, (seats, headlining, carpets, instrument panels etc.), glass, exterior trim, bumper bar, and bedliner.
Our initial assignment was to transplant the EA engine into the XF body to create the XG. We went a lot further and made many improvements/updates over the neglected XF.
Over the 93 Xmas break we had parts from a smashed XG and an ex durability V8 wagon transformed on to a new body (that just happened, as things do, to be incorrectly built with a EF engine compartment) and there was what you guys know as the first XH. Everybody loved it and soon that program was up and running, heaps of work but well worth it.
Late 1995 we started on the AU ute (known to us as an OSPREY, hence the Osprey man became known as OMan) with concept studies and tests on possible designs for the chassis cab derivative. The main requirement was to be common from the "B" pillar forward with sedan.
Clay design and feasibility run ahead of schedule and prototype tooling was produced for downline production of the engineering protos in late 97. These where tested/ modified and at the same time driven around the outback (yes if you were looking you would have seen them in late 97). As with all major new projects many changes/improvements were made and we handed over our baby to Manufacturing in May 1999.
The AU ute is outstanding (WE LOVE IT !!!) and Im bloody proud to have been involved in its conception through to its birth......

[98AUXR6]

Originally Posted by Polyal

sorry guys but they look wrong...but I dont know what it is exactly

Just not used to seeing them?????

[Raptor]

Originally Posted by Polyal

sorry guys but they look wrong...but I dont know what it is exactly

My 2.2c

The blue chop, which is very well done by the way, needs more room behind the drivers door to create some space in the cab. Look at where the drivers seat is in a sedan, it's beside/behind the B-piller, you can't just cut the cab off immediately behind the door.

Also the trays need to be higher than the window line - go look at some real Holden/Ford utes. In this respect the Hillier ute has got it right (EA-EL red one), it also uses the front portion of a sedan roof to keep the overall height lower, the wagons raise up towards the rear. The tray area only looks so bulky because of the lower rear cladding, it's massive.

Most of the home-made jobs (such as the dual cab above) have the tray too low, leaving it where the donor wagon window line was. I had plans to do this once. To make a dual cab I was going to use a wagon donor car but a sedan turret and doors (lower roofline and different rear door shape to wagons). Place flat glass in the still angled rear window area, lift the tray height to where the kink in the rear doors is and extend the wheelbase slightly to get a reasonably length tray and improve the proportions.

Had the ideas, just not the skills, space or money.....

Then maybe an AU motor plus turbo, simplify the mounting by substituting AU front susp/steer sub-assembly (or RTV ute?) or even graft Territory AWD front end to the Falcon frame rails (all have the same spacing), raise the rear on re-arched springs with reinforced mountings.

Dammit, if Ford won't make an R5 I was gunna make my own retro version based on an E-series.

[EFFalcon]

Lol Raptor, not scared to completely hack a car apart ;)