40,000 Unfinished Ford Trucks Keep Piling Up in Massive Lots Visible From Space

The Drive ^ | SEP 20, 2022 | CALEB JACOBS

[dennisw]

News emerged this week that Ford has parked around 40,000 unfinished new vehicles waiting for parts.

If you thought parts shortages couldn't get any worse for the auto industry than they did last year, then it's time to hit reset. We've seen multiple car companies, including international giants like Honda and Toyota, struggle to deliver vehicles simply because they can't source the components they need. The same is true with Ford, which announced this week that up to 45,000 vehicles will be held in its inventory this quarter until they receive essential parts—mainly chips.

The Blue Oval has made use of Kentucky Speedway's many lots to store its many trucks until they can be sent to dealers. We reported on this in May 2021, and while Ford eventually worked its way through that stockpile, more started flooding in toward the end of August. Nearly a month later, the situation has gotten visibly worse.

You can see that the auxiliary lots to the east of Kentucky Speedway were just the beginning. Now, the race track is surrounded by thousands of Super Duty pickups that have never even been titled. It's a clear representation of what Ford and many others, both domestic and international, continue to face as demand far outpaces production capacity.

Pat Brindley Roeder, a Kentucky local who also witnessed the influx in parked trucks last year, says this is just one of the locations Ford is using for storage. She tells me that many more are being held at a former ammunition plant in Charlestown, Indiana, which is about 25 minutes from the Super Duty plant.

[43north]

I bought a 2004.5 Dodge Ram 3500 with a 5.9 Cummins Diesel brand new for $42000. It now has 85,000 miles on it. I added a chip that offered improved fuel economy. Driving at 65mph I get 20 mpg. It does not use DEF. I do not plan on ever buying another pickup truck unless this one is destroyed.

[minnesota_bound]

This is still cheaper then owning a fancy electric car of the future!

[Tacrolimus1mg]

They should sell them as partially completed kit cars at this point...

[dennisw]

“They should sell them as partially completed kit cars at this point...”

I would guess that at least 20% of those who have placed advance orders, would want to take their pickup trucks now and wait for the electronics to arrive. To be installed at the Ford Dealer.

[dennisw]

I have not purchased a new vehicle for over 20 years. I am always on the lookout for low mileage used vehicles, usually owned by estates.

Same here. Three years ago I paid cash for a vehicle with 4,000 miles on it.

[Robert357]

At some point in time when the computer chip manufacturers catch up, there will be a heck of a lot of one to two year old vehicles for sale that have virtually no miles on them.

I wonder what kind of sales and what kind of discounted prices those “new” cars will go for.

It just might be a buy of a lifetime.

[sit-rep]

ya that increase is all EVs...

[gitmo]

We were in a Honda dealership earlier this year. Not a single Honda in the showroom. There were other makes of cars and trucks.

They said the parts shortage made it impossible to get Hondas.

[Eleutheria5]

This economy is jumping!/s

[GaltAdonis]

"...ya that increase is all EVs..."

.

Could be.
I know that the one I have not - and will not buy - is in there somewhere.

[BlackbirdSST]

Here it says they have parking for 20,000, not 40,000.

I think that is assuming all vehicles are parked within the painted spaces. Pack 'em like sardines and you could easily get to 40,000 with room to spare.

[NautiNurse]

Fascinating info. Thanks for sharing.

[cyclotic]

Good news for me. I’ve got a 2019 F-150 that’s going us for sale next week.

[cyclotic]

My son had his pickup truck totaled a few weeks ago. A drunk hit it while it was parked.

The shop told him that if it wasn’t totaled it would take several months to get the parts to repair it, so he’s glad they totaled it.

[pangaea6]

Or is the government paying ford to just keep producing despite lack of demand so workers aren’t laid off and pushes us into depression or hurts their union workers? Any other car companies doing this?

[SunkenCiv]

This is from September, and I think is a, uh, retread.

Here's three more retreads of a more recent story:

• Jeep lays off 1,350 workers at Illinois Cherokee SUV plant - blames high cost of switching to electric car production and moves factory to MEXICO [12/11/2022]
• Automaker Stellantis lays off hundreds of American workers, blaming high cost of making electric cars [12/10/2022]
• Stellantis to Shutter Jeep Cherokee Plant Over "Increasing Cost Related to the Electrification of the Automotive Market" [12/10/2022]

[dennisw]

We were in a Honda dealership earlier this year. Not a single Honda in the showroom. There were other makes of cars and trucks. They said the parts shortage made it impossible to get Hondas.

12 months ago my friend bought a new Honda Accord. The dealer had the cars on display. He paid up, plus a $5000 extra "scarcity charge" (rip-off) and got the car in two weeks.

[nascarnation]

True but those won’t pass visual in most states unless they have an EO from CARB.

[Ezekiel]

40,000 Unfinished Ford Trucks Keep Piling Up in Massive Lots Visible From Space

I wouldn't worry about it. Remember how Lone Starr had been left on the doorstep of a monastery in the Ford galaxy?

It's like that. The entire universe is Hebrew school. The yeshiva of shemen-ever, of perpetual midnight oil for the light as it were. Not sold in stores.

Anyone ever hear of Amalekite humor? Didn't think so. Not in their nature. At all. Am lo kadosh, the unholy people. Yet the etymology of the name continues to elude the best minds in the biz. Just who *are* those people, anyway? 🤔

And as for Jewish humor? On every doorstep!

Folk just aren't prepared.

I mean look at the schedule for today, Orion aka the "mighty hunter" is due to make a big splash on the big [blue] screen, off the coast of Mexico near Guadalupe Island,

inhabited only by scientists, military personnel operating a weather station, and a small group of seasonal fishermen.

Which could go a long way in explaining why The island is mostly arid and has very little surface water..

Yet,

"At the end of the runway near threshold 5 is the wreckage of a Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar, which overshot the runway during landing."

A Model 18, no less.

***

You know, there's something about this place. Everybody seems so Grim.
-- Well they're just intimidated. They've only seen us on the big screeeen.

Three Amigos -- My Little Buttercup

Speaking of the Brothers, hear the last 30 seconds of Rabbi Mendel Kessin's recent shiur:

You really have to appreciate Yaakov and Esav's story, because it is so pivotal to what's happening now. The fight between subduing evil and bringing down kedusha, the origins of Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben Dovid, you see.

And the two different jobs of Yaakov and Esav. I mean, all of this is with us today. But you have to really, really be fascinated with the way the Torah deals with this, that it can use one set of psukim -- verses -- to describe two different events. That's astounding.

A Deeper Understanding of the Story of Yaakov and Esav - Part 3

Why, certainly, even in an eats shoots and leaves kind of way:

Gen 25
24. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb:
25. And the first came out red all over like a hairy garment; and they called his name Esau:

***

Can you believe this? When Yaakov the straight man took on the job of Esav the mighty hunter, he ended up playing the funny man as well. No wonder Esau said "I'm gonna kill you for that!"

"See also Everyman" [for the atonement of souls]

Crazy drunk driver ~ Red, referring to Marty (named for Mars)

A Wild Hare, as everybody knows (Edom-Rome), destroyed the Second Temple, resulting in this here 2000-year exile of the Jewish People:

The line, "What's up, Doc?", was added by director Tex Avery for this film. Avery explained later that it was a common expression in Texas where he was from, and he did not think much of the phrase. But when this short was screened in theaters, the scene of Bugs calmly chewing a carrot, followed by the nonchalant "What's Up, Doc?", went against any 1940s audience's expectation of how a rabbit might react to a hunter and caused complete pandemonium in the audience, bringing down the house in every theater. As a result of this popularity, Bugs eats a carrot and utters some version of the phrase in almost every one of his cartoons; sometimes entirely out of context.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wild_Hare#What's_up,_Doc?

So, the simplest acronym for this year—תשפג—is “May it be a Year of Great Wonder” (תְּהֵא שְׁנַת פֶּלֶא גָּדוֹל). The “Great Wonder” that we are anticipating this year is the coming of Mashiach, who is related to the word “wonder,” since Isaiah calls Mashiach the “wondrous counselor” (פֶּלֶא יוֹעֵץ), which itself equals the word “physician” (רוֹפֵא).[4] The Mashiach is the expert physician who comes to heal us from all our ailments. He achieves this with the Torah. So that is the simplest thing we should have in mind and pray to Hashem that we merit seeing it with our physical eyes this year.

The Essence of the Year 5783

Rachel Imenu received the merit of ending the exile. Rachel died where David was then born. How long must she cry until her children catch on?

Because,

There's this sad thing going on where so many people are crying for the coming of the Messiah, the son of the red-haired youth. Dead serious about it, too. Thousand of years of tears. It's bad out there, yet

Yet to cry out for David [דוד] *is* to cry uncle [דוד] -- to finally give up, to laugh, love and live again, thereby opening the 50th gate, the double golden gates of mercy. L'Chaim, the place of the blessing.

It's not complicated: laughter is the best medicine, paradoxically reducing everyone to tears:

The Mashiach is the expert physician who comes to heal us from all our ailments. He achieves this with the Torah.

Exactly right. Cops and Robbers, because the little ones know that you'd better not mess with the Law:

Lots Visible From Space

You want out of this parking lot?

Davidson's bakery bought it, but as soon as the Brothers on a Mission from God saw the baby clothes, there was no question that this place has got everything.

Moshiach’s own lineage had a similar beginning, starting with a descendant of Lot and his own daughter. Even the most crooked path to redemption can be “straightened” with the help of a little Kabbalah.

***

The day on which the Jewish people’s exiles will be gathered is so monumental and [this ingathering] will be such a difficult [procedure], that it is as though God Himself must literally take each individual Jew with His very hands, [taking him] out of his place [in exile]. (Rashi, Devarim 30:3)

Ingathering of the Exiles

Gather together...

, it's not only the simple meaning, it's the Law.

Ben He He said: According to the labor is the reward. ~ Pirkei Avot 5.23

Q.E.D.

[usconservative]

Hopefully it corrects itself through domestic production.

With the insane prices for Ford F-150's, Ford has zero motivation to "fix" this problem. They're loving their ultra-high profit margins and frankly, who can blame them?

RAM & GM are too.