Hey everybody, just returned from a trip to Michigan to visit family. While I was out there I made a visit to the Rouge Plant and took the tour. They were bangin out 2011 F150's like nothing. One of the guides told me they just started production on Nov. 3rd. Most of what you see is assembly of the cab and bed. I was shocked at the number of Raptors being built it seemed like every 10 or so trucks. Good time but wish I could have seen more. Also there was a new color ive never seen, it was a dark brown they call Golden Bronze. Not a big fan of brown but it looked AWESOME with the XLT chrome package. Anyone else been on the tour? What did you think?

 

My wife works on the F150 line. She's been there since the plant opened and has never seen the whole place. When they get rolling, they assemble 60 trucks per hour 20 hours a day. Thats alot of trucks in a day!

 

I was at ford plant back in april 08 after I bought my 08 fx4 in march they were still building 08's but were testing 09's also saw raptor & flex testing but there were covered up driving around outside of plant. wish you can see more of the build I would love to go back and see 2011's and raptors being built

 

When I lived and worked in Michigan, I was in all of the Ford truck and car assembly plants. I worked for the company that made all of the powered side-view mirror switches. I got to visit the SVO facility and see some of the proto-type vehicles.

 

I've only been to one car factory and it was the Corvette facility in Bowling Green, KY when I was a kid. I love manufacturing in general, but I am an engineer which makes me weird like that I guess.

 

Yeah thats crazy man, I think the ford rep told us it takes 93min to fully assemble a truck start to finish

 

i just looked at the web site for the tour ,its about 3 hrs away i think ill be making a trip that way

 

That tour sounds great!

Also, you see that Golden Bronze on the new 2011 Super Dutys out there now. Really nice color.

 

I would love to take a tour to the Ford plant. I always wanted to do that once in my life.

 

Stix and Stoned with the infamous song 'Rouge Plant Blues' from back in the 70's.
http://www.motorcityrock.com/misc/au...PlantBlues.mp3

 

The color is ok, in my opinion, but the Royal Red it is replacing is much better. They quit offering the Royal Red on the F-150's and stopped me from buying a 2011 KR, instead I'm getting a 2011 FX-2.

 

There was an article recently about vehicle color choices. The top one is still silver, and white/black follow closely behind at about the same level they've always been. Then it's blue, then red, then green. They mentioned how red has gone down a lot recently, and how green drags the bottom along with odd-man-out colors like yellow's and orange's. The only reason I mention it here is because they said that brown is on the rise, especially in luxury vehicle segments, as consumers are equating a rich brown with luxury. perhaps that gave rise to the decision to create Golden Bronze. It certainly looks really nice on a Platinum with all the chrome accents and brushed-aluminum grille/tailgate/rims. Surprised they didn't make that color a tri-coat.

 

Like I said Im not a big fan of brown, but when you see it in person on these trucks with the chrome package it might change your mind.

 

93 Minutes! Maybe that explains the differences in fit and finish from one to the other?

 

Yeah, I hope they take at least 94 minutes to build my Platinum.