I didn't know what forum to put this in, so I thought I would put it here since this is the most heavily used forum. I was in Virginia Beach this weekend and saw one of the new 2004 F150s. It looked pretty good. It was behind be in traffic so I didn't get to look at it up close. I guess they are going to be more like a 2003.5 model? I didn't realize they were going to be out so early in the year.

 

I did some searching on the web and found that the Norfolk plant will start production in June. I guess the one I saw was a pre-production model. Too bad I didn't get a close up look.

 

well, i dont know where they have been made at, but ive seen 3 on the road, they all had manufacturers michigan plates, 2 of them were in northern missouri headed north on I-35, they are DIFFERENT at least, im not sure im crazy about them, but i thought the same thing in 96, and now i think my 2000 is the best looking truck design ever on the roads =) so time will tell.

 

I've seen Ford and Audi running test cars here in MI. The manufacturers plates are easy to spot. The 2005 Mustang is running around here too. It's kind of covered up with black vinyl on most of the bodywork though. They did stop and park for a while though and a quick peek gave the info as to what was "under the covers." Lots of test equipment inside of the car. In previous years I've seen the Explorer and its then unreleased independent rear suspension. They tried to cover that up too. Years back, you could see the "new" F-150 before the '97 body style was released, just by waiting at a certain spot at the same time each day. The drivers would run a set loop and were at the same place at the same time every day, so it was easy to get a good look at the new iron.

 

There was one at a local dealership last weekend as an exhibit for their 'grand re-opening'. It was a red, std cab, short bed STX. It had a gray cloth interior. The new dash looked quite nice in person. It sort of looked like a scaled-down SuperDuty. Basically, I thought it was good looking, but the grille looked a bit heavy-handed. I noticed that the rear shocks were right in the wheel wells. I think they'll sell like crazy.

 

They do the winter testing up here in the Northland. Lots of new and disguised Fords here in the winter. Everybody Else's crap too.