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Archives for August 22, 2013

Will the Ram Rumble Bee Sting the Ford Tremor?

August 22, 2013 by admin 2 Comments

A sport truck concept with an entombed bumble bee.

Car manufacturers like to respond to the pronouncements made by competing makes by answering with new and improved products of their own. In the 1960s, the Camaro was Chevrolet’s answer to the Ford Mustang. In the 1970s, Ford and Chevrolet partnered with Japanese manufacturers to supply small pickup trucks to them before embarking on a model campaign of their own. In the 1980s, Ford pushed back against the rising tide of midsize sedan competitors by launching the Taurus.

Ram 1500 Rumble Bee Concept

Ram 1500 Rumble Bee Concept.

 

Ram 1500 Rumble Bee

These days, battles are being fought across all segments from the tiniest city car to largest pickup trucks. Earlier this month, Ford announced that its all-new F-150 Tremor would go on sale this fall, a sport truck retailing from $38,000. Not to be outdone, Ram has rolled out its concept 1500 Rumble Bee pickup truck, a model that if built would challenge the new Ford truck. The Ram concept truck was introduced at the 2013 Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit last week.

Fittingly, the Rumble Bee features a Drone Yellow finish with bee graphics on the exterior striping and inside on the seat covers. If the name sounds familiar it is — inspiration was taken from the Dodge Super Bee muscle cars of the 1960s. Moreover it marks the 10th anniversary of the original Rumble Bee, then a Dodge product.

Sport Truck Platform

The Rumble Bee is based on the Ram 1500 R/T, itself a performance truck. Under the hood is a familiar 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 engine rated at 395 horsepower and 407 foot-pounds of torque. It is paired with an eight-speed TorqueFlight automatic transmission, a ZF-supplied shifter. Its a two-door, rear-wheel drive model.

Ram sought to place the Drone Yellow color schema nearly everywhere — on the bumpers, the flares and on the Mopar ground effects kit. An all-new “Speed Bee” design is plastered on both sides of the Rumble Bee, set within a gloss black stripe that fades into honeycomb.

That black stripe flows from front to rear, around the top of the bed and over the Mopar tonneau cover to commemorate HEMI-powered vehicles that dominated the racing scene in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Gloss black, 24-inch Vellano VRH custom wheels and a 2-inch drop supplied by King Suspension enhances handing performance and improves overall appearance with the help of a reservoir shock at each wheel. A gloss black finish coats the grille, hood vents, badging, fuel door and the dual exhaust tailpipes, a theme found on both sides of the truck.

Bumble Bee Encasement

Back inside, the color and graphics schema include Drone Yellow leather sport mesh seats with two-tone yellow/light-grey stitching, while “Rumble Bee” lettering and Ram logos are affixed to chairs, the floor mats and on door bolsters.

There is also an interesting design choice that you haven’t seen before: an actual bumble bee encased within the transmission shifter knob. It is bathed in amber and the knob lights up to show both the bee and the honeycomb patterned background. The designers also installed a pair of buttons below the knob control exhaust cutouts to bypass the Mopar cat-back dual-exhaust system, what brings in the full sound of the engine at what Ram describes as loud and still louder decibels.

10th Anniversary Model

Ram says that the unique honeycomb pattern is shared with door trim and the dash, where a milled aluminum “10th Anniversary” commemorative badge serves as the truck’s identification. So, despite being a concept, we’re likely to see limited editions of this bright yellow Rumble Bee truck in Ram showrooms this fall. Your move, Chevrolet.


See Also — Sporty Ford F-150 Tremor Priced From $38,000

Photo courtesy of the Chrysler Group.

Filed Under: New Models Tagged With: FORD F-150 TREMOR, HEMI, MOPAR, RAM 1500 R/T, RAM TRUCKS, RUMBLE BEE, SPORT TRUCKS

Ford’s Dirt Detection Efforts Benefit From 3D Imaging Technology

August 22, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

Innovative dirt detection technology is an auto industry first.

The Ford Motor Company is working to ensure that the vehicle you buy is free of nasty dirt particles. The automaker announced today that it is using dirt detection technology to identify and get rid of dirt particles smaller than a grain, what had previously been left to the human eye to detect and correct.

Dirt Detection Technology

Ford’s dirt detection technology is an industry first, representing a system of high-resolution cameras to produce a 3D model for each tested vehicle. Specifically, a digital imaging system reviews more than 3,000 images taken over just 15 seconds to find dirt particles. Ford internal data reveals an 82 percent improvement in combined paint quality and customer satisfaction metrics for the surface finish within one year of ownership for its affected models.

Ford F-150 dirt detection technology

Thousands of photos taken for this Ford F-150 pickup help detect
minute particles of dirt that can mar a vehicle’s finish.

 

It is a global initiative that Ford has launched in a bid to improve vehicle qualify. Plants in Spain, Canada and the United States are among those that use or will soon deploy the detection system, freeing workers to handle other tasks.

The model that has most recently benefited from Ford’s dirt fighting efforts is its full-size F-Series pickup truck. Plants in Dearborn, Mich. (F-150) and in Louisville, Ky. (Super Duty), build these trucks, representing Ford’s most popular product line in North America.

Dirt Detection at Work

Ford explains that its new technology “takes microscopic scans of each painted vehicle surface, and then cues final assembly operators to address repairs where necessary.” Human eye examination, though helpful, cannot approach what Ford’s dirt detection system can accomplish.

Varying degrees and angles of light are employed while the system scopes vehicle body paint surfaces to identify dirt in paint and find other irregular paint conditions. The high-resolution images are then “stitched together” to create a full 3D image. Lastly, each image is digitally compared to a perfect computer model. When problems are found, workers step in to polish and buff out imperfections.

Ford dirt detection system.

An assembly line worker polishes and buffs out
imperfections identified by Ford’s dirt detection system.

 

You can check out a related YouTube video to see how this technology works.

“This is one of the most exciting integrations of optical science and digital technology in the automotive industry,” said Tom Dougan, project manager, global paint applications at Ford. “By combining innovations in vision technology, processing speed and software, Ford continues to invent new technologies that give our customers better paint quality and surpass competitor offerings.”

Ford Plants and Models

Three Ford manufacturing plants currently use dirt detection technology with three more coming online later this year and two planned for 2014. North American products beyond the F-Series that will benefit from the technology include the Ford Expedition, Escape, Taurus, Explorer, Police Interceptor, Edge, Flex, Mustang and Fusion.


See Also — Would You Pay $70,000 for a 2016 Ford F-150?

Photos courtesy of the Ford Motor Company.

Filed Under: Engineering & Technology Tagged With: Dearborn, DIRT DETECTION TECHNOLOGY, FORD F SERIES, FORD F-150, Louisville

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