$10,000 truck (possibly)

[DavidWS]

Hello every one my names David swaim, I'm from vidor Texas and recently I've been looking for an older truck to custom design a cab to go on it so that I could have something one of a kind with a classic look to it and I decided, why not design a truck ground up and I was wondering, of course if I can find investors and if I can find someone to manufacture the vehicle would anyone be interested in a truck that is very close in size to a ranger (with options for regular cab long bed, regular cab short bed, extended cab short bed, extended cab long bed, quad cab short bed, and quad cab long bed)but built with the style of a classic truck and somewhere around 10-15k depending on the options I have some very rough scale drawings but I'm working on better drawings and a blender render of it I'm just putting feelers out there for if anyone's even interested if y'all would like the drawings I can post those too

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Id be interested if it was built in similar fashion to the older trucks...as in body on frame, manual trans, and atleast one solid leaf sprung axle. Nothing electric either...and preferably no turbos.

 

[DavidWS]

Id be interested if it was built in similar fashion to the older trucks...as in body on frame, manual trans, and atleast one solid leaf sprung axle. Nothing electric either...and preferably no turbos.

Well I'm planning on a v6 with an optional manual (proof of concept will be manual) unfortunately epa restrictions dictate it does have certain electric stuff and as far as interior wise and drivetrain hopefully everything can be an option so base model 2wd and everything else can be added to the truck sort of how you'd sit down and custom order a high end luxury car but the goal is a leaf spring and shock live axle in the back and for the best front end setup a double wish bone like a 2014 tundra with a front diff and cvaxles

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

$10k is base model SxS money...

 

[DavidWS]

$10k is base model SxS money...

Yes it is but we're talking about a truck a highway legal drivable daily truck, plus around here in setx a 4x4 ranger with 200k miles goes for 6-7 k and that's a truck that has been beat to death this is a new truck

 

[djfllmn]

Very curious how you would obtain this as the sticker price on the 98 that i have was a tick over 13K....

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Yes it is but we're talking about a truck a highway legal drivable daily truck

Just saying, a base Polaris Ranger has 1000cc, a tube frame, no windows or doors and is tiny... and it is already at the price of your proposed streetgoing truck that is like 2-3x the size.

All that for $10k, this truck is going to have significant portions made out of cardboard.

 

[DavidWS]

Just saying, a base Polaris Ranger has 1000cc, a tube frame, no windows or doors and is tiny... and it is already at the price of your proposed streetgoing truck that is like 2-3x the size.

All that for $10k, this truck is going to have significant portions made out of cardboard.

The thing about it is I don't need a 400% profit margin to make it feasible it definitely does not cost Ford $100,000 to sell you a truck that cost $100,000 the markup on new vehicles is insane just for profit but then again not all of it is just markup for profit I do see exactly what you're talking about however I don't have to develop an engine or a transmission these are things that whichever manufacturer can supply at cost the goal for this is to see if there is interest in the project before I go through the entire trouble of designing subframes and interiors just based on the parameters (edit I'm sorry that sounds super standoffish I was not attempting to be I was just giving my thought process behind it)

 

[djfllmn]

The thing about it is I don't need a 400% profit margin to make it feasible it definitely does not cost Ford $100,000 to sell you a truck that cost $100,000 the markup on new vehicles is insane just for profit but then again not all of it is just markup for profit I do see exactly what you're talking about however I don't have to develop an engine or a transmission these are things that whichever manufacturer can supply at cost the goal for this is to see if there is interest in the project before I go through the entire trouble of designing subframes and interiors just based on the parameters (edit I'm sorry that sounds super standoffish I was not attempting to be I was just giving my thought process behind it)

Not sure this day and age we’re gonna find a manufacturer to supply a powertrain assembly for less than $10,000. I know from personal experience most new engines and transmissions cost well north of 15 grand for the combo.

 

[DavidWS]

Very curious how you would obtain this as the sticker price on the 98 that i have was a tick over 13K....

Well I'm seeing if there's interest and if there is then I'm going to design it as a base 2wd truck and everything added is like an upgrade but the goal is base 2wd so when I design it it's going to be no expense spared and if it winds up being more than 10k I'll design down until it's closer

Not sure this day and age we’re gonna find a manufacturer to supply a powertrain assembly for less than $10,000. I know from personal experience most new engines and transmissions cost well north of 15 grand for the combo.

That's cost to buy, if I find a manufacturer that already produces the engine I can get it at cost which is closer to 4-5 for the combo which is expensive but at worst I find a manufacturer to work with and argue about profit cuts for them

 

[djfllmn]

Well I'm seeing if there's interest and if there is then I'm going to design it as a base 2wd truck and everything added is like an upgrade but the goal is base 2wd so when I design it it's going to be no expense spared and if it winds up being more than 10k I'll design down until it's closer

That's cost to buy, if I find a manufacturer that already produces the engine I can get it at cost which is closer to 4-5 for the combo which is expensive but at worst I find a manufacturer to work with and argue about profit

Well I'm seeing if there's interest and if there is then I'm going to design it as a base 2wd truck and everything added is like an upgrade but the goal is base 2wd so when I design it it's going to be no expense spared and if it winds up being more than 10k I'll design down until it's closer

That's cost to buy, if I find a manufacturer that already produces the engine I can get it at cost which is closer to 4-5 for the combo which is expensive but at worst I find a manufacturer to work with and argue about profit cuts for them

Cost is not that low…I was a parts manager at a ford dealer for a number of years. More like 4-5k for the engine alone and it only starts there

 

[DavidWS]

Cost is not that low…I was a parts manager at a ford dealer for a number of years. More like 4-5k for the engine alone and it only starts there

Well I see that being your perspective but regardless of those costs everything else can be tweaked to be cheaper without reducing quality of it comes out closer to 15 then so be it

 

[97RangerXLT]

10k is a pipe dream for a new vehicle today. 15k *may* be doable. I would be concerned on how well that truck would hold up in a serious accident. Right now, I believe you can get a Nissan Versa for around 17k and the base Ford Maverick was offered at 19k when it came out, so again, 15k might be doable. This will be the bare miniumum on options and only have mandated safety features in it.

The real issue is who is going to make this truck? what is the warranty? Nissan is an established manufacturer with the tooling and capital necessary to do this, someone or a group of someones will need a serious amount of money to start up a company to create a factory and design a new truck that meets all of the US safety laws and standards.

The other option for this cheap truck would be to use powertrain and components from current manufacturers especially the stuff that there is a surplus of. Anyone remember AMC? (All Makes Combined, er American Motor Company) so lets say take a 2.5 duratech engine and a GM PCM, Stellantis sensors or other electronics etc. and make it all work together...

Whaterver it is, it needs to have 4wd and a heated steering wheel and I am on board.

AJ