Twenty-five years ago, Ford brought out a trio of concept cars that signaled toward a colorful, compact, and bright-eyed future that, style-wise, never really came to fruition. Now, though, you can get a taste of a Ford we never got because one of them, the 24.7 Pickup Concept, is now for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $3,000. (Although, as of this writing, the listing is marked as Pending.)
Trotted out at the 2000 North American International Auto Show in Detroit (what a time and place to be alive), the 24.7 Concepts were cute, futuristic, and blocky—everything Ford wasn’t at the time. There was a green Coupe, a white Wagon, and the orange Pickup you see here. All were built on the first-gen Focus chassis and powered by a 2.0-liter Zetec four-cylinder.
Check out this old Motoring TV clip and chuckle along as the description “computers on wheels” is spoken with distinct pre-Tesla incredulity.
Hella screens, constant “email and internet” connectivity, voice controls, phone service, and nav. The 24.7’s styling may not have carried over to any real, production Ford models, but boy, did its ideas prove to be right on the money when it comes to where cars would eventually go.
In the words of late veteran auto journalist Bob Kacher, “Well, I think they’ve basically lost their mind. [Then-Ford CEO] Jacques Nasser presented us with a program that basically said the car as an icon was gone. We would no longer measure performance and horsepower but by the internet, and all we needed was a box with four wheels to take us from point A to B. I think it was a big statement of arrogance on the part of Ford to try to cram something that they want to do down everybody’s throats.”
The foreshadowing here is almost haunting.
Surrounding all those electronics are four doors (the little rear doors open backward in the style of the Honda Element and Mazda RX-8), the tailgate folds down, and the back window can lift up.
The one being sold on FB at the moment is in rough shape, and the listing says it “was drivable at one point,” implying that it is indeed not currently drivable. The seller assures, however, that it “still has all the computers.”
The 24.7 Concepts’ designs may not have made it to production, but this could be an interesting buy for somebody handy looking to snag a unique piece of Ford history that has the shadows of a Maverick-like truck from an alternate universe.
Top image: Guy Davis
The post This Famous Ford 24.7 Pickup Concept Car Can Be Yours for $3,000 appeared first on The Autopian.
