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 broken plastic around the computers does not bode well. On the other hand, a lot of cosmetic stuff could be 3D printed, and the screens could probably be replaced by modern kit that is smaller and more reliable.
As an aside the rear hinged doors are more accurately associated with extended cab pickups.
$3000. I was born at night but I wasn’t born last night.
Maybe as a shell to convert to electric…
Ford took an Element and modified it.
There is, apparently, nothing on the dashboard, no turn signals, no headlights or side-view mirrors, but it does have one huge windshield wiper, Tesla style…
Well back in the day there was this online auto publication that had a feature about cars. This would be what was called crack pipe.
Maybe sell it to a high school or something? Give them a little project?
Not a bad thought, but it should be a donation.
It’s odd but kind of adorable. Shame it never came to production in some form.
“The 24.7’s styling may not have carried over to any real, production Ford models…”
You don’t see the shape of the front door windows, black vertical door handles, the way the fender kicks up at the base of the A pillar, and armrest ledge behind the window kickup in the concurrent Super Duty?
It’s rare that styling is carried over from concept to production as a whole – but bits and pieces do.
Hand-wired concept with lots of “computers” that looks like it’s been sitting out in the weather for a decade or two. Hard pass.
It really is a bummer that more “interesting” designs don’t make it into product more often than a blue moon.
Tesla swap everything, and I bet it would run just fine. Can we send this to Aging Wheels?
I loved that era of concepts, and this was a favorite.
So the Focus, Sport-Trac, and Escape, “From the future!”. It’s pretty cool, if it didn’t look like black mold city would be nice to get running and maybe do an ev conversion, but registering may be an issue. Maybe get a Focus Electric and body swap it and register it as the Focus.
Focus ST or a FiST donor car!
Oh this is a good idea. Delete the computers that are guaranteed to be dead and have some fun