UPDATE: Lightning Build Date Scheduling Begins! Mine for the week of 4/25/22 [previously scheduled 5/2/22]!

[LightningShow]

My dealer just told me they have a 4/25 mannequin build date.

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[IdeaOfTheDayCom]

My dealer just told me they have a 4/25 mannequin build date.

I keep hearing that phrase. What exactly is a mannequin build date? Is that when they build the body itself?

 

[VTbuckeye]

I keep hearing that phrase. What exactly is a mannequin build date? Is that when they build the body itself?

Mannequin is the dealer demo car. Mannequin build date is the date that Ford builds the dealer demo car on the production line, the same as a customer car. They are building the mannequins first to find problems with the line. Better on a dealer demo car than a customer car.

 

[vandy1981]

Just got an email from Ford saying my order has a build week. This is nearly a month after my status changed on the website. I think Ford's email service uses a 9600 baud dial-up modem...
==========================
YOUR VEHICLE IS SCHEDULED FOR PRODUCTION

Dear XXXXXX,

Big things are happening right now. We are excited to let you know your 2022 F-150 Lightning LARIAT SuperCrew has been scheduled for production. Your vehicle is scheduled to be built the week of April 25, 2022.

Forecasting a specific build date can be complex. Sometimes unforeseen challenges occur, or the custom details of your order can add time to this estimate. But even if your schedule needs adjusting, we’re working to build a vehicle that is everything you expect from a Ford.

In your Built Order Status email, we will provide you an estimated delivery window of when your vehicle will arrive at XXXXX Ford. While you wait, check out the status of your vehicle at any time by clicking the button below.

We have included your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) for your reference: XXXXXX

==============================

 

[RainorshinePNW]

My dealer just told me they have a 4/25 mannequin build date.

Can you share which dealer/location this is? Thanks

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Who are you touring with?
Me and two buddies went with Edelweiss last july/August, self guided tour of the Dolomites and side trip the Passo Stelvio, awesome trip on a Ducati Multistrada!

We did two Edelweiss motorcycle tours many years ago (KIngs & Castles & High Alps tours - included Stelvio and a bunch of other amazing pass roads in the Austrian, Italian German Alps) but got tired of the rigid structure. We find that travel in the EU, and now most of the world, is doable more flexibly solo (two-up, or with a friend or two).

We now keep BMW adventure motorcycles in South America (currently Punta Arenas, Chile), Heidelberg, Germany, and at our Virginia farm. We've motorcycled from Heidelberg to Hong Kong via Russia, Kazakhstan, Siberia, Mongolia, Beijing, and four years ago we rode with three U.S. friends, from Heidelberg through Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, to St. Petersburg Russia, then to Murmansk, home of the Russian Navy, and hoisted the motorcycle onto a Russian government icebreaker, and crushed ice to the North Pole, were the first people to motorcycle the pole.

We've independently motorcycled Iceland, New Zealand, Australia, Cuba, and eastern Africa from top to bottom, and in 2018 took our longest ride - starting in Virginia, rode to Anchorage, met some British friends, rode to Prudhoe Bay, then turned south through the Americas, finishing in six months and 32,000 miles at Ushuaia, Argentina. My profile pic is at Torres del Paine National Park in southern Argentina, where the Andes peter out.

This year we will go to Heidelberg in June, get the motorcycle that has been mothballed since 2019 for obvious reasons, ride to the ferry in Rotterdam, sail overnight to the UK, ride to another ferry to the Shetland Islands, ride those, then ferry to the Orkney Islands, ride those, then ferry to northern Scotland, ride through Skye, and the parks and mountains of Scotland, eventually taking the train shuttle from Folkestone to Calais, France, with a day at the Nurburgring track while returning to Heidelberg.

COVID-19 has curtailed a lot of our travel plans, but we have enjoyed prior organized trips with Edelweiss, Ayres Adventures, Globebusters, and are super-glad to be getting back out after two years of being stuck in the U.S. It has been a good time to bicycle a bit more, and we have completed a couple bucket-list rides during COVID travel lockdowns, such as the Katy trail across Missouri, the GAP/C&O Canal ride from Pittsburgh to DC, and in November last year, finished a 60-day 3,100-mile bicycle ride from Calais, Maine to Key West.

Because of COVID delays, plans have backed up a bit, so it's a heavy travel year in 2022 - after getting back from the EU trip in July, we'll bicycle the Pacific Northwest for a couple months, and in late September will head to Punta Arenas to jump on the motorcycle stored there, and ride north through the national parks, estancias and wineries of Chile and Argentina, taking a leisurely vacation tour, meet some friends in Salta, and ride over the Andes into Chile at Paso de Jama, spent a couple days in San Pedro de Atacama, then head north into Peru to Machu Picchu, which we missed on the 2018 southbound trip due to a minor get-off and broken collar bone that required a medevac and a week recovery and chase to catch the group - so recovering some "lost" ground there. We'll then head south along the coast, finishing in Santiago, where we'll park the bike in storage, waiting for the next adventure.

Except where language is a serious issue, we now highly encourage individual travel, or going with friends. In places like China or Russia we always hire a riding guide/translator because it is either required or necessary to deal with local officials, police, customs, etc. But in places like New Zealand, Iceland, anywhere in the EU, or even Cuba, our experience is that you get short shrift on an organized tour - you barely touch down in a city or town and it's time to move on. For example, most NZ tours are ten days to two weeks. That is barely enough time to scratch the surface, and you'll constantly be saying "Next time" or "We gotta come back to this". But it is 17 hours - literally as far away as you can go from the U.S. - the time change alone takes a few days for adjustment. So our approach is to "kill" every place we go - spend a full two months in Spain, walking the Camino, take 30 days to do the Iceland circuit - yes you can technically drive it in ten days, but how many hot pools will you stop at, how many dirt sideroads will you explore? How many farm stays and sheep-shearing lessons will you experience?

So what's this an argument for? Early retirement. You might be surprised how easy it is to do. We're 64 now, checked out of 9-5 life at 52 (was a real estate investment banker), sit on a few boards, own a farm that runs itself with a manager, check investments remotely, teach a couple graduate finance classes in one semester every spring as an adjunct to maintain health insurance. Just requires a little planning...

 

[TaxmanHog]

So what's this an argument for? Early retirement. You might be surprised how easy it is to do. We're 64 now, checked out of 9-5 life at 52 (was a real estate investment banker), sit on a few boards, own a farm that runs itself with a manager, check investments remotely, teach a couple graduate finance classes in one semester every spring as an adjunct to maintain health insurance. Just requires a little planning...

Yup, retired from uncle after 33+ years at my MRA (56), now working on doing several of the things you mention at this stage of life. I'm keeping my Enrolled Agent credentials up to date, but enjoying the retirement thing at the moment, if this inflation gets nasty enough maybe I'll resume public representation (Collection Issues - EA)

We did the self-guided Precious Dolomites and added extra days to the agenda to take in extra stops, my buddies have gone several times over the past 20+ years, some guided some self guided, but it was my first venture, and I would do it again.

You're a blessed man living the life of Reilly, enjoy this summers trip.

 

[illusion86]

When you get a build date do you get an email or just spam the website on Thursday at around noon

 

[TaxmanHog]

When you get a build date do you get an email or just spam the website on Thursday at around noon

Based on what people have said over the past several weeks, no emails were issued on 2/23, 2/24 or 3/3.

It was only this week (Friday) everyone received confirmations about what happened 2&3 weeks ago.

Not sure if someone forgot to flip a switch for this communication process or they intended to have a slight delay while ironing out the initial loading of build slots for consumer trucks in April and May.

Hopefully they will be more timely with the email in coordination with updating the FORD.COM order site.

 

[FordLightningMan]

When do we think the first mannequins will actually arrive to dealers? I assume my truck will be available around three months after that date, so I need to setup visiting hours.

 

[vandy1981]

When do we think the first mannequins will actually arrive to dealers? I assume my truck will be available around three months after that date, so I need to setup visiting hours.

3/15/21 was the earliest build dates I've seen on the window stickers from VINs skimmed from Cars.com.

You can at cars.com or autotrader to see where the early builds are going. If there's a dealer near you, you could give them a call to see if they know when they're expecting the mannequin.

There may be a several-week QC delay before those first builds get an OK to Buy and get shipped out.

 

[mikie95]

Hi Guys,

Is this thread also for the Build week 4/25/22 ICE F150's ? Only one I could locate for 4/25/22 builds.

 

[petemill]

Hi Guys,

Is this thread also for the Build week 4/25/22 ICE F150's ? Only one I could locate for 4/25/22 builds.

Afraid not, it's not even for specific build weeks - just for sharing info around getting any scheduled week at all for Lightnings.

 

[petemill]

According to the spreadsheet, looks like the last order date to be scheduled is 2/3. So since this is a f-150 build-scheduling-week, and therefore possibly also a lightning one, those of us with orders on 2/4 might get lucky tomorrow. Although I'm about to add power deployable running boards to my order which might push me to 2023!

 

[rlbussard]

According to the spreadsheet, looks like the last order date to be scheduled is 2/3. So since this is a f-150 build-scheduling-week, and therefore possibly also a lightning one, those of us with orders on 2/4 might get lucky tomorrow. Although I'm about to add power deployable running boards to my order which might push me to 2023!

I don't think it works like that. There are many of us that ordered in January who still haven't got production dates yet.

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