Hello,

I have seen a few of the new F350 Super Duty King Ranch trucks and I was disappointed with the coloring of each one. The color of the King Ranch seats in each of the new trucks was very purple and looked nothing like my 2006 King Ranch leather.

Please tell me they didn't make a permanent switch to purple KR seats!

Thanks,
Scott

ballgame

 

Purple? That's a deep, dark red (aka: KR Chapparal leather). We were told about this change coming down the pipe several years ago by a gentleman that was in materials for Ford.

The move to Chapparal leather was, in my opinion (based on cards that have been tipped to us as KR owners), suggests that there were far too many warranty claims on the Castano interior due to scuffing and other blemishing that was obvious as the leather wore (even though most of the claims were likely due to mistreatment/abuse of the interior).

 

RP is right, Ford has moved the SuperDuty and Expedition KR interiors to Chapparel leather rather than Castano, I too am one that thinks it is too red and although I've seen a few interior color combos that look great with the leather, many more don't IMO....the change is one of the reasons I decided to hang on to my 06 for a while longer rather than jump into an 08...

 

I'd be willing to bet that the 09 KR - if there is such a beast - will also feature the Chaparral leather.

Unfortunately, my contact at Ford (the guy in materials that I previously mentioned) has retired and thus, cannot leak the information that I once could get.

I think Lenticular has someone on the inside? Maybe he can get some thoughts / input on this topic? John?

 

ya thats y im keeping my 06 too, i love my leather

 

after seeing the new color i too think they should of stuck with the old

 

Thanks for all your replies. Anyone know if it would be possible to have the KR Castano leather custom ordered to be put on the seats (aftermarket)?

Since we are speaking about leather, I thought I would mention a situation I went through this morning:

I am having my KR truck shipped from Macon, GA to Tucson, AZ. When I went to drop my truck off to the shipper, I about had a heart attack. The trucker came up to me drenched with sweat, hands covered in grease/oil, pants dirty and asked for my keys! I could not believe this guy was about to step foot in my King Ranch, let alone put his grubby hands on my steering wheel or let his sweaty shirt touch my seats.

As I sat in my wife's car and watched him hop on into my KR, my wife tried to console me. I can't wait to meet my truck in Tucson and give it a good cleaning/conditioning.

 

I left a very trusted mechanic of many years for that very same reason. Took my KR to him after the first 1 kmi for oil service. I had just had the windows tinted and they needed to stay up. I was very clear about all of this. I showed back up just as the truck was being backed out of the bay. A grease monkey absolutely covered in, well, grease and dirt jumped right in, proceded to put both front windows down so he could do a real bang-up hick job of backing out (why people can't back up using mirrors is a mystery to me). He simultaneously ruined my window tint and caused my first steering wheel cleaning.

I've been taking it to a Lincoln/Mercury dealership for service ever since. Too bad, but my shadetree mechanic and his monkeys just didn't "get" the KR concept.

 

Hi Brad....

My informatiom at Ford has dried up a little, like yours.

However from previous discussions here, and what I know from people at Ford and the Saddle Shop, I'm pretty sure we have seen the last of Castano.

I wouldn't call the Chapparel leather purple but of course it does have a much redder tint.

Again from previous discussions here I'm sure we know the reason why.
Looked after properly the Castano is in my opinion some of the best leather in the world....and some of you know what I'm comparing it to .
However I'm sure the vast majority of owners who of course will not even know of this forum, will not have put the time and effort into looking after their leather properly.
Some of you may remember me mentioning a KR F250 I saw in San Antonio.
It was actually owned by someone high up on the King Ranch, and to say the leather was in a hell of a state is an understatement.
I am equally sure there must be hundreds (At least) of KR's all over the States in as bad a way.
Even if only a small proportion resulted in attempted warranty claims you can be sure Ford would have looked at the situation, hence the darker, and presumably harder wearing, chapparel.
It may even stop me picking up a new 2008 EL Expy KR.
Allied with the black interior trim which admittedly being on the other side of the Atlantic until October I haven't seen in the flesh yet.....may put me off completely.
Don't know what I'll do then apart from stick with the '05 which is going to be shipped back to the UK next year anyway !

 

How about that 'yellow' car of yours, John? It going on a float trip as well? I know a garage where it can sit at any time (free of charge pending the garage owner can cruise on occasion).

 

OOps !!!

I think humble apple oggies are in order here.

I honestly thought I had told you the following !!

Just before we left the States in the Spring I thought I would put the Mustang on EBay more or less as an experiment to see how we would fare when the time did come to sell.
As I think you know during the next year we will be selling our house in Tx and except for occasional vacations departing from your shores, just bringing the Expy home to the UK full of our 'stuff'.

Anyhow the response was just amazing.....nearly 700 hits in the first 24 hours, with people offering to get on planes and fly down from all points of the compass.
Added to that I had put the 'stang on our driveway with a for sale notice, just as a backup thinking E bay might not be any use.

I had at least 3 definite prospects locally, plus about 20 phone calls.
Ebay however were forwarding questions faster than I could answer them and within 24 hours I took it off E bay having received a fedexed bank draft from Conneticut.
So here's what the purchaser sent down to collect it !!!

Sorry!!!!