I just learned why it had those rear seats in the bed!
It was a way to get around the 25% “chicken tax” on trucks; with four passenger seats, it was no longer a truck, but an open air tourer, or something like that; a passenger car, in any case.
If you haven't heard of the Chicken Tax before, I posted about it in 2011 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/09/chicken-war-and-chicken-tax-and-what.html
Another item used was the CKD" or complete knockdown. When imported with the pickup bed no on the chassis, the vehicle entered at a lower tax rate. The bodies were put onto the pickups in The U.S.
ReplyDeleteFord paid $365 million to settle a dispute from the way they imported Transit Connect vans with temporary seats to skirt the Chicken Tax.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.automotivedive.com/news/ford-chicken-tax-fine-justice-department-tariffs-cargo-vans/709965/
I posted about that https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2024/03/ford-transit-connect-vans-produced-in.html
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