Apparently “parts is parts” ain’t necessarily so. At least not at Ford.

Ford has admitted that it does not have enough repair parts on hand to fix all the 1.25 million passenger cars it recalled for a deadly cruise control switch fire hazard.

Worse yet, Ford says the parts won’t be available until late 2007, even though they were all promised to be out by early October. I guess the moral of the story is that your Ford needs to always be driven near a fire station?

In August 2007 Ford recalled some 3.6 million cars and trucks, ranging over a dozen models plus that were built between 1992 and 2004. It was just another in a series of recalls during the last 8 years of what now amounts to more than 10 million vehicles because of engine fires that safety investigators say are linked to the cruise control systems in Ford trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles.

If you’ve got a Ford or Lincoln Mercury car, your parts are in short (or nonexistent) supply. But if you’ve got one of the popular and hotter selling Ford trucks or sport utility vehicles? Well, guess what? “Them parts we got” seems to be Ford’s answer because there have been no supply problems for parts for the recalled SUVs and pickup trucks covered by the recall.

So, if they’re a slow seller, Ford apparently will get around to fixing them when they can. But for the bread and butter profit building vehicles, Ford’ll get right on it! How’s that for taking care of all your customers, folks? Yes, Virginia, blue oval sometimes makes lemons.

Meanwhile, Ford dealers are installing a fused wiring harness into the speed control electrical system as part of the recall just as fast as they get the parts and as fast as they can get the customers in.

Vehicles that are affected by the Ford parts shortage include the 1992-1997 Lincoln Town Car, 1992-1997 Ford Crown Victoria, 1992-1997 Mercury Grand Marquis, 1993-1998 Lincoln Mark VIII, 1993-1995 Taurus SHO and 1994 Mercury Capri.

If you’ve got a flammable Ford lemon, don’t put up with “no problem found” and don’t put up with “no parts yet” either. Call us. We know what to do because we’ve been doing it to Ford (and all the rest of the manufacturers whenever they build a lemon too) since 1978. It's what we do.