Ford L series

The Ford L-series is a range of commercial trucks that were assembled and marketed by Ford between 1970 and 1998. The first dedicated Class 8 conventional truck developed by the company, the L-Series was colloquially named the "Louisville Line", denoting the Kentucky Truck Plant that assembled the trucks. The successor to the Ford N-series and the Ford F-900/1000 Super Duty, the line was a Class 6-8 truck. Slotted above the medium-duty F-Series, the L-Series was produced over a wide variety of applications through its production life, including both straight trucks and semitractors.

The L-Series was produced in Louisville, Kentucky, alongside medium-duty F-Series trucks; at various times, it was also produced alongside the C-Series COE (and the CF-series Cargo that replaced it). For its second generation introduced in 1996, the Ford Louisville nickname became the official name for the model line. Sold primarily as a semitractor, the aerodynamically enhanced Ford Aeromax served as a flagship model for both generations.

After the 1996 sale of the Ford heavy-truck line to Freightliner, the production of the second-generation L-Series was transferred from Ford to Freightliner during 1998. The model line continued under the Sterling Trucks nameplate, lasting through 2009.  

Following the 1957 introduction of the C-series low-cab COE, Ford began to transition its heavy-truck lineup away from models derived from the F-Series line. In 1961, the Super Duty F-Series (F-750 to F-1100) was redesigned with a heavier-duty chassis, sharing only its cab with smaller F-Series trucks. The same year, Ford introduced the H-Series heavy truck. Derived from the C-Series, the H-Series mounted the cab higher on an all-new chassis with a forward-mounted axle (taking on the "Two-Story Falcon" nickname); while a Super Duty V8 was standard, the optional Cummins NH inline-6 was the first factory-installed diesel offered in a Ford truck.

For 1963, Ford introduced the N-Series, a short-hood conventional truck. Similar in concept to the 1948-1956 "cab-forward" C-Series, the all-new design moved the cab upward and forward (the latter, to shorten the overall length of the vehicle). Sharing much of its front bodywork with the H-Series, the N-Series derived its cab structure from the F-Series.

In 1966, the H-Series "Two-Story Falcon" was replaced by the W-Series Class 8 COE. A clean-sheet design (distinguished by its straight-edged design), the W-Series was offered solely with diesel engines; to save weight, an all-aluminum cab was offered as an option (alongside the standard steel cab)

At the end of the 1960s, Ford began construction of Kentucky Truck Assembly, adding a dedicated facility in Louisville for commercial truck production. In 1969, the facility opened, with Louisville Assembly moving entirely to cars (later joined by light trucks). Coinciding with the construction of the assembly facility, Ford sought to consolidate the N-Series and the heavy F-Series into a single, all-new product line.

With the "L" in L-Series denoting its Louisville origins, the new product line featured a larger cab, adding the front-hinged hood adopted by the Mack R-series, Kenworth W900, and Peterbilt 352.