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1999 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning Gets Modern Redesign

Back in the 1990s, Ford came up with the crazy idea of building a truck for the race track. Packaging Lightning in a compact 2-door bottle, it had modified suspension and a 5.8-liter V8 engine.
1999 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning Gets Modern Redesign 7 photos
Photo: TheSketchMonkey/YouTube screenshot
1999 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning Gets Modern RedesignPioneer Ford F-150 SVT Lightning tributePioneer Ford F-150 SVT Lightning tributePioneer Ford F-150 SVT Lightning tributePioneer Ford F-150 SVT Lightning tributePioneer Ford F-150 SVT Lightning tribute
The second-generation model arrived in 1999 with completely new looks. With an aggressive body kit, this thoroughbred pickup now featured a 360 hp and 440 lb-ft of torque. For reference, a Cobra Mustang only had 320 hp and 317 lb-ft.

The SVT Lightning is still a unique sight. It was low, fast and did burnouts everywhere it went. Nobody had seen anything like this at the drag strip. Beautiful? Never, but certainly iconic, which is why YouTube artist TheSketchMonkey decided to make a modern truck out of it.

Because the 20-year-old model looks like a red blob of cheese, he decided to work around an actual 2021 Ford F-150. A lot of chopping was required to get the 2-door and short bed that was needed. Also, a sporty new bumper gets added to the front in the style of the original SVT product.

So is this something people will want? Probably not, since everybody is preoccupied with lift kits for mall crawlers. Also, it's unlikely Ford will ever offer another 2-door body. But we still find that a slightly lower 4-door with lower weight and better handling could find sufficient customers.

Ford's decision to stick a turbo V6 into the Raptor seemed strange at the time. But not many people realize that muscle trucks have almost always been about experimentation in the powertrain department.

In 1996, Chevy had the S10 Xtreme, just as low and sporty-looking as the Lightning. It came with a 4.3-liter V6 producing about 200 hp. And who can forget the GMC Syclone? It's super rare, and with a turbocharged V6 making 280 hp, it could take on a Corvette. To top it all off, there's the crazy Dodge Ram SRT-10.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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