Developed by the Special Vehicle Team, the SVT Lightning entered the scene in 1992 as a 1993 model to battle the Chevy 454 SS. After a short hiatus, the go-faster pickup truck received a ground-up redesign in 1999.
The second generation leveled up from the 351 Windsor to a slightly pokier engine, the 5.4-liter Triton with a thumpin’ great supercharger for good measure. Made famous worldwide by the first movie in the F&F saga, the regular-cabbed street brawler was exclusively offered with a Stepside bed.
A grand total of 28,124 examples were produced from 1999 to 2004, and quite a few of them were crashed over the years because we didn’t have too many electronic safety nannies back then. Chassis number 2FTZF0734YCA98573 was declared a total loss by the insurance company in 2015 following a serious accident, but instead of being crushed, it’s come back to life as a one-off restomod with oh-so-beautiful classic design cues.
After the state of California issued a salvage certificate, the peeps at Sweet Brothers Restomods were much obliged to revive the performance truck with body panels from a 1962 Ford F-100 workhorse. The Wyoming-based company decided on a unibody bed instead of the separate bed that Ford used to market under the Flareside handle. Unibody bed refers to the cargo box and cabin as one continuous piece, with no gap between them.
To accommodate the longer chassis of the F-150 SVT Lightning, the cabin and both doors had to be lengthened. Finished in blue with Lightning decals, the retro-modern build is rocking the F O R D script in uppercase letters on the tailgate and a custom-fabricated exhaust with two rectangular tips.
18-inch Lightning wheels mounted with Toyo Proxes tires give away the underpinnings of this four-wheeled Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Capable of churning out 360 horsepower and 440 pound-feet (597 Nm) of torque, this work of wonder is flexing a four-speed automatic transmission that doesn’t promise lightning-quick shifts. Of course, the pun is obviously intended.
On the other hand, you don’t need anything more than a good ol’ 4R100 and 3.55 gears for the rear axle. Further gifted with a limited-slip differential, this pickup retains many other amenities of the F-150 SVT Lightning on which it’s based, including cruise control. Bucket seats upholstered in gray cloth with black leather inserts dominate the cabin, which also boasts a middle bench.
Customized door panels, extra sound deadening, the original AM/FM cassette stereo of the F-150 SVT Lightning, and a steering column-mounted shifter pretty much seal the deal. Offered with less than 60,000 miles (96,561 kilometers) on the clock, this marvelous truck isn't perfect.
The owner notes the check engine light coming on intermittently, and rock chips are visible on various portions of the body shell. Be that as it may, both issues are relatively straightforward to fix on a limited budget. Backed up by a clean Wyoming title, the rebodied truck is presently going for $10,000 on Bring a Trailer with seven days of bidding left on the ticker.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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