When Ford came out with the SVT Lightning in the early 1990s, the Blue Oval didn’t know a lot about sporty street trucks. Chrysler and General Motors had a lot more experience, but as the years passed, the Dearborn-automaker caught up to them.
The second-generation Lightning is the cream of the crop, based on the single-cab version of the F-150 pickup. A 5.4-liter supercharged V8 with up to 380 horsepower from the factory, the heavy-duty transmission from the F-350, the FlareSide bed, and a lowered suspension are a few highlights that made it great.
What came as a bit of a surprise for everyone is that the Lightning wasn’t redesigned for the 2004 model year when the eleventh generation of the F-Series rolled out. But for 2009, the Blue Oval stepped up its game with the SVT Raptor. Developed specifically to tackle uneven terrain and the sandiest of dunes, this fellow was initially offered with two V8 options known as the Modular and Boss.
To quote a certain someone, both off-road trucks are tremendous gas hogs. This isn’t the reason the outgoing Raptor features the EcoBoost V6, though. Switching to a twin-turbo setup and six cylinders is a marketing stunt at heart, a means to convince pickup customers that the EcoBoost is a viable alternative to the Coyote.
As much as everyone misses the eight-cylinder bellow of the previous Raptor and Lightning, it’s hard to ignore the torque rating of the force-fed V6. YouTube channel “StangMode” pitted a Raptor versus the Lightning to prove a point, and off the line, the dune-bashing brawler has the upper hand over the street-only model.
From a roll, however, the larger tires and different gearing of the Raptor translate to a well-deserved win for the Lightning. Also worthy of note, the older F-150 is significantly lighter and noticeably smaller than the twin-turbocharged pickup.
Although Ford has stopped offering the Lightning too many years ago, dealer-installed options like the one from a Georgia-based dealer hark back to the original’s street cred. Including the regular-cab, short-bed donor vehicle, Pioneer Ford offers the 650-horsepower package at $49,661 including rebates and incentives.
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
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News