When gas prices spiked and automakers began focusing more attention on fuel efficient cars and crossovers, we began wondering if the pickup truck's best days were behind it. The next big blow came when domestic automakers began postponing or canceling development of light-duty diesel engines for their half-ton trucks. Then, when things were at their bleakest, the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor arrived. The SVT-badged baja bruiser is one serious piece of hardware, with unique Fox struts and 35-inch rubber.
With the overwhelmingly positive reaction that the Raptor has received, we've been wondering if General Motors, Chrysler or even Toyota would follow suit with their own sand monster. After seeing a Camaro video posted by Chevrolet on YouTube, we may have evidence that it's a strong possibility.
The purpose of the video is to showcase several new Camaro graphics packages that will appear at SEMA next month, but anyone can see the pair of pics in the upper right hand corner that show a bad ass green machine dressed up in a bow tie and sporting six-spoke wheels. The hopped-up Silverado is lifted to within an inch of its life with highly flared wheel wells to corral all that rubber, but it's hard to tell if the mods are more for show than actual dune diving.
It's no secret that the Texas Auto Writer's Association loves Ford trucks: The Blue Oval's F-Series pickups have won the Truck of Texas award six straight times. Actually, you can make that seven straight times now, with the F-150 SVT Raptor taking the top honor this year in the Lone Star State.
We didn't go through the precise reasoning of the F-150's dominance in previous years, but the arrival of the Raptor probably made the choice just too easy this time around. After having driven the Raptor ourselves we knew that there is simply nothing like it, and nothing anywhere near as good as it is, to be found in the OEM pickup truck world. When you throw in the purchase price of $39K for the 5.4-liter, you're going to look hard to find a similarly priced competitor in the OEM or aftermarket. The press is after the jump, and to Ford, congratulations are well deserved.
If you read some of the model-specific buff books like Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords (raises hand), you're probably familiar with Latemodel Restoration Supply, which always has a multi-page ad in the mag touting its wares. Earlier this week, a shiny new Ford F-150 SVT Raptor visited the retailer's HQ. Photos were taken and posted to Flickr, where we saw them and decided they were definitely worth sharing. The Raptor is interesting on three levels. First off, it's a Raptor. Secondly, it's finished in Blue Flame -- a color that looks extremely good on this truck. (Frankly, we're tired of seeing the orange ones.) Finally, this particular machine rolls without the cheesy, '80s-looking factory bed-side graphics package. End result: a Raptor that's clean and mean. Clearly, this is the way to do it.
Although some of us have an unabashed love for all-things off-road, the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor didn't register a huge blip on our collective radar. We figured it would be a performance kit that was much more kit than performance, or an off-road wunderkind that makes life a Hobbesian kind of brutish when used anywhere but the moon. We spent two days in Southern California, one of which in the Raptor's Anza Borrego Desert birthplace, to discover one thing: We were wrong. The Raptor is all that. And a bag of chips. And dessert.
Ford is looking to drum up some extra interest in its F-150 SVT Raptor off-road specialist ahead of its actual on-sale date (which is still only listed as "coming soon") with the introduction of a new dedicated microsite that you can check out here. Features on the new web destination include a place to learn what makes the Raptor different from the rest of the F-150 lineup, along with videos, a gallery and an online tool to build your own.
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Ford's F-150 SVT Raptor isn't much like a normal truck. One look at the machine, with its copious amounts of front and rear suspension travel, super-wide stance, unique front fascia and bright orange paint quickly proves that point, but the truck on display at Barrett-Jackson last night had a few more tricks up its sleeve in order to grab some extra bids: a truckload of kids. Specifically, the Raptor's bed was full of children that stood to gain from the sale of this machine, which is the first retail production model of its kind, as all proceeds above the Raptor's MSRP will be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. After the gavel fell and all associated fees were paid, the truck went for $143,000 -- likely a hefty sum over the Raptor's as-yet unannounced base price.
We recently told you how the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor fared competing in the Baja 1000. The Blue Oval's new super duper off-roader finished third in the Class 8 division, which is impressive considering it was built for the lower level Stock Full class in which it couldn't compete this time because the production version is not yet for sale. We've gone for a ride in the Raptor through the deserts of Nevada, but after looking through the gallery below, our experience probably wasn't as much fun as piloting the truck through 631 miles of the Baja Desert. Clearly the Raptor's first foray into competitive motorsports involved spending a lot of time with all four wheels either off the ground or in water up to its lug nuts. Check out the gallery below for more action shots of the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor doing what it was designed for.
When Ford developed the F-150 SVT Raptor R, the Blue Oval wanted to make sure that it could offer the ultimate in off-road performance. We were pretty much sold after experiencing the truck in the Nevada desert, but Ford wanted to prove the Raptor's capabilities to the world. So Ford entered a modified version of the truck into the Baja 1000, confident that the race-ready Raptor could hold its own in the 631-mile competition. The SVT team entered with realistic expectations, hoping to simply finish a race that has a knack for providing unexpected challenges at every turn. Mission: accomplished. The SVT Raptor not only crossed the finish line, but it did so with flying colors by finishing third in the Class 8 division. This is especially impressive considering the Raptor is built for the lower-level Stock Full class in which it couldn't compete because the production version is not yet for sale.
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The rumored Ford F-150 "Raptor" high-performance off-road truck may be branded an SVT model when and if it reaches dealer showrooms. So says Sean Holman at Four Wheeler Magazine, at least. If true, this would mark the return of the SVT label being used front and center on a vehicle since John Coletti, the legendary head honcho of Ford's in-house tuning arm during its heyday, retired in 2004. Ford's Special Vehicle Team is still alive and well within the Blue Oval, having participated in developing a number of special Mustang models in recent years including the GT500, which features SVT badges all over its exterior and interior but not in its name.
Affixing the letters S-V-T to a truck will bring on inevitable comparisons to the late, great SVT Lightning F-150, which was produced for ten years between 1993 and 2003. While that high-performance truck was meant for on-road shenanigans, the "Raptor" is being developed in the vein of a Baja truck with big tires, bigger ground clearance and a big appetite for jumping things like sand dunes and rows of Foci. Production of the "Raptor" truck itself is just a rumor, however, despite heavily covered prototypes seen idling around Dearborn. The addition of an SVT badge would make the secretly developed desert stormer that much more legitimate in our eyes, even if Ford's in-house tuning program has never proven itself off the beaten path.
