SEMA 2007: Dropping by the DeBerti Ford Super Duty
click above image to view more high-res photos of the DeBerti Super-Duty
Earlier we showed you a preview of three Super Duty trucks that Ford's brought to SEMA, and we hunted down the DeBerti version to see just how low they could get an F-450. This ground scraping pickup has a Dallas Smith Axleless Lo-Floor front-wheel drive conversion that puts the rear low enough to easily drive a motorcyle up onto the bed. Ford even put a motorcycle into the Deep-V bed to demonstrate its utility. It was by far one of the most popular vehicles in the company's display, which unfortunately made it hard to get photos. Still, with some patient waiting we snapped a gallery for your viewing pleasure.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gearhead18 10:59PM (10/30/2007)
It's pretty cool having a low loading deck, but why would anyone want a FWD truck?
Especially a Ford SUPER DUTY!
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paul34 11:10PM (10/30/2007)
Yea. Kind of makes the duallies superfluous except for its load-bearing abilities. Now all that torque through single front tires? hmm...
gearhead18 1:47AM (10/31/2007)
It's not the greatest idea in the world for the drivetrain but a unique one for sure. It's definetly a way to show off some neat engineering and to say "It can be done and we did it first"
BassClef 7:43AM (10/31/2007)
It seems like this would be the perfect application for series-hybrid drive. Generator up front, wheel motors in back, batteries in the transmission tunnel....I'd buy a production truck like that.
HotRodzNKustoms 3:20AM (10/31/2007)
As far as the bed is concerned it's pure genius. Any of us who have loaded a chopper or even a large sport bike into the bed of even a standard pick up know what a pain it can be. The F-450 superduty part is just cool sema stuff because if they did this with a F-150 they would have a nice little niche market all to themselves of people who routinely transport motorcycles.
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Robert Ryan 5:28AM (10/31/2007)
They do the same thing here in Australia with Utes..carrying Motorcyles.
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Jaymez 8:14AM (10/31/2007)
You lose the right to call yourself a biker if you transport the bike in the back of a truck.
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Hamud 8:31AM (10/31/2007)
There are some nice application of this Lo-Floor system on Dallas Smiths website.
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naif 9:05AM (10/31/2007)
So, why hasn't one of the big companys bought this company? This is a great idea for moving way more things than just bikes.
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Andrew 10:33AM (10/31/2007)
Stupidest thing I've seen in a long time.
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