Autoblog

When it comes to all things pickup trucks, Mike Levine from PickupTrucks.com is the man, bar none. He's got the first video report on the new Ford F-150 SVT Raptor and goes into far greater detail about the truck's special bits than we ever could. The Raptor, of course, is the latest product from the SVT crew and it's fully off-road ready. This beast is unlike the previous F-150 SVT Lightning, which blended lots of horsepower with a strictly on-road suspension set up. SVT seems to have realized that a pickup truck will never be a sports car and vice versa, so they set up the Raptor with new heavy duty suspension mounts, unique suspension arms and new Fox racing remote reservoir dampers. The SVT Raptor will be launched with the current 5.4L V8 underhood, although the 6.2L "Boss" V8 should be available as an option by the end of '09. The interior is fitted with all kinds of special bits and from the outside the Raptor will be instantly recognizable thanks to a unique grille and flared out fenders. Check out the video for yourself after the jump and our high-res galleries of the SVT Raptor below. Thanks to Sam (not me) for the tip!



[Source: YouTube]

More news on the Raptor front today. PickupTrucks.com just published a spy shot of a camo'd F-150 Raptor that at first glance adds nothing new to the puzzle. Closer inspection reveals that the semi-transparent covering actually exposes the basic look of the sporty F-150's grille, which purportedly has the Ford name emblazoned very large across a center bar. The truck was recently spotted on the streets of Vegas during the Ford Dealer Show. According to those in the know, Ford marketing boss Jim Farley unveiled the off-road-ready F-150 at that meeting, even showing a video of the mule throwing sand in the desert.

We're becoming more certain every day that the Raptor will use the 6.2L "Boss" V8 with a power output of between 380 and 420 horsepower. If the F-150 Raptor ends up wearing an SVT product as we suspect, we're betting the final power output being closer to the latter rather the former. Besides seeing the mule in action and hearing about the powertrain, dealers were also shown one of the Raptor's footlong-travel shocks, built exclusively for the Raptor by Fox Racing. Coupled with 35-inch all-terrain tires, this should be one badass, Baja-ready pickup.

Surely it won't be long before we get a whole batch of official pics from Ford, perhaps in time for the SEMA Show in November, but for now click over to PickupTrucks.com to see the new spy pics.

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

Click above for high-res gallery of Ford F-150 "Raptor" spy shots

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.


[Source: Four Wheeler Blog via Pickuptruck.com]

click above for more high-res pics of the 2009 Ford F-150

There are rumors circulating the web of a Ford truck so freakin' cool it'd make even the most Euro-centric bloggers among us stop dead in our tracks, and if true, would make everything else do just the same.

The report claims that Ford is working on a derivative of the all-new F-150 pick-up internally known as "Raptor". The pumped-up version of the popular truck is said to feature a long-travel suspension (developed with Fox Racing), 35-inch tires, and – wait for it – a possibly turbocharged version of the upcoming Boss V8. Essentially a Baja 1000 or Dakar racing truck available to the public, the Raptor would be capable of covering rough terrain at high speeds, and also feature distinctive bodywork wider and lower than a conventional F-150. Word of the Boss V8 finding its way into an F-150 has also led to speculation that Ford is preparing a new Lightning, but the Raptor seems much, much cooler. If given the green light, the Raptor could be a year-and-a-half to two years away. Stay tuned.

[Source: Pickuptruck.com]