Autoblog

Click above for high-res gallery of the Ford concept pickups from SEMA

We managed to track down most of the Ford concept pickups on our last day at SEMA. Hidden across the street, right in the front of the outdoor lot, just under the huge "Built Ford Tough" sign, there they were. We saw the Performance West Striker R F-150 and it's bigger brother Striker F-350, as well as the Street Scene Equipment Lariat that sort of reminded us of a certain bike-branded Ford truck. The F-150 Striker was reminiscent us of the Saleen S331 we sampled last year, and the F-350 was much the same only, uh, more so. We even came across an older Performance West version of the Striker sitting on the main sidewalk in front of the central hall.


Photos copyright ©2008 Frank Filipponio/Weblogs, Inc.

Athletic governing bodies are coming down hard on steroids and HGH, which has probably led to a glut on the market. Performance West Group appears to have bought up the entire surplus and injected it into a Ford F-350 dually in order to create the Striker. Part pickup and part Ford Mustang GT500KR, the Striker will be intimidating other vehicles at this year's SEMA show in Las Vegas.

The greatest tuning minds of our generation are assisting PWG with the project. Gale Banks is tuning the PowerStroke V8 engine above its 350 hp and 650 lb-ft. Hulst Customs is fabricating the bodywork. American Lightweight will be providing the aluminum 24" wheels. Katzkin Leather and Sony are doing duty inside to make sure you enjoy what will surely be a monster system in beauteous comfort.

PWG will then drape the entire thing in Striker Silver and Badass Blue and then probably let it loose to kill things. The rationalist in us wants to ask "What the...?" The auto junkie in us wants to stick it in the driveway and let it reek of testosterone. And then transform into a Decepticon. Which means we can't wait for SEMA.

[Source: PickupTrucks.com]

Click image for a gallery of '05 - '07 F-250 and F-350 Super Duty trucks

If the Ford Escape Hybrid is "The Candidate's Choice," then the automaker's big, bad Super Duty trucks are "The Smuggler's Choice." You see, unfortunately for truck owners, drug and human traffickers are "choosing" to steal them from the public to use in their nefarious endeavors. The reasons are simple: they're big (plenty of contraband can be carried), rugged (they can handle running off-road in the border areas), powerful (handy when running from the police), and apparently easy to make off with (they can be "stolen with a screwdriver" according to the Houston PD). In 2007, 1,245 F-250 and F-350 Super Duties vanished from Houston driveways, a forty percent increase over 2006, and notable when you consider overall car thefts in the city were down. In response, Ford is enhancing vehicle security by using keys embedded with chips required to activate new 2008 trucks' electronic ignition systems. Of course, that may not help win back former owners whose trucks have already been stolen. The Chronicle article tells of one victim whose actions spoke volumes. He switched to Chevy.

[Source: The Houston Chronicle]

International and Ford haven't been the best of friends lately, with the two companies sparring over compensation for the Powerstroke 6.4L. International stopped making the engines in protest earlier in the year, but this time the union has walked out on International. Even with the strike, Ford hasn't yet suspended production of the Super Duty at its Louisville plant. If the strike lasts more than a few days, however, the blue oval will simply run out of parts with which to build the big truck.

Union rhetoric points to what may be a longer strike than we saw at GM and Chrysler, and if days turn into weeks, Ford could lose $22 million a week in lost profits. International supplies Ford with up to 250,000 Powerstroke 6.4L engines per year, and the oil burner reaps Ford's largest profit margins. We're pretty sure Ford is in no shape to lose out on $22 million a week, so lets hope this union spat ends quickly.

[Source: Auto News - sub. req'd]

Click image for a gallery of the SEMA Super Duty trucks

Ford's Super Duty trucks are some of the meanest-looking rides on offer from anyone. Big in power and stature, and dripping with machismo, it should come as no surprise that SEMA will showcase a trio of them built out to varying degrees of Truckzillaness. The Shaker 4x450 by X-Treme Toyz is lifted ten inches, accessible via a motorized step, deco'd with custom graphics, accessorized to the hilt and sports a modified 6.4L Powerstroke diesel. It rolls on 40" Toyos and frightens animals smaller than a polar bear. The Project "Power Storm" F-350 by Fabtech is also lifted 10 inches, rolls on 40-inch tires, and sports a laundry list of sccessories and custom elements of its own. Finally, DeBerti is bringing a low-riding F-450 (see above) optimized for motorcycle-hauling. A Dallas Smith Axleless Lo-Floor front-wheel-drive chassis conversion puts the bed floor close to the ground, making it a snap to roll your hog on and off with ease. Big, black, and low, the DeBerti looks like it's going to be one of our favorites already. For full vehicle descriptions, check out the attached photo gallery, where they accompany the pics.

[Source: Ford]

With gas prices at record highs, Ford's heaviest and biggest trucks, the F-350 models and F-450, are surpassing all sales expectations.

The decked out Lariat and King Ranch variations of the F-350, as well as the F-450, are going gangbusters, with the King Ranch up 53-percent over last year, while the Lariat is up 30-percent. Overall, both models are leading their segment. With options topping $17,000 and sticker prices exceeding $60,000, the truck's decent sales are likely a breath of fresh air to the incentive-prone automaker.

Ford has more to brag about in its lighter trucks -- the F-250 also continues to be the top seller in its segment, and the F-150 historically has been one of Ford's most important vehicles behind the Taurus, set to relaunch this fall.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Minisites, sitelets, microsites -- whatever you call them, they're now a part of just about every product launch, whether it's for potato chips or Porsches. True to form, with last week's reveal of the '08 Ford F-Series Super Duty, the Oval followed up with a dedicated minisite for the new ginormous trucks. Its primary navigation elements are a set of links across the top of the page, each of which correspond to a specific background environment that gets dropped behind the black Super Duty sitting front and center in your browser window.

Arrows to the left and right of the truck let you cycle through the environments, which are a highway construction site, a boat ramp, a port facility/shipping terminal, a farm, and a field. Those environments serve as portals into detail pages related to power, capability, innovation, exterior, interior, and configurations, respectively. The detail pages generally feature a primary photo with rollover tabs that open extended explanations of the truck's features. In some cases you get slightly different content, such as 360-degree spin-o-rama views.

Finally, an 'Extras' link lets you register for email updates and has a set of desktop wallpapers available for download. This, along with the rest of the site's content, will likely evolve over time to keep things fresh over the year leading up to the trucks' arrival in showrooms.

I have to say that I found myself spending a lot more time playing around on the site than I thought I would. I normally get fed up with Flash-heavy sites like this after a minute or two, but the Super Duty site is fast, visually interesting, flows well and draws you in once you start clicking around. That's the whole point with any site, so credit Ford's interactive agency with a job well done.

Thanks for the tip, Ryan!

Once again Texas will play host to a major truck announcement. On Sept. 28th, Ford will unveil its new 2008 F-Series Super Duty pickup and new 6.4-liter Power Stroke diesel at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. The big news is that the new Power Stroke will be able to run on Ultra Low Sulfur Fuel, the sale of which will be mandated nationwide as of this October. The engine is larger in displacement than the perpetually plagued 6.0-liter unit it replaces and features some high-tech trickery to achieve particulate emissions levels that equal those of gas-powered engines. The most significant is the use of piezo-electric injectors in the common-rail fuel injection system, a first for a pickup engine sold in the U.S. Ford won't reveal the Super Duty's price or the Power Stroke's fuel economy and power figures until closer to the vehicle's launch in Dallas.

(Check out Ford's full press release after the jump)

[Source: Ford]

To hear Chris Doane tell it, the day was like any other. He stumbled upon a 2008 Ford Super Duty F-250 Powerstroke in a parking lot and started snapping away. The driver eventually returned and this is where Doane's day took a sharp turn towards the bizarre and frightening. The driver in question, who our sources tell us is indeed a Ford employee, snapped a synapse and chased Doane on public roads for a half an hour, including following him in and out of parking lots, tailgating him while running through highway traffic, and nearly swallowing his car in the gaping maw of the F-250's grille at stoplights.

To hear it in Doane's own words is a treat, and you can do so here. As for the Ford employee who lost control of his 'roid rage, it's just a 2008 Super Duty, man. Chill. We've got three posts up linking to spy shots of the next F-350 here, here and here. It's not like you were driving a C1 Focus or next-gen Mustang.

Thanks SobeSVT for the tip!

[Source: Cheers and Gears]

Last week we saw a picture of a heavily-camouflaged 2008 Ford Super Duty; this week brings additional shots of vehicles in more revealing livery - something that looks more like Mossy Oak. The sharp eye of Chris Doane found three examples - a single-rear-wheel truck, a dually, and a medium-duty flatbed - undergoing hot-weather testing in the desert.

The most obvious change is in the area of the headlights, with these vehicles sporting lamps that look much like the Ford Tonka concept of several years ago. The hood has a less-prominent budge than the current Super Duty, and the front fenders appear flatter along their upper edge. The openings in the front bumper appear to be larger and the grille has grown in height, likely to accommodate the increased cooling needs of a more powerful twin-turbo diesel. Those who tow trailers on a regular basis will likely appreciate the mirrors, which appear to be only slightly smaller than the average billboard and carry relatively large turn signals.

A peek at the interior shows some styling cues from the contemporary F-150, but it's hard to say what trim level we're seeing. A final assessment will have to wait until all the pieces are in place and the data acquisition equipment is removed.  

[Source: Pickuptruck.com]