Ford Motor Company has been blessing its horsepower-hungry minions with lethal doses of power lately. Not since the '60s have we seen power and styling that ignites the flames of desire and convinces us to spend our green on gasoline-slurping snakes and electrifying bolts of Lightning.
Ford's Special Vehicle Team (SVT) has played a key role in this uprising by offering us cool cars and tremendous trucks. Back in 1993, we welcomed the first SVT Mustang Cobra as well as the SVT F-150 Lightning, and rejoiced that someone was finally listening to us.
In 1994, Ray Howard of Norco, Calif., purchased one of SVT's two-ton behemoths, which he tooled around in until word spread that an all-new monster wearing fresh sheetmetal was about to be unleashed upon the masses. Ray sold his '94 and would eventually pick up a 2001 Oxford White Lighting packing 380 factory-supercharged horsepower.
As good as the truck was, Ray had many ideas that he planned to implement, the first of which were a K&N air filter, chrome-plated factory wheels and a Snug Top cover from Advanced Specialties in La Habra, Calif. Scott and Jeff at Advanced also upholstered the bed of the truck to complete the clean look. Next, Ray plunged into excess and called upon Steve Van Demon and Blake Weaver of Absolutely Custom Paintwerx (ACP) for a unique color scheme. Ray had flames in mind and after talking it over with the ACP guys, decided on the Dupont BM193K blue scorchings with purple pearl accents pictured here. In addition, these vivid flames were carried into the doorjambs and under the bedcover.
With the truck's outer appearance looking sensational, Ray knew he couldn't leave the interior stock, as it no longer blended with the extravagant exterior. Therefore, he went back to Advanced Specialties for some custom upholstery. The driver-side Lazy Boy became the hot seat with the blue flames now carried into the cockpit through the use of luscious suede.
Although the Lighting looked the part, Ray felt it lacked the power to back it up. Now, 380 horsepower is nothing to laugh at, but over the top was the name of the game here, so Ray took the Lightning to Superior Automotive where Shawn Ellis, a Diablosport dealer, burned a custom computer chip for it.
The real kick in the pants came from a Venom Performance VCN 2000 Digital nitrous system. On the bottle, the truck turned the dyno rollers to a tenacious 507 horsepower, and traversed the quarter-mile in a mere 11.7 seconds.Did we mention that this rig is Ray's daily driver? His wife Debbie thinks that they should relegate the heavyweight hot rod to weekend status, but it sure would be hard leaving the Lightning in the garage. Ray reported that should Ford produce the Lightning-powered Thunder Expedition, he might consider it.