I think the American Family Association is going to renew their boycott as soon as they hear about this plan.

@ash78: Are they going for the as yet untapped gay truck market? The Ford F150 Streisand Edition?

Toyota better beware, because even though
Dodge couldn't Ram 'em, Ford's gonna try to
rectum!

It's just too bad that it won't perform like they say it will, will be slower than they say it is, and will be subject to more recalls than Spitzer made to his hooker.

Cool. Is this a part of the highly anticipated "truck wars" that nobody gave a shit about?

As good a plan as driving cars up Toyota's ass is, I recommend pursuing a slightly different strategy--build cars that people want to buy, and then sell them to those people.

This is a radical shift in the way that Ford, GM and Chrysler have operated, but I think it has the potential to work.

Oh, and BTW? The first Baja 1000 truck you can buy off the showroom floor is not a good initial step in this strategy. Yes, it will look good in a Mike Rowe ad, and I'm sure the couple of dozen people in the United States who actually want to own a Baja 1000 truck will be very pleased, but time and development dollars might be better spent on getting the fricking Flex and that badass '10 Taurus to market.

Just sayin.

Does anyone hear "Truck Me Amadeus"? playing?

About time we heard some real smack-talking from Detroit. Hope they got what it takes to back it up.

So its a Baja 1000 truck right off the showroom floor?

Will the warrant be void if any desert raicing is attempted with this truck?

@mwood10: Don't you mean Mecha-Streisand?

♫♫ Barbura Streisandu! ♫♫

Gonna truck them right in their Aspens...

I'm waiting to see the 09 F150s and they better have blue ovals on the grill...

@Preferredcustomer: I think most of the couple dozen people who want to own a Baja 1000 truck just go ahead and build their own. And I think most of them start with some variant of the Tacoma or Ranger, not an F150. This could be popular with the prerunner crowd, but I think you're going to have to do a significant amount of modification to get this to perform to the expectations of the desert racer crowd.

@Preferredcustomer: Good point! Ford vehicles like the Mustang and F150 totally blow dick and don't sell compared to their Toyota counterparts!

I don't give a truck if you don't like American cars, but hating on them for some special edition with a tiny sales target is ridiculous.

I just drove 2500 miles to Florida and back and I am seeing a LOT more new Tundras on the road.

Ford has every reason to be scared of Toyota.

Those that buy the Raptor are already in the Ford camp.
Most of the people I have talked to that purchased a new Tundra were switching from a Silverado.

@mwood10: It's the F-150 Bette Middler edition, soon to be followed by the Barry Manilow edition and the Shelby, Knight ridder, rousch , breast cancer ect.,ect. edition.

@rkwadd: I've actually been a Ford fanboy for years. I don't reflexively hate American cars, but I am more than a bit pissed that when I think about American cars I'd actually like to buy these days, they all have GM badges.

My only point is that, given the particularly dire straits that Ford now finds itself in (which, BTW, is the fault of no one but Ford's management), it makes no sense at all to blow development time and money on niche products that will do, at best, very limited volume.

It will be badass sitting in the driveway because gas is 8 bucks a gallon. I don't think they have thought this all the way through. Again.

They'll all get trucked in the ass at the pumps anyway,
so who cares who's truckin' who?

@ash78: @mwood10: You know, sponsoring the tours for Streisand, Madonna, and the Spice Girls would be a good way to court the gays and fly under the AFA radar.

@POLAЯ: you are like a blinding brilliant light from heaven.... There is no word to describe your commenting, so I am forced to make one up... and that word is.... Scrumtrulescent. Your comment there was scrumtrulescent.

@Mokers: Does anyone take the AFA seriously anyways? Is it really necessary to fly under their radar?

@Preferredcustomer: My Ford 4-cyl Ranger died last week...so I am a touch bias in this arena, at the moment. Though I have to say, I did beat the piss out of it... Has 108,000 on the ticker and said "No MORE good sir... it is my time..."

Sold it for $800 because I have neither the tools nor the space to part it out for more.

Let's see - Ford sells like 600,000 trucks to Toyota's projected 200,000.... I think Ford knows a little something about truck marketing even if we think they might be wrong.

@Timmy!: But does Ford know anything about building a Baja 1000 truck? Just having some fancy Fox shocks doesn't mean you're ready to do the Baja.

@elwood: I'm just imagining the spectacle of marketing synergy when Toby Keith opens for the Spice Girls.

@everybody second-guessing a niche truck from Ford...:...while it loses a shitload of money:

The point of the truck is not to sell it, the point is to be able to sell the image that Ford isn't screwing around, they're American, and they're badass. The Raptor, the "up Toyota's ass" comment, it's all marketing and brand-building.

@Ω βгåғғ™ ۞: If I may say so sir, you reek of scrumtrulescentness.
Thank you.

Reading the article on it all I see so far is a bigger engine and some racing shocks. I would bet the Dodge Power Wagon would kill it off road. It probably doesn't even have a solid axle up front.

Ok...so it's basically a halo truck.
(the marketing term, not the chupa-thingy)

This is the truck equivalent of the GT500 or (maybe?) GT.

Hopefully.

If this works well, it's gonna need entirely new suspension up front and either a 4 link or some kind of traction bars to keep the rear axlewrap in control.

And at least 1 real locking diff.

Also: most Baja trucks are 2wd...is that the plan here?

@Preferredcustomer: I agree with you regarding product, however I think that Ford has some decent products, but the brand has been tainted by years of mediocre cars and crappy promotion and marketing. I think that the company getting electrified and strategic leaks of details like this and the 2010 Taurus earlier this week start to get a buzz on. Ford needs to get on people's radar so they start to consider them again. Right now I think most people discount Ford due to standing opinions that may not be rooted in fact.

Ford better put their money where there mouth is. I dont think Toyota is too afraid as long as Lincolns "flagship" is the Town Car and Fords Camry fighter is the Fusion. And did I mention the 10 year old Focus?

@banditsc: Most serious desert racers don't have a solid axle up front. Most don't even have 4wd. It's all about the long travel IFS for those guys.

@rkwadd: Marketing is fine. But you need some steak, not just sizzle. Right now, Ford has a collection of pleasant vehicles that in all honesty are pretty good, but they don't give import-intenders much reason to choose their products over the Accord/Camry/whatever.

That needs to be fixed, and it needs to be fixed immediately. Given that spy shot of the Taurus, and the upcoming Flex, it looks like maybe Ford is on the right track. Unfortunately, those products aren't in dealerships, and until they are, they won't make the company any money. Priority one should be getting them out the door, because it is the introduction of *those* products, not some low-volume jacked up niche truck, that will show that Ford isn't screwing around.

In fact, a "Baja 1000 truck for the street" sounds exactly like screwing around, like the automotive industry equivalent of saying "look how many paperclips I can link together." That's great guys. Good paper clip chain. Now get back to work and give us some volume cars/trucks that customers will pay for so we can pay off the third and fourth mortgages on World Headquarters.

So what's the market for this if it doesn't become a 4x4? There are only certain parts of the country where you can go desert racing and that isn't a large part. So we created a jacked up 2wd truck that your really can't take offroading in the snow, mud, rocks, and we dropped your MPG's for sticking it up so high in the air.. And as a added bonus the suspension is stiffened up so you can go flying in the air like a Bajaer if you hit a speed bump just right..

truck looks like it'll be fun, but I sort of fail to see the point. And plus, no diesel no care - I thought they knew this?

I'm not sure if fitting bigger engines to their existing products will solve Ford's problems.

@TampaRon: Or the Ranger. Or the Crown Vic. Or the Lincoln LS. How many products has Ford let die a slow death through neglect? How many "home runs" has Ford tried to hit, only to lose interest when they realize that all they have is a base hit? Let's review:

Escort (tailed off, became rental car queen)
Focus (in the process of dying after middling update turned a killer product into, well, an Escort)
Contour (tailed off)
Taurus (updated in '96, left basically alone for 10 years (!), until it was killed in favor of the Fusion).
Lincoln LS
Mark VIII
Continental
Thunderbird (twice!)
Crown Vic/Town Car (lack of updates have led to a laughably out of date product)
Excursion
Ranger (seriously, how long ago was it that that product received a major redesign?)

Why haven't they done what Toyota, Honda and BMW (among others) have done, and picked a solid core of products that they will keep incrementally improving, cycle after cycle?

One really funny thing, to me, is that after letting the MN12 Mark VIII and the DEW98 LS die, and after allowing the Town Car to soldier on using the same platform for 30 years, Ford is now talking about the need for a RWD luxury car like it's some sort of inspiration! Guys, you had RWD luxury cars. You just didn't feed them, and they died.

"Go drive this up Toyota's ass, and if you don't know how just ask Max Mosely!"

From the look of the Tundra, it's been taking it in the ass since day one. And in the face. And in the side.

@Preferredcustomer: I'm sorry, you'd exceeded the insightfullness limit of the internet. If you don't post in all caps with heavily racist or homophobic overtones soon, we'll be forced to dismiss you.

"And our next question goes to Toyota. Toyota: 'Where is the most unusual place you've ever made whoopie?'"

"Well, Bob...probably...in Ford's ass"

Crap-tor.

None of those trucks will ever be driven off road.

I'm not a Tundra fanboy either.

@Preferredcustomer:

This truck is just a tiny drop in the bucket of all of the things in development. It isn't the huge cost or time drain you seem to be thinking it is. It's just something cool out of the SVT group, and its about damn time.

@Preferredcustomer:

Ford is like a deadbeat dad. Ford makes lots of babies, but won't pay the child support.