Externally, the 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor is indistinguishable from the 2010 model. But under its skin lives a brand-new, 6.2-liter, 411-hp V-8. We didn't desert race it, but we did cover it in two inches of mud.

Headed to Montauk with the 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor there was one thing I had to get: a picture of all four wheels off the ground. I got it, but it turns out that's not the Raptor's point.

Yesterday was my 29th birthday and I've spent the last two weekends celebrating making it through another year without dying, first at Laguna Seca on a KTM RC8, then on the Montauk beach in a Ford Raptor.

SVT engineers had a choice: make another Lightning or do something no manufacturer has ever done before — produce a high-speed off-road super truck. The 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, the fastest off-road vehicle we've ever driven, is the result.

1,500 orders have already been placed for the 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, maxing out capacity at the Dearborn plant. That's for 5.4s. The 6.2-liter 400 HP version isn't on sale until winter. [Pickuptrucks.com]

Ford's auctioning off three vehicles at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale this week — a 2010 Shelby GT500, a 2010 F-150 SVT Raptor and a Cobra Jet Mustang. The money's going to juvenile diabetes research.

We wrote 159 reviews during 2008. While culling the best for this list of the top 11, one thing became abundantly clear: America is making good cars again.