Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass" - Jalopnik Comments

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

HoldenNarberth — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:59:43 EDT

It goes to show, that if you are trying to shove something up.......Your trying to be better than the previous shover. Ford has no chance, Toyota is building a better product. One thinks that Toyota is not american, look at where its being built versus the competition. Chevy is importing many products from Mexico, Ford is buying canada parts. Toyota just built a multi million dollar plant in San Antonio, and plans on several other plants here in the USA. To me, exporting dollars??? If it had a USA nameplate, no one would care, Toyota planned on kicking the big threes butts 15 years ago, but big execs didnt listen. They took a strategy of building smart with the automated plants and layouts of their designs. GM execs scoffed at it. Well, with GMs 55 rearview mirrors and 40 firewall stamps for one line vs.....the Toyota...coming in at 1/4 of that.....GM just had to scrap some serious stuff. I have done the research. GM and Ford, took Toyota too lightly, they have a better production line, more focus on tolerances, and all in all, just flat out kicked their butts. Its no different than a TV in your house.....a Sony is a Sony.....a Toyota is a Toyota...its just a better product.

HoldenNarberth

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Hello_Newman — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:26:26 EDT

I think it's cool, a real offroad conversion is really hard for most people to build, and there's few offerings of real performance offroad except Jeep and their trail certified stuff. I had a 2003 SVT Lightning F150 I bought new and it did not disappoint.

Hello_Newman

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

dwp — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:48:19 EDT

@rlj676:

good idea. I think waiting may prove to provide more information about the truck. it might surprise some people.

dwp

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

GaryMyMan — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:55:00 EDT

@Preferredcustomer:
I wish someone at Ford would read this. I asked myself the other day (while on the john) "what does Bill Ford drive to work every day?" And I couldn't come up with one suitable car he could drive - maybe a GT, or 500KR mustang, or F250 King Ranch, but no sports sedan or even nice luxury car.

GaryMyMan

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

elwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:15:49 EDT

@chops59: I was reading over a srs bzns jeepspeed build thread on Pirate4x4 awhile back, and that one made it about 35 miles in the Baja before breaking down. Though in their defense, they finished building it pretty much the day before the race, so it happens. But what I'm saying is, I think 200 miles for a factory truck is generous.

elwood

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

chops59 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:38:25 EDT

[www.race-dezert.com]

Trophy Trucks average about 800hp, have about 2-3ft travel and fly (literally.) This poser would make it about 200 miles. Would make a nice pre-runner though!

chops59

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

rkwadd — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:24:56 EDT

@elwood: But who cares if it is actually a Baja 1000 Trophy Truck? Does anyone really expect that out of this project? It's not that you're wrong to fear the truck will be a poser, but really this whole thing is an exercise in image engineering rather than super-duper awesome truckasaurus engineering.

rkwadd

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

elwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:10:12 EDT

@rlj676: Hey that's fine, but just throwing on some Fox shocks and calling an F150 a Baja 1000 Trophy Truck doesn't actually make it so, unless they're replacing most of the other suspension components in the truck, and significantly reinforcing the frame, and installing a cage.

elwood

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

rlj676-new job, same problems — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:37:01 EDT

@elwood:

Well, why don't we wait and see what this really is before declaring anything.

rlj676-new job, same problems

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

elwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:20:34 EDT

@TX Law: I'm not anti-truck, I'm anti-stupid truck. I seriously love me some badass prerunners, jeepspeeds, and whatnot. Love seeing some of the fab work that gets posted on Pirate4x4 too. And some of the coolest things I've ever seen are trucks with some Mog axles or Rockwells swapped in. But a stock F150 is none of those things, and that's why I'm not such a fan.

elwood

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

BenjiS — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:13:52 EDT

I think the biggest news here is that it will have an SVT badge on it. Most of the die-hard SVT guys (ie: Cobra owners) have been thinking that SVT was dead and that the last SVT product would be the Shelby GT500 Mustang.

I'd wager this took as much development time as the Ranger FX4 Level II package did.

BenjiS

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Armand Bengle — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:04:29 EDT

@Ω βгåғғ™ ۞ & POLAЯ: I am not alone in thinking that the two of you make Gandhi look like a child pornographer.

Armand Bengle

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

TX Law — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:42:46 EDT

Solid front axle...situation normal for Ford. As in, Situation Normal: All Fucked Up. More troubling is the tons of anti-truck guys posting. All the old DOTS pickups get tons of praise for their solid engineering and reliability. Any true Jalop appreciates the undead Hilux from Top Gear. What's the problem with trucks in general? The reasons I drive a truck are distinguishable from the reasons most Jalops have/want a gas-guzzling bat-outta-hellmobile. You like driving fast, I like slamming it into 4 wheel low and attacking a muddy creek. One thing in common is that we own the vehicles we do because we like them, and are willing to sacrifice gas mileage, reliability, space, whatever for performance that we want. Before you tell me to go to another site, I can appreciate the intricate BMW engineering and I would sell my first born for a Veyron. In fact, it would look quite nice next to my Z71.

TX Law

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

elwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:37:15 EDT

@rlj676: It's true, doesn't sound like there's much development here. Sounds like its pretty much just some Fox shocks and probably some slightly different bodywork. Not enough to justify referring to it as a Baja 1000 truck, but not enough to add a lot of development overhead either.

elwood

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

JONNRG — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:18:32 EDT

@Preferredcustomer:

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

JONNRG

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

rlj676-new job, same problems — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:11:47 EDT

@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.

rlj676-new job, same problems

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

AllenK — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:05:03 EDT

Crap-tor.

None of those trucks will ever be driven off road.

I'm not a Tundra fanboy either.

AllenK

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

The Name's Ash78, Housewares — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:51:17 EDT

"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"

The Name's Ash78, Housewares

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Mad_Science — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:50:58 EDT

@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.

Mad_Science

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

usa1 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:47:34 EDT

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.

usa1

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

OldeEnglishD misses Polar — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:42:35 EDT

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

OldeEnglishD misses Polar

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Preferredcustomer — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:32:37 EDT

@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.

Preferredcustomer

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

carguy — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:29:49 EDT

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

carguy

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Mrb00st — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:27:16 EDT

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?

Mrb00st

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

banditsc — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:23:32 EDT

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..

banditsc

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Preferredcustomer — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:23:05 EDT

@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.

Preferredcustomer

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

elwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:15:55 EDT

@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.

elwood

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

TampaRon — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:15:37 EDT

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?

TampaRon

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

graverobber- My Yugo Nova! — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:15:29 EDT

@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.

graverobber- My Yugo Nova!

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Mad_Science — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:14:43 EDT

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?

Mad_Science

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

banditsc — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:13:32 EDT

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.

banditsc

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

POLAЯMISSESEVEЯYBODY — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:08:26 EDT

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

POLAЯMISSESEVEЯYBODY

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

rkwadd — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:52:09 EDT

@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.

rkwadd

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Mokers — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:51:28 EDT

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

Mokers

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

mytdawg — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:51:17 EDT

mytdawg

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

elwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:43:31 EDT

@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

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Timmy! — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:39:43 EDT

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!

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Ω ß®ªғғ — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:37:59 EDT

@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.

Ω ß®ªғғ

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

elwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:37:18 EDT

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

elwood

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Ω ß®ªғғ — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:36:17 EDT

@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.

Ω ß®ªғғ

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Mokers — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:35:31 EDT

@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.

Mokers

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

POLAЯMISSESEVEЯYBODY — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:31:31 EDT

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

POLAЯMISSESEVEЯYBODY

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

mytdawg — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:28:09 EDT

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.

mytdawg

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Preferredcustomer — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:19:45 EDT

@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.

Preferredcustomer

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

creigs9 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:12:35 EDT

@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.

creigs9

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

microcars — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:10:39 EDT

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.

microcars

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

rkwadd — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:06:20 EDT

@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.

rkwadd

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

elwood — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:05:58 EDT

@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.

elwood

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

NatefromOgden — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:03:11 EDT

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

NatefromOgden

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

mytdawg — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:02:45 EDT

Gonna truck them right in their Aspens...

mytdawg

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

POLAЯMISSESEVEЯYBODY — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:01:21 EDT

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

♫♫ Barbura Streisandu! ♫♫

POLAЯMISSESEVEЯYBODY

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

jaydez — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:00:39 EDT

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?

jaydez

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

deckard97 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:00:33 EDT

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

deckard97

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Al Navarro — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:58:39 EDT

Does anyone hear "Truck Me Amadeus"? playing?

Al Navarro

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

Preferredcustomer — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:58:32 EDT

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.

Preferredcustomer

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

grzydj — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:58:20 EDT

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

grzydj

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

superdude4agze — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:58:06 EDT

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.

superdude4agze

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

POLAЯMISSESEVEЯYBODY — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:56:33 EDT

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

POLAЯMISSESEVEЯYBODY

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

mwood10 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:55:13 EDT

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

mwood10

Dealers Shown Ford F-150 "Raptor" With SVT Badge, Told To "Drive Directly Up Toyota's Ass"

The Name's Ash78, Housewares — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:48:24 EDT

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

The Name's Ash78, Housewares