Industry analysts have described the F-150 as "the wrong truck at the wrong time". Introduced as full-size truck and SUV sales are dropping like a stone, or like the Titanic to the bottom, the F-150 propagates the impossible financial model that has all but killed off the Big Three. That model is based on huge sales of option-laden (aka hyper-profitable) luxury trucks and SUVs to people who don't need them and are often drawn in by unsustainably-low interest loans and incentives. And when gas prices go up again (versus the recent lull designed to pander to voters) sales of these kinds of vehicles will again continue their fall.
Yes, it's a free-market economy and people can buy what they want (as witnessed by Ford Motor Corporation sales dropping another 30% last month). But just like Democracy, there is a certain degree of responsibility to society involved - and propping up irresponsible products that take 2 steps backwards is certainly the wrong move at a very bad time . Handing out $25B "rescue" (on top of another $25B approved last Sept to help automakers transition to more fuel-efficient products) dollars to companies building throwbacks like this is not a responsible use of taxpayers money. It does not contribute to breaking our dependency on foreign oil. It does not contribute to the security needs of our country or to the long-term economic health of our country. It does help to continue to prop up dictators like Chavez, Putin, and Ahmadinejad. Do we want to continue to be held hostage to them for our energy needs?
And that $25B (just like the $700B for the banks - er, make that $600B for the banks and $100B for pork spending) is all going into the deficit anyway, so we'll be paying for this rescue package for the next 50 years. So if you are thinking about buying a new full-size truck or SUV with a six-year loan, think about what's really happening. You're buying it on a 50-year loan, and we'll all be paying it off with you.
FORD TAKES TRUCK LEADERSHIP OFF-ROAD WITH NEW F-150 SVT RAPTOR PERFORMANCE PICKUP TRUCK
2010 F-150 SVT Raptor
Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) taps into growing off-road enthusiast market and builds on the solid foundation of the new Ford F-150 to deliver the ultimate off-road performance truck – the 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
Industry-first internal bypass shocks by Fox Racing Shox help provide smooth ride; lower, wider design key to desert racing and off-road performance
The F-150 SVT Raptor launches with the proven 5.4-liter Triton V-8 with 310 horsepower and 365 lb.-ft of torque; a 6.2-liter V-8 engine will be available after launch
LAS VEGAS, Nov. 4, 2008 – Ford, the definitive leader in tough trucks, is further building on its solid foundation of the new F-150 to deliver the all-new 2010 F-150 SVT Raptor, a purpose-built, high-performance off-road truck versatile enough to take on the most challenging desert adventures as well as the everyday commute.
“Ford trucks have been a mainstay on the off-road racing scene for more that 20 years because of our long history of capability and durability,” said Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president for Global Product Development. “With the F-150 SVT Raptor, we are delivering a true off-road performance truck with the proven ‘Built Ford Tough’ capability and durability that is at the core of every F-150 and the best in performance thanks to the team at SVT.” “Like its fighter jet and dinosaur namesakes, the F-150 SVT Raptor is tough, fast, aggressive, and built with the off-road enthusiast in mind,” he added.
Ford and off-road racing Desert off-road racing is something Ford knows and does well, with eight championships in nine divisions in the 2007 “Best In The Desert” series and four more titles in CORR (Championship Off Road Racing). Ford has also shown its dominance at the Baja 1000 race – 12 Ford-powered vehicles have won the overall title for four-wheel vehicles, the most of any engine manufacturer.
With interest in off-road performance growing at a steady rate, the F-150 SVT Raptor was built to fulfill the desires of that highly demanding market. The high-performance off-road truck market is one that’s largely untapped, allowing the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor to set the bar for this type of vehicle.
“Most of the major manufacturers have focused on-road performance, so when we looked at what was available in off-road truck performance, it was somewhat limited,” said Mark Grueber, Ford product marketing manager for pickups and large SUVs. “This was the perfect opportunity for Ford to further differentiate the F-150 from other trucks on the market.”
Looks tough and fast The tough, chiseled look of the new Ford F-150 has been taken to a new level with F-150 SVT Raptor. The agile, performance truck was designed to give the impression it is always on the move.
Noticeable differences between the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor and conventional F-150 include a distinctive grille that has the Ford name carved into it; front bumper, vented hood, front fascia and fenders, functional hood extractors, fender extractors with ‘SVT’ bored out, as well as visible FOX Racing Shox, the only internal bypass shocks available on a street truck.
Another key difference between the F-150 SVT Raptor and the base F-150 is it is more than seven inches wider. Ford designers took advantage of this difference and highlighted it with distinctive marker lamps. When turned off, the marker lamps are well-integrated into the F-150 SVT Raptor’s front end, as opposed to on top of the cab. When lit up, Raptor’s imposing stance is immediately recognizable.
While the exterior design of the F-150 SVT Raptor is about creating an image, the interior design is about creating the feel of the truck, and both must complement each other.
Design elements from the unique grille and front fascia have been carried through to the interior on the console and dashboard. The steering wheel is wrapped in black leather and features a molten-orange leather strip that serves as a centering sight line – which is especially useful in extreme driving maneuvers that can often cause the driver to lose perspective of the steering wheel’s center point.
Revved up and ready The Ford F-150 SVT Raptor is powered by the F-150’s proven 5.4-liter Triton V-8 three-valve engine, which delivers 320 horsepower and 390 lb.-ft. of torque. A new open-valve fuel injection strategy improves the air/fuel charge conditions in the combustion chamber, allowing greater spark advance at higher loads and engine speeds. This delivers increased horsepower during towing and higher rpm operations, lower emissions and more efficient use of fuel.
A new 6.2-liter V-8 engine will be available after launch. The 6.2-liter engine features all-new architecture specifically designed for robustness in a truck application.
Given reliability and longevity under harsh conditions are key to truck customers, the Ford team performed extensive testing to ensure the 6.2-liter V-8 engine would live up to the ‘Built Ford Tough’ promise. Fifty 6.2-liter V-8 engines successfully endured more than a dozen of the toughest engine tests at Ford’s dynamometer lab during development.
SVT used a specially designed, 62-mile durability loop in the desert of Borrego Springs, Calif., to replicate the conditions of the Baja 1000 race, to further test the engines’ performance.
Take off and landing Building a high-performance off-road truck is not about the horsepower – it’s about the suspension. The F-150 SVT Raptor doesn’t disappoint, with 13.4 inches of usable travel in the rear suspension and 11.2 in the front.
“With the F-150 SVT Raptor, we changed the axle, the whole front suspension is different – new upper A arm, new lower A arm, new tie rod, new half-shaft joints,” said Jamal Hameedi, Ford SVT chief engineer. “It’s well beyond what SVT has ever done with one of our vehicles.”
Raptor’s wider track and softer suspension mean it will comparatively glide over obstacles. And when it has to be “launched,” be prepared for a soft landing. “The suspension does all the work to keep the truck’s attitude stable,” Hameedi said.
In addition to a beefed up suspension, the F-150 SVT Raptor also boasts unique internal bypass Fox Racing Shox, the only internal bypass shocks on a street truck. The position sensitive dampening internal bypass feature allows the shock to become significantly stiffer as it travels, preventing the truck from bottoming out.
By working with Fox internal bypass technology and applying the Ford engineering methodology, there haven’t been trade-offs to assure extreme off-road handling over on-road ride comfort.
“This truck is also going to be a daily driver. We brought together a lot of experts to ensure the on-road steering precision and comfort was there, too,” said Hameedi. “That’s where Ford expertise really came to the table and complemented Fox’s off-road expertise.”
A tough truck needs tough tires, and a BF Goodrich All-Terrain TA/KO 315/70-17 tire does the job. To help improve the tire in a variety of conditions, the compound of the tread was altered. Engineers made the rubber softer for better performance on and off-road and for precise and predictable steering in a variety of conditions while the interior of the tire was modified to improve lateral firmness.
The tall sidewall on the 35-inch tire can handle rocks and irregular surfaces commonly experienced in an off-road environment. A 17-inch cast aluminum wheel is designed to absorb the impact of objects the truck could encounter in some of the most extreme environments.
Specialized Technologies The F-150 SVT Raptor provides the complete package for off-roaders, including state-of-the-art technologies to keep it at the top of capability.
“For many years, enthusiasts have been struggling with the performance of electronic technologies in the extreme off-road environment since that was not the environment they were designed for,” Hameedi said. “What SVT has done is tailor technology to function in both an on-road and an extreme off-road environment.”
Technologies include:
AdvanceTrac® with RSC® (Roll Stability Control™) predicts the vehicle’s path using a sensor to detect and measure oversteer and yaw by monitoring the vehicle’s speed, throttle position and steering wheel angle. When the system senses wheel slip or the loss of traction, it applies braking where needed to keep the truck tracking safely on its intended path. If a significant roll rate is detected, the system applies additional countermeasures to enhance vehicle roll resistance.
The off-road enthusiast has the option to switch to two available settings – sport mode and full off-road mode depending on their driving situation. The sport mode shuts off traction control enabling the vehicle to have more yaw movement.
Full off-road mode shuts off all electronic stability programs and the ABS system switches to a special off-road setting. Widening the threshold of sport mode, the wheels will lock more which is helpful in off-road terrain. Also in full off-road mode, the locking rear differential is allowed to stay locked at elevated speeds to mimic a spool differential found on racing trucks.
Trailer Sway Control works in conjunction with AdvanceTrac with RSC and can determine from the yaw motion of the truck if the trailer is swaying and take measures – such as applying precise braking or reduced engine torque – to bring both vehicle and trailer under control.
Integrated Trailer Brake Controller is factory-installed and allows direct operation of the trailer’s electronic brakes by squeezing the control module on the instrument panel with more confidence than the typical aftermarket system.
Electronic Locking Differential uses a true mechanical connection to lock the left and right axle shafts together so both turn at the same speed with the same amount of torque. This switch-controlled feature maximizes traction capability at the wheel with grip, without having to stop the truck.
Hill Descent Control on the F-150 SVT Raptor is Ford’s first application of the technology. Utilizing ABS, the driver can control hill descent without applying the brakes. The speed is set for the truck to descend the hill by pushing a button and allows for the driver to concentrate on driving, rather than on how to modulate the brakes on a steep decline.
Off-Road Mode engages a third throttle map and a third shift schedule for improved off-road performance. Third throttle map alters the throttle by changing the driver demand table so it is better suited to high and low-speed off-road driving conditions. A third shift schedule is a unique strategy for the off-road environment that holds the transmission in each gear for a longer period of time, allowing better engine throttle modulation to control the vehicle.
Auxiliary Switch Board on the center console makes aftermarket customization easier, with four prewired switches attached to the power distribution box for electrical accessories. Also located on the auxiliary switch board are two switches for improved off-road performance – Hill Descent Control and Off-Road Mode.
The F-150 SVT Raptor will be built along side the new F-150 at Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant at the historic Rouge Center in Dearborn, Mich.
One of the many public criticisms of SVT was that it didn't advertise it's products. That's not exactly true... although finding advertisements is very tough. Here's what's been billed as an unaired SVT Contour commerical. I don't believe it was actually intended as a television commercial - for one thing it's way too long. And I have all all of this video in a collection of SVT training videos for dealer sales personnel that I have in my library. So in my opinion it was created as part of dealer training material.
I'm a fan of the SVT Contour and Focus and have extensively driven both of them. An SVT Contour would have made a nice successor to my line of SHOs, and it's stealthy appearance would have worked well for my driving style. The transmission wasn't great (although it was a lightyear ahead of the manual in the old SHOs), body roll was a bit much, but suspension compliace and "livability" were very nicely set up for an enthusiast sedan. A pity that Ford has nothing in the way of enthusiast sedans in the US these days... with the death of SVT as a separate & distinct organization we may not see that kind of suspension tuning philosophy here again.
The SVT Contours and Focis (Focuses?) were great accomplishments, although most of the engineering work and budget were courtesy of Ford of Europe, who was and still is committed to their own "ST" packages. In the end, neither of the North American variants received the continuous improvement they should have had and both fell quickly by the wayside competitively. As we all have seen many times, this is all too typical of Ford of North America.
Reference: my site's Ford section, with extensive pics of the SVT 2.5l DOHC V-6 and the cancelled SVT Cougar, as well as other unique SVT, SHO, and SVO information.
Consider this: you're the product manager of a truck line that is significantly falling in sales, that doesn't have redevelopment budget until at least 2012 and even then is dependent on development money for an all-new shared platform. Oh yes, and a strategy. From a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy. And has a serious creativity problem.
What do you do? It's your product strategy to decide... it's probably also your job. Let's try........ a sporty model?
In the spring of 2005, Ford released a concept titled the "Sport Trac Adrenalin". Production-ready (drop the Brembos, fix the ride height), it featured special suspension tuning, unique body pieces, and the supercharged 4.6 engine from the 2003/4 SVT Cobra - along with 4 Cobra seats inside. Even then it wasn't politically correct, but then Ford was trying to carve out a unique space and the SVT model of the Sport Trac was supposed to help. Only it was canceled along with the rest of SVT.
Now here we are in 2008. SVT is long gone (thankfully, the quality was terrible). The production Sport Trac Adrenalin is but a bare shadow of the intended production Sport Trac. No supercharged engine. No unique interior pieces. No suspension tuning. Only a few exterior plastic pieces and some new wheels (which, despite the press release, are not the same as on the concept).
Poor Ford.
The "real" (concept) Sport Trac Adrenalin is pictured below. This and over 110 other Ford concepts, production prototypes, and showcars featured in detail in the Ford section of DrivingEnthusiast.net.
Ford Press Release:
FORD ADDS ‘ADRENALIN’ TO SPORT TRAC FOR 2008
2008 Sport Trac Adrenalin adds street style to its combination of functionality and utility. •
Exterior design is inspired by the Sport Trac Adrenalin concept from 2005, right down to the 10-spoke, polished aluminum wheels. •
An all-wheel-drive system, a first on Sport Trac, provides all-weather confidence with sport sedan-like handling characteristics.
DEARBORN, Mich., Oct 25, 2007 – The Ford Sport Trac’s urban alter ego debuts at this year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show, proving that Ford can deliver aftermarket attitude straight from the factory.
The 2008 Sport Trac Adrenalin is a sport utility truck that combines the utility and functionality of a pickup with a bold new attitude and genuine sense of street style.
“The new Sport Trac Adrenalin is designed to appeal to the urban adventurer,” said Ryan Mitton, Sport Trac marketing manager. “It still offers up the functionality and capability that Sport Trac is known for, while boosting the style factor.”
The sleek boulevard-cruiser’s design was inspired by the Sport Trac Adrenalin concept that appeared at the 2005 New York Auto Show. Ford designer Melvin Betancourt was challenged to transfer the Adrenalin concept’s bold, more low-slung design to the production Sport Trac.
“The goal was to keep the overall design intact, right down to the wheels,” said Betancourt. “We had to make some minor adjustments as we went through the production process, but overall it’s been altered very little from the original concept.”
Adrenalin retains the Sport Trac’s distinctive profile, blending SUV and pickup, but the similarities end there. Every exterior panel from the beltline down has been redesigned or styled to deliver the Explorer Sport Trac Adrenalin’s cool, aftermarket look.
New front and rear fascias sit 3.5-inches lower than the units on the standard truck. Full running boards are seamlessly integrated into the body design and function to visually tie the front and rear of the truck together. The rubber step pads provide traction and add a striking graphic stripe that accents the lower portion of the truck.
“The new body panels give the Sport Trac the appearance of being lower – without actually lowering the vehicle,” said Betancourt. “You get a street cruiser look without compromising any of the functionality or capability.”
The front fascia mounts circular fog lamps in matte black binnacles, bringing in a touch of Mustang performance DNA to the Adrenalin. The prominent gloss black grille features a unique crosshatch pattern with the Ford oval badge mounted front and center.
“Graphically, the new grille gives you a bigger opening that adds to Adrenalin’s sinister look,” added Betancourt. “The crosshatch insert serves to visually set it apart from other Sport Tracs, giving the Adrenalin its own personality.”
Smooth side surfaces are the result of new front and rear fenders that lose their wheel lip moldings. Functional front fender vents, exclusive to the Adrenalin, add visual interest to the vehicle’s profile. Adrenalin also motors without roof racks.
The rear fascia features a cutout for the dual-tipped exhaust. The design is finished with body-colored mirror caps and a new tailgate with a distinctive Adrenalin badge spanning the surface of the gate in individual letters.
The interior delivers monochromatic richness. The Charcoal Black environment is accented by a stone gray headliner and features custom floor mats that are embroidered with the Adrenalin logo. Adrenalin offers the choice of cloth upholstered or premium leather-trimmed seats.
Adrenalin looks hot, bathed in special Colorado Red paint. Colorado Red, a true red without metal flake, is new to the Sport Trac lineup and will be launched with the Adrenalin. Additional color choices are White Suede, Black and Silver Birch Metallic.
The 10-spoke, 20-inch wheels are the same units found on the Sport Trac Adrenalin concept. The polished aluminum wheels are shod with P255/50R20 Pirelli rubber.
Along with the standard 4x2 drivetrain, Sport Trac Adrenalin offers an all-wheel-drive system that’s more suitable for a street cruiser. In addition to providing sure-footedness on slick surfaces, Adrenalin’s AWD system offers a performance advantage as well. The system seamlessly transfers torque from the rear wheels to the front wheels as required to provide confident handling, reducing wheel spin and improving cornering.
Adrenalin will be in dealer showrooms in early January. Base Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Pricing (MSRP) for Sport Trac Adrenalin begins at $30,495 (including $720 for destination and delivery charges).
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six continents. With about 260,000 employees and about 100 plants worldwide, the company’s core and affiliated automotive brands include Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo and Mazda. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.fordvehicles.com.
Have you ever wondered what ever became of your old cars? Did the kid who bought it wreck it? Did the old lady who bought it drive it only on Sundays? Did the new owners ever find out about the all the mods you did - and then removed?
A good way to find out is with CARFAX. Membership is inexpensive http://www.carfax.com, and the results are detailed. Using the VIN numbers, I recently looked up several of the cars I've owned during the past 20 years.
This one is the exception to the usual rule. I traded it in to a dealer on a '96 Cobra. The dealer whole-saled it to another Ford dealer, who sold it to a person who later became a friend. I was sitting in my office at IBM one day when the phone rang and a person asked "are you the person who used to own a '94 Cobra?". I figured it had blown up and was hesitating to to answer... until he said it was fine and wanted to know some of the dertails about the car. Things naturally went in the direction of track events (as they do in any conversation with me), and a month later he was at his first event at Texas World Speedway, and shortly afterwards was doing mid-130s thru turn one! Later, when a twin-turpo Supra enticed him (as they do with everybody), he sold it to a friend of his who also took up the same events, and is still doing them to this day. That person also became a friend.
The '94 Cobra was the most successful track car I've ever owned. I put 22,000 very hard miles on it, and it only had a very few issues (loss of a MAF, front control arm bushings). Currenlty, it had over 80k miles on it and it is still running strong, although there have been a few T-5 transmission issues (all solved). With Ford motorsport headers, an exhaust system, a larger MAF, a complete suspension replacement (the V-6 based SVT suspension was terrible when stock) including a much-needed panhard bar, and a set of racing seats, the car is dependable and predictable. It isn't particularly fast (the market for performance cars has moved well beyond what a pushrod 5 liter V-8 can compete against) but it is dead reliable. I drove it about 4 years ago and fondly remembered it's predictablility and dependability.
CARFAX - shows the change of registrations from me to the 2 other owners in succession. No issues shown.
My '97 SHO was a lease, serving the purpose of daily driver when I was in Redmond with Microsoft. I had it about a month when I came back to Austin before I had to turn it in (coinciding with the arrival of my '99 Cobra) and in that time I took it out on the track at Texas World Speedway just to confirm my high-speed impressions of it. It was flawless there, although of course not particularly fast.
When I turned it in, it was in perfect condition. It did have one distinctive mark on it from a scrape on a peice of cement in a parking lot, under the front left bumper.
After I turned it in, I spotted the car up the road in Elgin TX in front of the City Cafe. It was clearly my car, as evdenced by the same mark under the bumper. Soon after I saw the car several times again and came to the conclusion that the new owner lived somewhere near my house. I even saw it at the neighborhood 7-11 and almost stopped to talk. No point in that, though.
CARFAX - unbelievable: the new owner kept it to the 122,000 mile mark and has moved to San Antonio. A year ago, the car was sold at dealer auction and hasn't been re-registered since. I'm disapointed at that, but not surprised. The SHO engine had it's reliability problems and I'm surprised it lasted this long. RIP, SHO.
The '99 Cobra was my first big build-up after my return to Texas from Redmond WA. The increased power and the new independent rear suspension made this car work very well. Modifications (see link above) mad eit work even better.
I kept the '99 for two years, then sold it to a friend who in turn turn sold it almost immediately when it didn't work out as a track car for him.
CARFAX - the '99 is in it's 4th owner, but still in Texas. As of last Fall, it has 59k miles on it. At one point in 2004, it was sold thru a dealer to it's current owner outside of Houston. I do wonder if it stil has it's Recaro seats and the othe rmods I made to it.
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Several years ago, I looked up some of my more infamous cars on CARFAX.
The hated 1983 Mustang GT ended up wrecked at the same dealer I traded it into for my Mustang SVO. That's a fitting end for a car that was an absolute piece of junk.
My '96 Cobra, complete with Yellow KONI DAs, was still in the state of Washington - but is in it's 3rd owner. The 2nd owner, no doubt had to spend all of their money on back surgery due to the KONIs and the thousand-pound front springs. That was one great car on the track, but a bone-crusher on public roads. All-around, you couldn't live with it.
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So CARFAX will give you the mileage at major milestones such as registration renewal, major dealer service, or austion sale. It will also indicate whether the car has been crashed and received major body damage. Flood, fire, and lemon buybacks are also indicated. Junk and salvage tieles are also shown. An estimate of yearly mileage is computed. Any potential odometer rollback is indicated.
That's the extent of the information CARFAX can provide... if you want to know more you could take the VIN to a dealer and ask them to run a service history on the car. They won't of course tell you the name of the current owner, bvut you could see what kind of servicing and parts replacement it's had.
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But there is more to this research going on in my mind... like most of the cars I've had, these three were originally love/hate relationships. I drove them ruthlessly on the track, or left them carelessly in whatever open parking spot could be found. They had a single purpose to me and I drove them to within an inch of their lives in achieving that purpose. The Mustangs were driven at 10/10ths for most of their lives. The SHO was left in any open spot that could be found on the Microsofct campus - that was after all it's purpose - and it was even driven near flat-out on dirt roads in the Olympic National Forest in Washington State while spectating at a SCCA Pro Rally. It ended up stuck in a ditch, but it served the purpose of getting me to some great spectating locations.
When I was done with these cars, I left them behind, very rarely giving them a second thought. I was already on to the next one at that point, ruthlessly driving yet another car to 10/10ths of it's life while plotting another round of mods or planning it's disposal for yet another track car.
And after many years of this I've come to one conclusion: that this is the problem with this hobby. It's very difficult to "love them as they are". You lust after them until you finally own them, and then inevitably find there is always something dead wrong or something that needs major (and expensive) improvement. Finally in the end you hate them and move on to something else. After several of these, you realize you never even liked them for what they were.
There are very few of them you look back fondly at - and never until years later when you have exhausted the hobby and then find new dimensions to it such as restoring old cars. For example, I'd love to find and restore an original 240Z - even though the car would be useless as a track car, is dead slow by modern standards, and has the chassis integrity of a wet noddle, there is something timeless in it's appeal. Even thirty-seven laters later, it's got stunning looks. This is a car that could be a keeper, one that I'd preserve, protect, and even cherish. And if there are some fellow hobbyists who also see the value of certain classic cars like I do, then chances are they've also exhausted the love/hate beat/abuse track hobby.
Next month will be the 27th anniversary of track events for me. My first event was, I believe, in May of 1980 at a Corvette Club of Cleveland event at Nelson Ledges. The car was a '79 Indy Pace Car Mustang, and it had it's faults. Nevertheless, I ditched the car for an '83 Mustang GT which turned out to be an absolute piece of junk and was a major mistake. That was the beginning of my love/hate phase of track events - and particularly of Fords for track events.
If I've found love since then, and perhaps even reformed (recovered?), it's with the S2000. It's not the fastest thing around the track (although it is within the top 15%), but it is the most fun and the most visceral car I've ever driven (and as an instructor I've driven nearly everything made in the past ~20 years). It's a car you like from the first drive and to the last. It's taught me far more about driving than any of the Mustangs ever did. Instead of relying on brute (and unreliable) power, it relies on finesse. Instead of the loosing power while trying to figure out how to get the power down to the ground you are challenged to keep the engine in it's power band (a stratospheric 6-9k RPM), really leverage the full abilities of the independent rear suspension, and focus the razor-sharp steering on finding and keeping the perfect line. All of this makes for a car that will run circles around most others, while constantly and repeatedly endearing itself to you. I have no doubt I'll someday be restoring one of these for concours events, while at the same time explaining to folks what I've done with them over the years - both on track and on back-roads driving (something no Mustang ever had any capabilities for). And that's what true love is all about - a lifetime of stories, perhaps even love lost - but above all having and remembering good times without excuse or regret.
Good news yesterday from Edmunds Inside Line: Hau Thai-Tang, the director of advanced product creation and the moribund SVT, has left to take over product development for Ford of Brazil.
He'll be remembered as the person who took the SVT product line from all-around performance vehicles (handling dynamics over power) to the ultimately self-defeating morass of morbidly-obese straight-line ego-driven muscledom. Granted, his budget was repeatedly cut, but he didn't help his company or retain SVT customers when he carelessly made public product promises followed by defensive retractions such as "We'll never appease those IRS snobs". Critical product features were cancelled; entire product product plans were set aside.
So good riddance, and a kick in the ass on the way out.
Now hopefully SVT can get:
back to it's roots and core values (since its current mission is nothing more than a virtual team of subject matter specialists)
budget to build all-around performance cars (handling dynamics over power) that showcase what company engineers are truly capable of accomplishing.
product testing procedures to ensure future SVT-led products perform well in wider ranges of temperatures across a wider variety of climates (such as what we in Texas consider the norm) and environments (open track events). SVT has had a severe reliability issue that resulted in Cobras and Ford GTs that can't survive aggressive open track events (SVT On Track's own Ford GT repeatedly failed and garked it's fluid on many tracks across the country - in front of many fans - before finally being retired).
And, hopefully, Ford will:
think twice about putting a defensive self-promoting stooge in charge of a product line that had earned an enthusiast following in both buyers and in the press.
try (yet again) to understand the value to the company of mature multi-dimensional products designed for driving enthusiasts.
We've seen so many "golded ages" of performance products from Ford come and go in the past 20 years:
Don Peterson and the original Mustang SVO ("form follows function")
the (recently terminated) sponsorship of the Bondurant school (and the requirements for Ford Engineers to attend)
the emphasis on all-around dynamics in the early SVT products (culminating in the promising but flawed 1999 Cobra)
balanced vehicles such as the SVT Contour and Focus (even though the Focus was market-obsolete before it was delivered)
DEARBORN, Mich., Oct 25, 2007 – The Ford Sport Trac’s urban alter ego debuts at this year’s Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show, proving that Ford can deliver aftermarket attitude straight from the factory.
