American automakers have been in a tough battle for decades. Each of the Big Three wants to wear the crown of having the most powerful production truck on the market. In the mid-2000s, that truck was the insane Viper V10-powered Dodge Ram 1500 SRT-10, but once that truck moved on it was time for Ford to wear the crown. In 2008, Ford hit the muscle truck scene with the Ford F-150 Foose Edition, a truck with a supercharged V8 punching out 450 HP and adorned with styling from Chip Foose. Just 500 of these road monsters exist.
Americans have an obsession with adding gobs of power to unlikely vehicles. It’s a great thing because pickup trucks like the Ford F-150 FP700 generate more smiles per burnout than perhaps any other vehicle on Earth. There’s something magical about a work truck with enough horsepower to challenge a god and a corrupting level of speed. There’s a saying from the Christopher Nolan Batman films that you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. Well, if an unholy amount of power is evil then it is good to be bad.
History is full of great trucks like these. The GMC Syclone terrorized the streets in the 1990s while the Dodge Li’l Red Express gave government regulations a big middle finger in the 1970s. Actually, that’s an understatement because the Li’l Red Express was so fast in a straight line that it laughed in the faces of sports cars of the era.
The Blue Oval has long been a fan of souping up its trucks. I’ve already mentioned the FP700, but the Raptor and the Raptor R deserve their own mentions, as does the truck that grabbed a ton of muscle truck glory in the early days of the modern street truck movement.
In 1992, Ford’s Special Vehicle Team and Jackie Stewart cooked up the SVT Lightning, a sport truck with a 5.8-liter Windsor V8 making 240 HP and doing battle against the Chevrolet 454SS big bruiser.
The Lightning got even cooler when the F-150 moved to its tenth generation. Not only did the truck look the part of a muscle machine, but the 5.4-liter Triton V8 under its hood got up to 380 supercharged horses. Sure, the initial tenth-gen SVT Lightning had an embarrassing payload of just 800 pounds, but its ability to hit 60 mph in 5.2 seconds wasn’t a joke.
If the Lightning’s regular cab didn’t fit you, Ford also sold the slightly less powerful Harley-Davidson edition with four doors, which still punched out 340 horses from its supercharged Triton V8. Later, Foose Design came around and made a rare production muscle truck.
Ford’s Profit Hunter
In the 1990s, America’s truck builders went in different directions in pickup design. Dodge experienced a runaway success with the second generation of the Ram, which was styled to look a bit like a mini semi-tractor. Meanwhile, Ford’s designers initially wanted to make the tenth-generation F-Series a big and bulky macho truck like Dodge did with the Ram, as I detailed in my retrospective on the Ford F-250 Light Duty. However, Ford decided to follow the demands of its buyers rather than benchmark the competition.
Ford designed the tenth-generation F-Series to appeal to the Baby Boomer generation, and it was believed buyers wanted a truck that looked physically fit but also trim and sleek. The bulging muscles of the Ram were a bit too much, so the F-Series took a conservative approach.
While Dodge began scooping up market share with the “swole” Ram, Ford’s jellybean pickup truck was a huge success. The automaker sold 780,838 and 746,111 F-Series trucks in 1996 and 1997, respectively.
Unfortunately, as Automotive News reported in 2003, the landscape changed and Ford’s profits began to slump. The second-generation Dodge Ram took double-digit market share and production of the third-generation Ram began only two years earlier in 2001. Meanwhile, the excellent General Motors GMT800 platform entered production in 1999. If that wasn’t bad enough, both Toyota and Nissan were angling for some market share.
In 2003, Ford said that the F-Series was its best-selling truck line for 26 years and America’s best-selling lineup period for 21 years straight. However, as I noted above, the F-Series had a lot of challengers to the throne and a lot of them were good trucks. Ford realized if it was going to stay on top, it had to do something new.
According to an auto parts investigation by the United States International Trade Commission, the development of the eleventh-generation F-150 began in the late 1990s. Tyler Blake was chosen to be the truck’s designer under the leadership of Design Director Patrick Schiavone and Chief Designer Craig Metros. According to Blake as explained in the linked document, his mission was to design a truck around the slogan “Built Ford Tough.” This truck had to raise the bar on design, outclass the Ram, and still look good enough to be parked at a construction site or a fancy restaurant.
Blake competed with Brad Richards for the spot to design the truck and the two created full-size clay models for Ford brass to evaluate. Management locked in Blake’s design in 2000. Ford describes its choices with the eleventh-generation truck’s design:
The all-new F-150 exterior is confident, powerful, fresh and refined. Drawing on design elements from the current F-150, the F-Series Super Duty lineup and the Mighty F-350 TONKA concept truck, its taut, boldly chiseled shape resonates with Ford Tough Truck tradition.
[…]
In keeping with the overall design philosophy at Ford today, the new F-150 presents a well-executed design that will continue to look good well into the future. While it expresses strength and style and the confident “Built Ford Tough” attitude through its chiseled lines and brawny stance, designers spent extra effort on fine details that combine to give the new truck sophistication not previously available in the segment.
[…]
Designers widened the front and rear track by more than 1.5 inches and placed the wheels in straightforward circular wheel arches. These actions plus larger standard wheel and tire combinations contribute to F-150’s self-assured, “planted” stance. New 17-inch steel wheels and tires are standard on the workhorse F-150 XL, while aluminum wheels and larger, 18-inch designs are offered on higher-specification models.
Ford’s designers said the eleventh-generation truck pushed the envelope as its design incorporated elements the team felt hadn’t been done before. This part about the badge is given as an example: On the grille and tailgate, for example, the proud Ford blue oval badge is large, measuring 9 inches across, but exactly proportioned, and the surface has a subtle crown that adds three-dimensional “punch.”
Ford also noted how the designers borrowed some styling from the Super Duty line of trucks to give the F-150 a bit more beef to its front end. Ford also gave the eleventh-generation F-150 a high beltline and a chopped-style roof to help make the truck look like a custom street truck.
Styling was a huge part of the new F-150, as was variety. Ford saw itself winning the truck wars in part by offering a wide array of configurations. At its launch in 2003, the 2004 Ford F-150 was available in, from Ford: three cab choices, two box styles, and three box lengths. The more “garage-able” new F-150 SuperCab with a 51/2-foot box is expected to be a full-size pickup truck exclusive.
The truck also had five trim levels at launch starting with the XL work truck and ending with the luxury Lariat. At launch, the base engine was a 4.2-liter V6 making 210 HP while the top engine was the 5.4-liter Triton V8 making 300 horses. Remember the Ford F-250 Light Duty that was a previous grail? That configuration technically made a return here, but branded as the Heavy Duty Payload Package.
This new truck was another smash hit. The eleventh-generation Ford F-150 won Motor Trend’s North American Truck of the Year for 2004 and in 2005, Ford sold over 939,000 F-Series trucks, a sales record.
The Grail
If you’re a fan of the eleventh-generation F-150, there are likely two grails rattling around your head. The first is the Harley-Davidson edition that buyers were able to get with a Saleen supercharged 5.4-liter V8 making 450 horses. Those trucks are awesome muscle trucks on their own, but even rarer was the collaboration between Ford and Foose.
Ford made perhaps thousands of the Harley trucks (below) but just 500 of the Foose specials exist.
In 2006, Ford announced a partnership with famed tuner Chip Foose. Foose already worked with Ford in the past on SEMA cars like the 2002 Foose Speedbird, but now Ford buyers would be getting a taste of Foose modding right from the showroom floor. The first of these vehicles was a customized Ford F-150 FX2, said by Car and Driver to be Foose’s first-ever production vehicle and what Ford claimed to be “the most powerful and fastest half-ton production truck on the planet.”
The truck hit the auto show circuit in 2007 and it was a show-stopper. The highlight of this truck was its engine. Under the hood was a 5.4-liter Triton V8, but it was hooked up to a Saleen supercharger, good for 450 HP and 500 lb-ft of torque. That alone is great, but the show truck was given an aggressive body kit, tall 22-inch wheels, and was dropped down. Foose further dolled up the interior for a real street truck look.
Ford’s claim about this being the most powerful truck out there was technically correct, sort of. The F-150 Foose Edition came after Dodge ended production of the more powerful Ram SRT-10 and GM didn’t have anything close. Roush souped up F-150s with its Stage 3 performance package at the time, but that came five ponies shy at 445 HP. The only true match was the Harley-Davidson edition, which returned the same power numbers as the Foose.
Ford announced that the show truck was going into production, but just 500 would be made. The Foose Edition landed in the 2008 model year and the production truck was close to the concept.
Just a few changes were made to the production truck, but a couple of them are steps back. The production Foose Edition lost the concept truck’s lowered suspension, which messed with the fitment of the wheels, which also didn’t make it to the production model. But the suspension was still tuned to work with the extra power. Thankfully, the slick body kit stuck around, as did the graphics package. The wheels aren’t exactly the flashy Foose stuff, but they’re still nice, too.
The interior also got upgrades, showing a mix of factory FX2 gauges and upgraded leather buckets. However, be sure to temper your expectations because this truck was still made at the time when the American auto industry adored hard plastics.
The engine room also survived largely intact. The production Foose Edition did not get the Saleen supercharger but did get one from Roush and Ford said it puts out the same horsepower and torque numbers as the Saleen-boosted concept truck did. Reportedly, these trucks hit 60 mph in about the mid-5-second range. I’m also happy to say it sounds like the truck is a load of fun, from Truck Trend:
The Roush-supercharged 5.4L Triton V-8 boasts 450 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque that winds its way through the standard 4-speed O/D auto trans to the 3.73 limited-slip rear axle. On an extended weekend blast up and down the nearly deserted freeways of Southern California, the Foose was impressive. The ride was firm, but smooth, with the onslaught of thumping concrete expansion joints sending the suspension into a minor oscillation. The sport suspension glided over speed-bumps on the local roads and telegraphed good feedback through the steering wheel during cornering in the mountain passes.
This example is the most responsive of the new edition F-150s we’ve driven. A gradual tip-in makes it easy to manipulate the power output while keeping an eye on the gas gauge. Staying entirely out of the supercharger is impossible though. The transition is seamless and linear. It doesn’t snap to attention like the SVT, but it certainly capable of moving the troops out in a hurry. Passing and accelerating, even for sheer enjoyment of speed, is effortless. The supercharger howl is audible, but not overbearing. The attendant tailpipe rumble is both soothing and stirring depending on the pace. Braking is every bit as linear as power delivery. The pedal has a firm feel and none of the grabbiness found in some modified trucks.
With a limited edition package price in the neighborhood of $55K, the Foose offers a slick and stylish ride for pickup guys/gals who can’t get enough of street-pounding performance.
The folks of Motor Trend weren’t as impressed:
Hopping behind the wheel of our Foose Edition loaner, we appreciated the FX2 Sport gauges and upgraded leather, but we were a little less impressed with the engine’s performance. OK, we weren’t disappointed in the engine. When you hear “450 horsepower” you have certain expectations, and there’s no doubt that the Roush supercharger and intercooler are adding a ton of extra grunt to the 5.4L. Unfortunately, the 450 horses in this truck are saddled with a lot of weight, so the explosive acceleration you’d expect just isn’t there. The dual cat-back exhaust is also surprisingly quiet, which is great when cruising on the highway, but it doesn’t really open up at full throttle to let the engine wail like it deserves to. Then again, if we had to choose between the mellow sound and a noisy drone, we’d take mellow any day.
The Ford doesn’t really explode off the line, but once the supercharger builds some boost, it really puts down power. Unfortunately, while the power is very linear, allowing for strong acceleration up to fast-lane speeds, the truck’s curb weight seriously hampers what could be a truly fun package. It’s really hard to make a SuperCrew sporty … it just wasn’t meant to be.
Still, the suspension of the Ford is a serious improvement. Driven on the same stretch of highway as our long-term Tundra tester, the steering input was easier in the F-150 and the ride was much less bouncy, so there was a lot less feedback into the seats, yet more into the steering wheel. We credit that to the tighter suspension and 22-inch wheels. At first it was a little alarming to feel the road that much, but feeling it in your hands does beat feeling it in the pit of your stomach.
Motor Trend also noted that the truck’s engine was faster than the transmission and the engine was allowed to hit redline before the transmission caught up and shifted gears. The publication’s conclusion was that the Foose Edition’s $18,845 jump over a regular F-150 was probably most worth it for people who don’t mod their own trucks or really want horsepower with a warranty.
It sounds like the Foose Edition fell into obscurity after its 500-unit run ended. Even Ford fans sometimes don’t know what these trucks are. When one person asked about the Foose Edition on a Ford forum, someone talked about diecast models.
Perhaps that obscurity is why some of these trucks don’t even come close to their original $55,200 prices ($82,160 today) in auctions today. One Foose Edition was bid up to just $12,500 on Cars & Bids. Two months ago one example sold for $13,000 at Mecum and another sold for $26,250 on Bring a Trailer last month. That’s a long fall from grace!
It’s awesome to think that in such a relatively short time, we went from 450 HP being a big deal to being able to experience 700 HP and beyond in so many vehicles. Still, a 450 HP street truck sounds like a half-ton of fun. It seems if you love the eleventh-generation F-150 and want something a little more special than a Harley-Davidson, one of these Foose Editions might be the ticket – if you can find one for sale.
