Ford’s First Muscle Truck, the SVT Lightning, is Still an Affordable Classic
General Motors is the reason Ford got into the muscle truck business in 1993. Ford’s crosstown rival lit up magazine covers with Chevy’s 1990 454SS and then the all-wheel-drive GMC Syclone a year later. Car and Driver even pitted a Syclone against a Ferrari 348ts, and the contest didn’t end well for Enzo. Ford’s corporate ego could only take so much.
In 1991, Ford senior management created the Special Vehicle Team (SVT), and alongside the new-for-’93 Mustang Cobra, the first-generation SVT F-150 Lightning debuted at the 1992 Chicago auto show. Ironically, by the time production Lightnings hit the street, GM had already pulled the plug on its two muscle trucks. The Syclone was a one-year wonder, and the big-block-powered 454SS would go away after 1993.
But in that single model year, when the Chevy and the 351-powered Lightning overlapped, Ford proved it had built the better mousetrap. In showrooms, the Lightning won the sales race. Ford offered its fast truck in Bright Red or Raven Black and sold 5276 of them, nearly five times as many as its rival. In magazine tests, the SVT Lightning consistently outhandled the Chevy while matching its acceleration, despite its less potent small-block V-8.
