I stare at this truck and it is simultaneously a 1979 Ford with a 2014 Raptor vaccinated, and a 2014 Ford Raptor with a 1979 Ford grafted on top of it.
The news that Ford with a V8 version of the new Raptor made me look for sales figures of the V6 versus the V8 generations.
I did not find anything exactly (Ford does not break a bit from the F-series, although I acted for comment), but I have this old story of Ford Authority while I’m on the hunt.
From Ford Authority:
[T]his 1979 Ford F-150 is actually just a 2014 Ford F-150 Raptor with a classic F-150 body grafted onto it. This means that the rolling chassis, drivetrain, interior and almost everything comes from the donor Raptor. But unlike other similar, Frankenstein-like projects we’ve seen, it’s almost impossible to see it from the outside.
[…]
To fit the old bodywork to the new frame, Sweet Brothers had to stretch the cabin four inches and cut the firewall and floor plans to fit it. If you move inward, you’ll think you’re getting into a newer F-150, because that’s what it’s. Even better, all the amenities of the modern truck still work, including the heated and cooled leather seats, navigation and satellite radio, and even the unmistakable Ford doorbell.
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The inclusion of the Ford keyboard does this for me:
The suspension is stock, but the engine gets a Roush Stage 2 charger that is good for what Sweet Brothers claims is 590 horsepower and 590 pounds of torque. Do you need 590 hp in a bakkie? No you do not. Do you want it? Almost certainly.
The only question I have comes when I look inside. One of the great joys of owning an old-as-shit vehicle is the old interior. How everything sounds, how everything feels, the giant thin steering wheel that spins in your hands. This truck loses it and looks like a ‘90-cigarette boat.
On the other hand, the interior of an old car is also what keeps it away from normal car status. No airbag, a steering column that wants to stick out your sunscreen, and cold heat and cold that you have in a coat in winter and shorts in summer have shorts on your legs from sun-baked vinyl chairs. That is, I can see this thing both ways.
Swapping a Raptor is one of those things that just makes sense, and it’s no surprise that this is not the first time I’ve seen one. This Bronco stick out in my memory.
However, part of me wonders if there is anyone who built a 1979 Ford pickup by grafting Raptor suspension onto it and swapping a Raptor engine. I wonder what that person thinks of this rig.