For sale: Ford F-150. SuperCrew. Four-wheel drive. Chrome bumpers. Aftermarket wheels. Running boards. Slight water damage.
Modern vehicles are so well engineered and so capable that it can sometimes be hard to find what their true limits are. If you’re not on a race track, you can’t really go 10/10s in a Shelby GT350R Mustang (unless you have a death wish for your license). It’s difficult to fully exploit the abilities of a Ford F-150 Raptor in the flat, concrete-covered suburbs. But it’s safe to say that this YouTube video from the channel Baach Tv 4×4 shows an F-150 that went way beyond its official wading depth.
We’re not just talking about an F-150 going off-road and getting a huge bow wave. This truck went through deep water and then under it. Completely. And then it stayed there. No word on how long it remained submerged, but even a second is more than enough to render a vehicle a total write-off.
We’re pretty sure this F-150 was down below a lot longer than that. After it’s brought to the surface of its watery grave with the help of a diver and giant inflatable bags, a man hooks its rear end to a tow truck, which proceeds to pull it onto a muddy shore. After that, a different truck loads the ruined pickup onto its flat bed.
Underneath all of the brown is a black last-generation F-150 SuperCrew 4X4 with chrome bumpers and aftermarket wheels (actually, was is a more fitting word because this rig is nothing more than a giant, stinky paperweight now). The interior is absolutely packed with wet earth.
It’s unclear what caused this F-150 to take such a fatal dip, but if we were to take a guess, we’d say this truck was reported stolen to an insurance company, then rolled into a place where its previous owner thought nobody would find it. We don’t know for sure. One thing’s clear, though. The F-150 can take on Mother Nature, but this one lost the fight and there won’t be a rematch.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
