Those of us that have been Ford loyalists, know about loyalty credits toward the puchase of certain Ford products. Unfortunately, loyalty appears to be a one way street at Ford.
I used to enjoy my Mark series Lincolns ( 1988 Mark VII, 1992 MarkVII, 1996 Mark VIII and 1998 Mark VIII). Ford abandoned 16,000 1998 Mark VIII owners when it discontinued the car without a two door luxury sports coupe replacement. ( All they had to do was drop a Cobra engine into the vehicle and it would have blown away everything in its class!) No letter, no apology, no new product for us, no nada! At the time, I thought Ford was trying to push us into Jaguars. In the process, diverting business from Lincoln dealers. I do not know whether this was true or not. I do know that thinking a customer that likes American muscle would move to a Jaguar was an ignorant, bordering on stupid, marketing error. I bought a new 1999 Viper GTS, still have it, and love it. Now Ford has done the same thing with the Lightning except it is worse! Ford shows us a kick *** new design with an upgraded interior; tells us it will be produced; lets us brag to our Dodge SRT truck owning friends that they can count the days until they give up their new title:and, then abandons us! I guess the same number crunching, short sighted, clueless individuals who cancelled the Mark are still at Ford. Ford loyalty? Ford needs to look up the definition of the word.

 

Simply LOGIC

If ford doesn't make the next generation Lightning I'll not buy another Lightning

 

Dear Lightning family,

Your old buddy Suavy here!

It hurts my heart to hear all of the slams but I also know we have earn most of them.
I want you all to know that I have sent an e-mail to the spokes person from SVT (Allen Hall). Mr Hall was the person who Auto week quoted in their article.

I have also forwarded him a link to all these posts so he could read first hand everyone's dismay!

I like most of you would love to see the next generation Lightning come to pass. However, one thing out of this shelves issue keeps me clam. That is the fact that by shelving the Lightning that will boost my resell value. You see nothing disappointed me more than buying a Niche vehicle and have it depreciate more than half face value in 2 years time.

Peace, Suavy

 

I'm with Suavy here............I am a little bit happy about this. For those of us that already own Lightnings, it is better than a Christmas present.

Hell, I may buy an 04 right quick and pack it in storage for a few years.


Rocks

 

I'm snagging a SRT-4 already until I can afford anotehr L, but if theres no other L? OMG

RONBO Save me! I need a good shot og NOS

 

Who cares about the new Lightning. Hooray for our resale values!

The truth is, I only only need ONE performance truck. I'd rather sink my money into another sports car or strip project than buy the new Lightning. Plus, by the time it was slated to debut, my truck would've already been much faster than the Gen 3 anyway.

Ford axing the Lightning (and most of its SVT lineup) tells me they don't want me as a customer. Between that and their poor customer service/warranty/QC issues, I'll gladly line the pockets of GM or Dodge for my next performance vehicle.

 

When I bought my 03 Lightning it was for two reasons; it was the fastest, most fun-to-drive pickup out there. Also I was buying my 03 to play with until the new model came out. A good friend had the same plan.

With the new billet motor being built by Dante my truck will be much faster than the new model was going to be anyway; but I still wanted one. I actually steered my wife into an Explorer also because I was so happy with my new Ford.

I am disappointed in Fords decision to shelve this truck. Being a hot-rodder who needs a truck, this was the ideal vehicle.....a truck that hauls a$$. This was a vehicle that brought buyers from other marks. My buddy is a die-hard Chevy guy; has an enormous collection of mostly Chevy muscle. But his daily driver is a 2000 Lightning. One ride in it sold me and I cancelled my new SS pickup purchase and ordered a new Lightning.

I will not move into a regular Ford truck on my next purchase. I'll be switching to whomever builds the trickest truck. That used to be Ford.

Jody

 

Too bad if it's true they're shelving the lightning, I was looking forward and thinking of buying one, however I would love SVT to at least offer the new 500hp engine as a crate motor in the Ford Racing catalog so we can have the option to purchase and slap that baby in our trucks, I personally love and prefer the 2nd generation body style anyways, I just want that engine and I'm sure Ford could sell quite a few of these. Suavy could you at least pass this suggestion to SVT........please

Sincerely...Bert

 

I don't think your resales are going to go higher anytime soon. You're gonna have to keep these trucks for many many many years to come too see them start to appreciate.

The loss of the Lightning isn't a good thing. It's more Ford beancounting BS.

 

I had no plans to buy the new Lightning when it came out, anyway. To me, it would just have driven down my resale value. Sure, it would be nice to say that the Lightning can beat the SRT-10, but it wouldn't be MY Lightning doing it.
Ford made a business decision. The "Fast Truck" market is a small, niche market. It was becoming way too saturated, with the SS, SRT-10, SSR, etc...
And honestly, it's not really going to hurt their business that much... most Ford owners I know only know what a Lightning is because I have one.

 

People still get 9-10,000 of out some Gen1's, their resale value wasn't hurt by the Gen2's coming out. A new model that would probably cost a lot more would not hurt our resale value. That is a myth. Most people would not be able to afford the 40K or whatever it would be, but the press and hype would have them looking at 20k Gen 2's.

Think about it.

-Mark

 

As much as I don't like it. Ford has to look at the big picture, and We are a small group, They need to make adjustments to Keep programs going, and we don't like it because they cut our favorite choice, at least the program is still there, and If they can get the bean counters/ investors happy with the bottom line again, we might get ours back.

 

I hope you all enjoy driving your "resale values."

I'm sure that extra $200 when you go to sell your truck will really make a difference in your life.

Please tell me that their aren't people here stupid enough to think that a modern mass produced vehicle is collectable in anything less than 20-30 years.

Also, short of rare instances like Yenko Camaros, if you took the resale values of the classics today (even real hot ones like First Gen Camaros and Mustangs), and converted the dollar amount into 1960's money, you would see that NOTHING has been made.

BTW, I want to thank you all in advance. Its pathetic posts like some here that make Ford feel justified to screw us. They know that they can just pop out some kind of crap like a SuperCrew F150 with a decal package, and there will be plenty of sheep out there that will call it the best thing since baked bread. In the meantime they are laughing behind our backs because they don't have to worry about fraudulent warranty claims anymore.

Well, I think I will go hop in my "resale value" and burn some rubber.

Matt told me that the saddest thing he (and others at SVT) saw is that people on the Focus boards were more upset about this than the Lightning owners.

 

Just to help an AZ brother out he was trying to say "the next best thing since sliced bread". I have no other comment on this thread.
Goodbye

 

not to get OT, but did you get a billet crank as well? I found the billet rods to be reasonable, but the cranks are a real wallet breaker.