I don't know how everyone feels about collectibles on this site, but my family and I have been in the automotive business for over 60 years, myself personally for 40 years. I started racing at National Speedway in Islip, Long Island, NY and after I got out of Viet Nam in the late sixties, I built a '57 Chevy E-Gaser and was a grand national winner for two consecutive years, and did custom auto body work and restoration in our body shop in Amittyville, Long Island. I also worked with Motion Performance in Baldwin, NY, putting together some of their famous Motion Vettes, Camaros and Vegas. I started collecting cars in the late sixties, with one of them being a '67 427 Vette with 3 dueces, which I still own and treasure til today. In my collection is a 1970 Mach 1, Grabber Orange, factory louvres, rear spoiler, shaker scoop, front spoiler, magnum 500 wheels, and a 351 Cleveland 4 barrel. I bought this car new in Brooklyn, NY on November 22 1969. And, what is so ironic, is that I bought a brand new 2004 Dark Shadow Gray, Mach 1 at Bethlehem Ford in PA, and get this guys, I was there on Saturday when it came off the truck at 11:00 am, November 22, 2003. The exact same day as when I bought my 1970. Might be an omen of some kind.

Anyway, I had the foresight, when I bought my 2002 Electron Blue Corvette Z06 Hardtop, and when I spoke to some professional collectors, including Reggie Jackson, who does quite a bit of collecting himself, we discussed certain cars that would be classics within it's own era. I projected that the '99 Hardtop and the 2001-2004 Z06 Hardtop would be the next up and coming classics, only because it was the first in Corvette history to have a fixed roof with a trunk, with the '99 and '00 being the most desirable because of it's low production. All total, 28,000 were made. Now GM has dropped the Hardtop style with a trunk in favor of a coupe hatchback style for the new Z06, and making it a fixed roof, no more removable panels for their high performance Z06.

A lot of us collectors are now seeing that the Ford Lightning is one of the special vehicles that will be a classic within its own era. Dodge came out with the first performance truck in the sixties called "the Dude" and was promoted by Don Knotts, the actor in a commercial. This truck is very rare now and sought after by collectors. The style on the Gen II Lightning, which is referred to by collectors as the "jelly bean" look, is a very desirable and classic look that will never die. If you really think about it, with the amount of high performance cars out there, there aren't many manufacturers that have considered doing what Ford has done with the Lightning. Just look at the high performance model that Dodge just put out, and compare it with the styling of the Lightning. The sleek styling of the F-150 with the flared side, with it's custom interior and blower, makes it one of the most outrageous looking trucks on this planet. And, with only 28,000 made, its a very small percentage globally.

When I joined a certain Corvette Forum, which I will not mention here, and I was talking about the Corvette hardtop, the same way I'm talking about the Lightning, I was scoffed at, and now those same forums are discussing the collectibility of these Corvettes, as if they heard it for the first time.

We have a very unique truck that is actually the Father of high performance trucks. There will be more to come, but the most sort after vehicles will always be the '99 through '04 Lightning. Just as hot rodders always prefer to hot rod a Ford over a Chevy, this will be in the same catagory as the 1932 five window coupe Ford, with a history behind it.

The Ford Lightning has a rich history, make no mistake, and will always hold it's value due to performance and looks. As you can see what's happening today, a low mileage mint Lightning will never go below $18,000 and will start to appreciate in a short time.

 

Nice post!

 

Nice post! One small bone to pick, i think the father of the performance truck would be the Lil Red Express from Dodge... you also can't discount the SS454 of the early 90s by chevy... but the gen 2 L is by far my favorite

 

Everyone should read this@


Very nice collection.

 

great post!

what about the GMC/Chevy syclone/typhoon (i think). also the 454SS as mentioned earlier.

 

Thanks.. you guys are all right. The above are special too, but like they said on a show I watched the other night pertaining to the Lightning, "The Lightning stands out above all of them." I tend to agree with that statement.

 

Well i think the syclone/typhoon and 454SS are nice, but what set the lightning apart from these cars besides its perfomance, is it's resemblance to the classic ford trucks, rather than a boring body like the gen 1's had, and an interior thats quite different! And as birdy111 stated, the lil red express would fall in this catagory, due to its history, i remember reading somewhere that it was the fastest production vehicle at the time behind the porche 911 or something like that, and also had those unique exhaust pipes that rose from above the cab like those from a semi.

my $.02