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Cool Article
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Joined: Oct 2001
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From: Richmond,VA
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Back in the late 1970s, Dodge came up with a beautiful thing they christened the "Little Red Express." It was a full-sized Dodge Ram pickup truck with a hotted-up, 360-cube V-8 and dual smokestack pipes that let it outrun, or at least give a good scare to, the fastest and quickest cars of the era, such as the Chevy Corvette, the Pontiac Trans-Am, and the Z28 Camaro.
The idea that birthed the Little Red Express lives on today at Ford, where the automaker's Special Vehicles Team (SVT) took a "contractor special" F-150 pickup and turned it into something no plumber could ever imagine. In place of the standard sump pump under the hood, those zany SVT speed-freaks snuggled in a beefed-up and supercharged (with intercooler) 5.4-liter V-8 engine that pounds out an astounding 380 horsepower--30 more than a new Chevy Corvette, and 120 more than a new Mustang GT.
Result? The absolute fastest way to haul Sheetrock you'll find, short of strapping it to the roof of a Ferrari. The SVT Lightning pickup can run the quarter mile in the mid-13-second range; some have, with a few minor modifications, tickled the 12s. That is blazing speed. And it's done by a truck.
It's not just an engine job, either. The Lightning is chopped low to the ground, has a special performance suspension system, and rides on pretty 18x9.5-inch rims. It has a growly dual exhaust that lets 'em know you're coming, too. Special white-faced SVT gauges and buckets for the driver and passenger finish out the package.
Lightnings are available in black, silver, red, or white--and traction control is neither wanted nor asked for. There is no better vehicle to lay rubber in--for 50 yards, if you feel like it--than a new Lightning.
The beast is priced at $32,075. Go ahead; have some fun peeling that smile off the mug of the dude in the next lane, sitting there in his $80,000 Porsche. Watch his reaction as you smoke him--in your pickup truck!
Back in the late 1970s, Dodge came up with a beautiful thing they christened the "Little Red Express." It was a full-sized Dodge Ram pickup truck with a hotted-up, 360-cube V-8 and dual smokestack pipes that let it outrun, or at least give a good scare to, the fastest and quickest cars of the era, such as the Chevy Corvette, the Pontiac Trans-Am, and the Z28 Camaro.
The idea that birthed the Little Red Express lives on today at Ford, where the automaker's Special Vehicles Team (SVT) took a "contractor special" F-150 pickup and turned it into something no plumber could ever imagine. In place of the standard sump pump under the hood, those zany SVT speed-freaks snuggled in a beefed-up and supercharged (with intercooler) 5.4-liter V-8 engine that pounds out an astounding 380 horsepower--30 more than a new Chevy Corvette, and 120 more than a new Mustang GT.
Result? The absolute fastest way to haul Sheetrock you'll find, short of strapping it to the roof of a Ferrari. The SVT Lightning pickup can run the quarter mile in the mid-13-second range; some have, with a few minor modifications, tickled the 12s. That is blazing speed. And it's done by a truck.
It's not just an engine job, either. The Lightning is chopped low to the ground, has a special performance suspension system, and rides on pretty 18x9.5-inch rims. It has a growly dual exhaust that lets 'em know you're coming, too. Special white-faced SVT gauges and buckets for the driver and passenger finish out the package.
Lightnings are available in black, silver, red, or white--and traction control is neither wanted nor asked for. There is no better vehicle to lay rubber in--for 50 yards, if you feel like it--than a new Lightning.
The beast is priced at $32,075. Go ahead; have some fun peeling that smile off the mug of the dude in the next lane, sitting there in his $80,000 Porsche. Watch his reaction as you smoke him--in your pickup truck!
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Joined: Nov 2001
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From: San Antonio, TX
At first I thought my stock L had a wimpy exhaust, until I brought it to the dealer for it's first (and free) oil change. I left it in the service lane, and thought nothing about it. Later, I heard a nice, deep, rumbling sound, not too loud, and turned around, to see my L being driven away (with the exhaust facing me). I thought it sounded really good, from the outside. Since I always drive with my windows up, I guess I never really hear the exhaust (and the blower just overpowers it). I'm guessing the exhaust sound isn't nearly as good on the left side though. 
