Distinctive 17-inch wheels, bucket seats, color-matched bumpers, a front air dam, and Lightning decals make the first-gen truck easy to identify. The performance upgrades didn’t come at the cost of capability: The Lightning’s tow rating matched that of standard F-150s. The Lightning even used a version of the F-250’s beefier frame. Custom shocks and a set of front and rear anti-roll bars helped keep the power under control. Other performance tweaks included an aluminum driveshaft, a limited-slip differential, and 4.10 gears out back. That hot-rodded engine made 240 hp and 340 lb-ft of torque, sent to the rear wheels via the F-350’s four-speed automatic-that’sġ0 more horsepower than the 454 SS.
SVT outfitted it with better-breathing GT40 heads and a set of shorty stainless-steel headers. Under the hood of every Lightning sat a 5.8-liter V-8 engine, although not one you’d find in any other Ford. In 1992, Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) division unveiled the F-150 Lightning in direct response to Chevrolet’s performance-oriented Silverado 454 SS. Between the frame rails, where conventional F-150s put engine, transmission, driveshaft, exhaust system, and fuel tank, there’s a tray of batteries and electric motors between both the front and rear pairs of wheels. It uses a conventional-style steel ladder frame, but instead of the rear leaf springs and solid axle used on full-size Ford trucks since 1917, there are independent control arms and coil springs at each corner (the current F-150 Raptor also uses coils). Under that mild-mannered costume, however, is a Kryptonian thing. If an observer doesn’t know the Lightning’s discreet styling cues, it swims anonymously amid the traffic stream. This isn’t Tesla’s someday Cybertruck doorstop moon buggy or the ludicrously large Hummer EV bent on domination. The aluminum cab and body pieces port from Ford’s best-selling F-series more or less intact. The new Lightning is appreciated within a line of personal-use, occasionally high-performance pickups: from the cushy 1955 Chevrolet Cameo to Dodge’s rowdy 1978 Lil’ Red Express and on to the insane turbocharged 1991 GMC Syclone, the 2004 V-10-powered Ram SRT-10, and the two Fords that previously wore the Lightning name-where some utility is forsaken for looks, luxury, acceleration, and audacity.ĭeceptively, the new Lightning wears F-150 skin.
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