1999 Ford SVT Lightning from The Fast and the Furious

In a movie about illegal street racing and filled with muscle cars and modded imports, a truck stood out.  That truck was the 1999 Ford SVT Lightning that Brian O'Connor initially drove in the beginning of the movie as we first met him.  Bright red against a drab background, the SVT Lightning looked fast even if simply parked.

A modded F-150 (Ford's most popular full-size pickup truck), the SVT Lightning (SVT stands for Special Vehicle Team) was made to mainly compete with GM's sport performance trucks, the GMC Syclone and the Chevrolet 454 SS.  The 1999 Ford SVT Lightning used in the movie was a second generation SVT with a 5.4 L supercharged Triton V8 dishing out 360 hp and 440 ft·lb of torque.

Only 4000 trucks were produced in 1999 (source: Wikipedia).

The World's Fastest Truck

In 2003, Car and Driver magazine drove a second generation SVT Lightning from zero to 60 mph in 5.2 seconds earning the title of "World's Fastest Truck" (see press release).  It reached a record speed over 147 mph.  The record, however, was later surpassed by a Dodge Ram SRT-10 that reached over 154 mph.

For these reasons, I was a bit disappointed that The Fast & The Furious did not use the truck more.  I'd like to have seen it in action.  It's a capable truck that can match most sports car in speed and power.  It has continued support from fans and Ford plans to continue making the SVT Lightning.

More pics of the SVT Lightning from the movie can be seen here.

Here's a short clip of a guy doing doughnuts in his Ford SVT Lightning. Check it out:

Pictures of SVT Lightnings