Okay, so we all loved the Ford F-150 SVT Lightning from the 1990s and 2000s, but it was never really a useful truck. You couldn't take it off-road; well, we'll rephrase that to you shouldn't have tried taking it off-road; and it wasn't much for towing either. So, it was basically a sports car with a bed...

After discontinuing the SVT Lightning, following its 2004 run, Ford->ke31 went to task developing a new SVT pickup that was everything the Lightning wasn't. And now we have the SVT Raptor: a jacked up F-150->ke423 with up to 12.1 inches of suspension travel, a snarling V-8 engine with 411 horsepower, and likely one of the best-balanced four-wheel-drive systems in a pickup.

Well, being car lovers, what else could we ask for? For Shelby to get its tuning hands on this beast it push it to extremes so obscene that the FCC is investigating it, of course -- 575 horsepower, to be precise, thanks to a supercharger and some other tasty bits. Unfortunately, Shelby->ke81 is limiting this supercharged, baja monster to only 100 units, so you'd better get to buying before supply runs out.

For those of you that can't swing the $60k-plus required to own this Shelby-tuned pickup, World's Fastest Car Show from Motor Trend has a test video (above) that at least sheds some light on what you're missing out on.

You know as well as we do that Justin Bell wouldn't take the Shelby down a six-lane highway in Southern Cali and tell us how smooth it runs. Rather, he opted to thrash the Shelby SVT Raptor in a more fitting manner by taking it to the Vegas Off-Road Experience (VORE) and gave it the hammering that Shelby intended it to have. We're not too sure if Shelby saw the video yet, but It either loved the fact that it got a good workout and video evidence of its performance, or it billed Mr. Bell for the massive wear and tear on the suspension, tires, engine and brakes.

Either way, at least we get a nice look at this rare Shelby rig. Enjoy!

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