Off Road Cars

Back in the day, automakers like Dodge, Chevy, and GMC, tried to develop pickup trucks that were more than their towing and payload prowess. They came up with performance versions of their respective trucks, but could not break this perception people had about trucks and failed to create a niche. Ford, too, threw its hat into the ring with a product called the Lightning. The Lightning stayed around for a decade before going down the same way as its counterparts. But, does that mean it was a bad truck? No, sir!

With the moniker being resurrected again, we thought it would be a good time to remember the original truck and tell you everything you need to know before Ford blankets its legacy with its first electric truck with the same name.

American trucks from back in the day are some of the hottest restomod projects that aftermarket companies and individuals are taking up today. We generally see a lot of Ford F100s go through the restomod process, but here we have a truck that isn’t quite as popular. This is a 1959 Chevrolet Apache work truck that was part of the ‘Task Force’ series launched by the bowtie back in the 50s. The restomod includes putting the Apache on a new chassis, tossing in a V-8 engine, and fitting a four-wheel-drive system to make it a practical, daily driver work truck, as opposed to a pavement pickup like the yesteryear GMC Syclone.

Hennessey just finished concocting the Mammoth SUV, which is essentially a Ram 1500 TRX turned into a seven-seater that packs 1,012 horsepower and can go from zero to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. It just doesn’t get more Hennessey than that.

Lamborghini’s LM002 was the original super-SUV. It had the looks, it had the power, and it surely had the off-road ability. While today’s SUVs and off-roaders rely on a bunch of electronic gizmos to carve their way through rough terrain, the LM002 did it with brute force. That’s what we call strong personality.

How can one forget the day the new 2021 Bronco was launched! Ford had all the momentum for the grand unveiling, but Jeep decided to play a spoilsport at the last minute. Jeep announced that the Wrangler will be launched with a V-8 engine, just hours before the Bronco was supposed to debut. Now, whether you call it a tactical move or Jeep just being a baby, there’s no denying that it must have Ford off quite bad.

Less than a year later, Ford decided to invade the Easter Jeep Safari by bringing four Bronco-based concept models to Moab and steal some attention from Jeep and its concepts.

Resto-mod operations are fun, but this one here is some next-level shiz. What started as a third-gen Ford Ranger has been converted into a $350,000 truck that can handle anything thrown at it. It comes with a ton of off-road equipment, massive tires, and a big-block Chevy mill. This build was posted on AutotopiaLA’s YouTube channel and comes from a California-based tuner, RJ Fabrication.

There’s no dearth of military vehicles these days and each one comes loaded to the gills in terms of equipment. Well, let’s add one more vehicle to this list, coming from a company called Arquus. The company has come up with a light armored vehicle called the Scarabee and it comes with a hybrid powertrain, machine guns, and a crab-walk feature that we recently witnessed on the GMC Hummer EV as well. Pretty neat, huh?

Mil-Spec Automotive is back with another classic Hummer build. Called the M1-R Vision, the build comes with a snazzy exterior and interior, and a turbo V-8 that makes 500 horses. The Michigan-based tuner noted that while the truck has gone heavily under the knife, it has retained all the good stuff and taken out the bad. Yes, this is an extinct breed and Mil-Spec seems to have a good job, but is it worth spending over a quarter-million dollars on?

Since Singer Vehicle Design announced the ACS off-road 911 not that long ago, we have been sitting on our toes waiting for the final iteration to come out. As it turns out, we will have to show a little more bit of patience because there has been a hiccup related to the PORSCHE lettering stamped on the vehicle.

It seems like Land Rover is done testing the waters with the new Defender and gauging the customers’ opinions. The automaker recently unveiled the V-8 engine on the Defender, will be rolling out the Defender 130 within a couple of years, and has plans to develop a Defender-based pickup truck. As if Land Rover didn’t have a lot on its plate already, it plans to take on the Mercedes-AMG G63 with another iteration of the Defender that will most likely be built under the guidance of its recent acquisition, Bowler Motors.

They say there is no rest for the wicked. In this case, the wicked are represented by Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, who is always keeping us on our toes and who, in good spirit, just dropped a couple of renderings of a revised 008 Baja Dakar Buggy.

The G-Wagen started life being a military truck and was later offered to us civilians as a hardcore off-roader that was matched by vehicles like the Land Rover and the Land Cruiser. The G-Wagen that we know today is fast and powerful, but back in its early days, it was brute and tough. Expedition Motor Company got hold of a 1990 250GD and restored it to perfection. As the company puts it, this is the story of how a rough ex-military war machine becomes a work of art.