Did You Know Ford Almost Made a Lightning SUV? Meet the Thunder SVT Expedition!
Donut Media’s Nolan Sykes breaks down everything you need to know about the Thunder SVT Expedition SUV.
Long before Ford Performance absorbed SVT and started churning out Bronco 4600 race trucks, the Blue Oval brand debuted its Special Vehicle Team with the F-150 Lightning. Recently, spy shots of a low-riding third-generation Raptor test vehicle surfaced online and set the industry rumor mill ablaze, hinting at a possible revival of the lightning nameplate.
This made us take a trip down memory lane, and on our journey, we came across a recent Wheel House webisode on Donut Media’s official YouTube channel. In this video, Nolan Sykes talks about a Ford model that the company kept a secret for almost two decades. The model in question is the Fort Thunder SVT Expedition, which was a hot rod SUV that shared its underpinnings with the F-150 lightning sports truck.
In the video, Sykes engages in a conversation with SVT’s former Chief Engineer- John Coletti– who divulged the straightforward process that led to the inception of Thunder SVT Expedition. “You know the fact that we were kind of limited to the Ford lineup of vehicles, we were always looking for what can we do with the SVT rank. Can we put an SVT brand on this particular kind of product,” said Coletti.
In the end, it all came down to someone asking, “Hey Coletti mind if we put a Lightning Motor in an Expedition?” To which the former SVT Chief Engineer responded, “Well that ought to be interesting, right?” The SVT team swapped the stock suspension and powertrain with parts from the Lightning pickup truck. The build process was super simple. Since the F-1 50 and the Expedition use the same platform” explained Sykes.
The Ford Thunder SVT Expedition’s powerplant produced 360 HP of power and 440 lb-ft of peak torque. The truck was offered in a rear-wheel-drive layout and could accelerate to the 60 MPH mark from a complete standstill in just 5.6 seconds. SVT even restyled the truck by installing new wheels and bumper.
Coletti also told Sykes,” I still remember, we were at Milan Drag way and we had rented the track for something, and the guys brought the Thunder out. It had three-row seating, so we had what, 8 people in, and it still ran a 13.87.”
When SVT built the Ford Thunder, It was based on the first generation expedition SUV and at the time, the second generation model was just a couple of years away. This meant that Ford Thunder SVT would not be a viable product and was therefore never put into production.
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