The Joe Gibbs Chevrolet, IS stock. You get your full factory warranty with the purchase of the vehicle. How is that any diff. than buying a lightning from a ford dealer. They both have superchargers. And they both come with the factory warranty.

 

Another GM guy there Im afraid. The lightning has ruffled a lot of GM owners feathers over the last several years. Just cant stand a Ford to beat a GM. Kind of like stock car racing. When Ford wins it puts GM guys in a panic. Thats not supoposed to happen

 

How many dealers have Joe Gibbs trucks readily available??? That's the difference.

I also have a hard time believing that it is faster than the L. Has anyone actually put these on the track to see what times they run???

 

So, then you would consider a Saleen stock, right? It has a warranty. Warranty does not equal stock. Stock is from factory, not from factory, then tuned by a company. Unless Joe Gibbs has a factory where he assembles frames, cabs, beds, etc., he is not an automaker. Has anyone been down to a Joe Gibbs dealership ever?

 

What does it matter where it comes from as long as GM or Ford authorizes what they are doing. All I'm saying is if you can go to a dealer and put an order in for something, get it and drive it without modifying it any further then I would consider that about as "stock" as it gets. I don't think the Joe Gibbs truck is that much if any faster than a Lightning. I think it may have more horses but it is mated to a manual tranny. So the driver would have a lot to do with your time on the track. Oh and p.s. GM is the one holding the warranty on the truck not Joe Gibbs Perf.

 

So, my friend's Saleen S-351 has a warranty held by Ford and was ordered through a Ford dealership. It is by no means a stock Mustang. Panteras were sold at Linoln/Mercury dealerships with a warranty, does that make them a stock Lincoln or Mercury? You can order an F350 from the dealership with a warranty and a 10" lift, does that make it the stock ride height? There are plenty of Lightning owners putting out insane numbers of horsepower with the factory warranty with parts (i.e. pulleys, exhaust, etc.) that were ordered from the dealership. Are those considered stock? Just because it has a warranty and has parts ordered through the factory does not make it stock.

 

I looked up some numbers on the Joe Gibbs truck. I found 13.8-13.9 1/4 mile. I don't think that is putting the fear in ANY Lightning owners. Definitely not fast enough to be considered a "Lightning Killer"!!!! That's funny stuff.

 

Them thar chevy guys just can't handle the truth.... sad.... Ford has the upper hand, Dodge can't even beat it with a $75,000 truck, Cheesy can't do it with a $55,000 truck, Ford did it with a $34,000 truck.

And again, how did anything but the Cheesy get in here?

 

why dont you go to a nissan enthusist site and go buy one if you like them so much

 

i think what this all boils down to is the target market. no where in this thread does it address the price comparisons. the only people around here in kansas that i see driving the SS are the same people who buy Mustang GTs and who used to buy Trans Ams and Camaro SS's, middle-aged men. Younger generations cannot afford the stiff $40g price tag on the SS, nor can they afford the insurance premiums thanks to the "SS" badging. I think Chevy realized that they lost some of the target market when they killed the Camaro and Firebird, cuz suddenly along comes the SS. If chevy had intended to build a contender, they would have built it along the same lines as the early 90's 454SS's. Anyone remember those? Cloth seats, 2wd, reg cab, A/C a rare option, 454 cubes of power, 3spd auto with no overdrive, and a 4.10 posi rear end. THAT's a muscle truck. The SS is luxury performance that is overpriced and simply a status symbol.

 

My '01 and my Uncles '02 Camaro SS started life as Z28's from their respective factories. After that they are in the hands of SLP. SLP converted them to SS Camaros. At which point they are trucked back to a dealer and sold as Chevrolet SS Camaros with a GM warranty. Since this conversion was done out of shop does that make a SS Camaro not stock?? My belief is that if you can get a truck, car or anything from a dealer and someone else can go into another dealer and drive off with exactly what you have that makes it stock. When it breaks you take it back to the dealer and the parts to fix it are usually something STOCKED in their invintory. Joe Gibbs is just a name. And yes a Saleen 'Stang is stock. It is a stock Saleen until the owner modifies it in some way. It just happens to be a little warmed over compared to a Cobra 'Stang. A Lightning is stock. If it were a "Rousch Lightning" and there were nine more of them parked in a dealership exactly the same wouldn't that be a stock truck? The Shelby Cobra Mustangs of the 60's were stock weren't they?? Just because they looked different from a "K" code 271 HP GT Mustang in 65 didn't make them non stock. The Cobra rolled out of a factory and was sold at a dealership. They were Called Shelby Mustangs.??? Are you picking up what I'm putting down? Shelby, Saleen, Rousch, Gibbs, Yenko, SLP, Berger...if you can buy one at a dealership and someone comes behind you and buys the same thing that makes it stock 'cause well...it's in stock!

 

So it has A lot in common with the SRT-10. It's a substandard vehicle, it has more horses and a supposedly better tranny, it costs more and it still is slower than a stock L. Lovely.

 

I agree 100% with superdutymj, that made more sense than anything I have ever read on this forum. If chevy wanted to build a truck from the factory that would destroy a lightning or a SRT-10 they would, but guess what GM makes more money selling things like the overpriced SS. When it comes right down to it, its not whose vehicles outperform whose in the 1/4 its about which company has a stronger bottom line at the end of the day, and I think we know who that has been lately. I know a lot of chevy faithful would like to see GM build a truck to run with a lightning, but I hate to say it but GM probably doesn't care what a select few die hards think about getting beat by a ford. They care about their stock price being 40-45$ when fords is around 10-15$. If it was highly profitable to build a truck like the 454SS, don't you think that GM would have kept on building it? I think that is why you only see them built for a few years. It's just something to muster up brand excitement then it goes away. Kinda makes you wonder why Ford quits making the lightning every few years.

 

Yeh Charcoal I agree with you there. Money is the bottom line. Not too get of the subject but GM better start making better quality trucks than they have in the last few years or they eill probably lose some of there loyal customers. Ooops they already are doing that.. I have checked out many GM sites and the ones they dont want you to know about. GM lemon, Piston slap and others. Talk about problems with there trucks. Whew its amazing some of the terrible pieces of workmanship there putting out. Now Ford got problems too. There not immune. But nothing like this. Its no wonder they say thanking you for being a GM owner heres $5,000. There quality issues are reallyy hurting them. There sales are going down because of it. Now the GM diehards are going to let me have it. Fire away. Im done.

 

Actually, I agree with you 150ford. Chevy better shape up and get back on track. With the introduction of the hemi and the 600 cummins, and the new ford versions, its been more of a question of chevy who? Are they still making these trucks? As of late I have not heard anything from these trucks. It used to be chevy vs ford, now its moving to ford vs dodge. Although they still sell a lot of trucks, the buzz is certainly not focused on GM.

As for the sport trucks, as it was said, chevy can compete if they want. Look at the syclone and typhoon vehicles they once made. And they were also all wheel drive like SS is. There must be some advantage to the All wheel drive other than launching. And besides, I have never seen a big extended cab break the 20" tires loose, so it doesn't need the all wheel drive for a straight line drag.