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2013 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor Supercrew

I'm not normally a pickup kind of guy, but the 2013 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor won me over nearly instantly. The street-legal trophy truck - there is really no other way to accurately describe it - is big, brawny and incredibly capable. Let's just say it's every bit the monster it visually portrays. I spent a week pretending I was one of Ford's Baja 1000 drivers, but lacking desert sand, I headed into the local mountains where a mild winter storm had dropped a couple inches of fresh snow on my favorite off-road park. The Ford was, for the most part, practically unstoppable.
Ford offers its SVT Raptor package on Supercab and Supercrew platforms with the five-foot, five-inch bed. The Supercrew I tested rides on a 144-inch wheelbase (about a foot longer than the Supercab). In addition to its cosmetic differences when compared to the standard F-150 - there isn't a young boy on the planet who doesn't think the matte black Ford grille is cool - the Raptor has a 73.6-inch track - nearly seven inches wider than the track on the standard F-150.
After upgrading the F-150 SVT Raptor significantly for the 2012 model year, there are only a few changes for 2013. The list includes standard high-intensity discharge (HID) headlamps, Hill Descent Control, forged beadlock-capable wheels, and the new matte Terrain color (aka "Desert Storm") option seen on my test model.

Bodie Stroud seriously updates the 1956 Ford F-100 into the BSI X-100

If you thought pickups could use a lot more love in the resto-mod world, then Bodie Stroud – he of "The Real Thing" Mustang – has something for you: the BSI X-100. His team starts with the body of a 1956 Ford F-100, but the sheetmetal is about all the nostalgia you're going to get; the body, tweaked with a chopped hood and a larger rear window on the cab, sits on a custom steel ladder-frame chassis. Out back is a one-piece, tubbed bed, and behind that are taillights from a 1948 (gasp!) Chevrolet. Under that hood is either a 412-horsepower, 5.0-liter Ford Racing Coyote crate engine, or a supercharged, 6.0-liter, 630-hp Ford Racing Aluminator motor, shifting through a Ford 4R70W four-speed automatic. Inside, the dash is reworked to fit gauges from a Ford F-150 King Ranch Edition, and the bench is swapped out for buckets from a Mustang GT. The independent front and four-link rear suspension are adjustable, helping to make room for staggered wheels - 19 inches in front, 20 inches in back, and larger can be accommodated. Six-piston Wilwood brakes handle the stopping. There's a lot of fabrication and hand-work involved, and it doesn't come cheap: BSI says the turnkey package starts at $180,000. If you've got it, this is an exceptional way to flaunt it. The press release below has all the details. THE BSI 1956 X-100: TIMELESS LINES, MODERN TECH New pickup from Bodie Stroud Industries melds the iconic style of the 1956 F-100 with a cutting-edge chassis and drivetrain to create a hand-built, all-new truck with the performance and reliability of a modern sports car. Sun Valley, Calif. (March, 2015) – In an era when anyone can walk into a dealership with good credit and a yearning to go fast and drive out in a 500+ horsepower sports car, owning and driving something truly unique has become a challenge. With that in mind, the craftsmen at Los Angeles-based Bodie Stroud Industries (BSI) have come up with something truly special – a brand new line of hand-built, turn-key pickups with the looks and sheet metal of an American icon, subtly massaged and fitted to a modern chassis and powered by the latest engine, transmission and electronics from Detroit. The result is the world's first all-new, turn-key 1956 Pickup: the BSI X-100. "When most people think about classic trucks, what comes to mind is usually the 1956 F-100, it's one of the most timeless designs of all time," says BSI founder Bodie Stroud.

Spy shooter claims proof of upcoming aluminum Ford F-Series Super Duty

Ford has already confirmed that the 2015 F-150 (pictured above) was just the beginning for its more extensive use of aluminum. CEO Alan Mulally said it himself during the 2014 Detroit Auto Show. We've even already seen the future Raptor testing with an aluminum body. But a recent discovery from an intrepid spy photographer might indicate that the lightweight metal is coming to the Blue Oval's Super Duty pickups in their upcoming generation, as well.
According to Automotive News, a spy shooter in Colorado spotted a prototype for the next-gen F-350 testing. He happened to have a magnet on hand and got close enough to check the truck out. When he held it up to the metal in the bed, it didn't stick, which signaled to him a switch from steel to aluminum.
Obviously, this claim raises some questions. Given that it was a test vehicle, one possibility is that the Blue Oval is just evaluating the feasibility of switching to aluminum for the Super Duty trucks, not necessarily committed to it yet. Ford has been testing it quite exhaustively, after all. In fact, much of the rest of the truck in question was covered in camouflage, so it's possible that the magnet failed to work along the rest of the body not because it was aluminum, but because it wasn't powerful enough to get through the disguising material. Thus, the lightweight metal's use could be far less substantial than on the new F-150. Still, it was a clever idea for the cameraman to check things out and might have given us the first hint about brand's next heavy-duty models.