It would be hard to miss this 1993 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning in a parking lot. For one thing, and I know they still make red vehicles every once in a while, but this thing is red. A very red-red. A loud red. It’s also a single-cab pickup, not to mention a short-bed pickup. And, it’s red. And I want it. It’s listed here on eBay in Unionville, Indiana and they’re asking $35,999 or you can make an offer.
I’m all about cool and unique vehicles and have been known to publicly declare my love for brightly-colored vehicles, like an orange Lamborghini Gallardo or a yellow Toyota 2000GT. And who doesn’t want a lime green Miura P400? But for some odd reason, I’ve never been a big fan of red vehicles. It really makes no sense at all, not that I ever make sense.
We recently saw a nice white first-gen SVT Lightning with a few modifications and this red example is said to be “bone stock and never been modified.” My favorite words after “no rust”, which is also the case here! The photos appear to be taken with a wide angle lens or setting on a smartphone camera, they’re a little close and skewed a bit, but they don’t hide the incredible condition of this truck, it almost looks like it was driven off of the showroom floor yesterday.
The 1993 through 1995 SVT Lightning pickups are considered a bargain right now, according to Hagerty. They list a #2 excellent-condition example at $38,900 and that almost makes me weep as they seemed to be half that price just a few years ago for a very nice example. As expected, the interior looks like new, and the underside looks incredible. The odometer shows just under 33,000 miles and the seller lists the miles as 34,000 so it’s somewhere in that range, which is less than a year of driving for me. For a 31-year-old vehicle, it’s another reason to like this one.
Here’s Ford’s 351-cu.in. OHV V8 with 240 horsepower and 340 lb-ft of torque. A 0-60 time of just over seven seconds isn’t much faster than a new minivan, but that isn’t the point of owning a vintage vehicle. A four-speed automatic sends power to the rear wheels and the seller says it runs and drives like new. Someone please buy this truck as they said they were going to do an engine swap and that would be a crying shame with a perfect, low-mile original muscle truck as this Lightning.
Good write-up Scotty. Like you, I’m not much of a fan of red, but I’d make an exception for this Lightning. They were well-received when new, and are even more valued today. Clean, unmodified examples bring the big bucks. Might there be a paint mismatch on this one?
Thanks, Bob. I think my days of having one of these are long gone, I waited too long and the market caught up with them. The photos are unusual, they’re so contrasty and there aren’t many overall photos of the truck without it being squeezed into the frame, it seems like they’re detail photos. I’ll never understand that.
Very cool find! Curious if there was an SVT pickup that was companion to the Indy 500 Mustang pace car a couple years later
Side note….do you now have to be a Barnfinds member to submit a find…noticed I couldn’t submit a find today. My tech skills aren’t that great but bummer if that’s the case. Same thing when non-members could no longer attach pictures to comments. BF is still fun…
Having owned a ‘95 Lightning I can say they were a lot of fun and faster than the Mustang GT of that year. True dual exhaust and two gas tanks added some weight to the truck. The 17” wheel/tire combo was big for that era.