First Look: 2008 Ford F-150 Foose Edition

You can't blame them for trying. With the mostly new and improved 2009 F-150 just around the corner, Ford is trying to squeeze everything it can out of the current F-150, and that means special packages. Taking a lesson or two out of the Mustang playbook, Ford is creating as many versions of the F-150 as it can sell -- and that seems to be quite a few. With success like the King Ranch, Harley-Davidson, FX2 Sport, and several others, the newest version is one we first saw at the 2007 New York auto show and is now finally going to be available to select dealers. But if you were looking for the sleek and lowered truck from that show with the "Foose-tastic" rims, you're out of luck.

Although, to be fair, it is close.

The truck is still Gloss Black with the two silver stripes starting at the front bumper, widening over the hood, then diving off each side, streaking down the doors and bed, as if blown into strips from the rushing wind.

Chip Foose has a prominent autograph on the tailgate, the truck is identified as a Foose Design with some stickers near the rear quarter panel, and the front and rear ground effects give the truck a sleeker aero design. Of note, we especially like the noise the new exhaust makes (especially at full throttle) and that the bumpers have molded cutouts for the tailpipes. The overall look is well done but does offer a hint of Harley-Davidson F-150 with the black, silver, and red coloring. Our biggest beef, at least from a design point of view, is that the rear end sits up too high in the air.

What made the concept truck so dramatic (and cool) was the lowered, flat look. Every designer will tell you having the wheels and tires fitted inside the wheelwells is critically important. Small wheels make the entire vehicle look bloated. Big wheels add drama. Likewise, having large wheelwell openings, or gaps, also takes away from a balanced look.

And that's what we have with this version.

Leaving the stock springs, which we can only assume had to do with cost savings, not only changes the ride characteristics but makes the truck look like it's jacked up. Of course, we understand that leaf springs need some flex room to accommodate empty and loaded situations, but surely there are other ways of keeping a decent payload number while still giving the sport truck a sport-truck look. We like the wheel and tire combination, and on the road it grips like stink, but what happened to those six-spoke alloys we saw last year? Did that go away for cost-saving, too?

Further, once you open the hood, you'll notice the Saleen supercharger that was promised in the 450-hp, 5.4L V-8 Foose F-150 has been replaced by a Roush supercharger setup. We've heard there were some issues with emissions that required the last-minute change, but that horsepower and torque numbers are still just as strong, at 450 hp and 500 lb-ft. And although we haven't done any track testing, our unofficial seat-of-the-pants drive around town sure had us guessing as to whether those numbers are real. We'll know more when we get some track-testing time and dyno numbers. Stay tuned.

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