**The Forgotten Ford Thunder: A Story of a Cancelled SUV**
As a huge fan of fast Fords, I've always been fascinated by the history of the Special Vehicle Team (SVT), a division within Ford that produced some of the most iconic performance cars. But one project has always eluded me - the Ford Thunder, an SUV sibling to the legendary Lightning truck. In this article, we'll delve into the story of how SVT was formed, its mission, and why the Thunder never made it to production.
**The Birth of SVT**
In 1990, Bob Ruley, the vice president of sales and marketing at Ford, kickstarted a new organization within the company. John Plant, the first SVT marketing manager, was tasked with putting this team together. This marked the beginning of a new era for Ford, where specialty products like performance cars were used to make the brand more sophisticated.
**The Goal of SVT**
As its own division within Ford, SVT's goal was to build hot rods that would polish the Ford Oval. They aimed to create cars that would appeal to enthusiasts while also being reliable and comfortable enough for everyday driving. This approach set them apart from other manufacturers who often prioritized raw performance over practicality.
**The Engineering Process**
John Coletti, SVT's chief engineer from 1994 to 2004, explained the process of creating an SVT product. The team had to significantly increase horsepower over the base model while still maintaining a comfortable and reliable ride. This meant finding a balance between performance and practicality.
**The Thunder Project**
So, what happened to the Ford Thunder? The brainstorming sessions for this project must have been next level. Unfortunately, I couldn't find much information on this project, except for five articles that were either duplicates or brief mentions of its existence. This sparked my curiosity, and I knew I had to dig deeper.
**Finding the Truth**
Using my connections, I was able to get in touch with John Coletti, who shared some insights into the formation of SVT and the Thunder project. He explained how SVT worked on various projects throughout the 90s and early 2000s, including the Contour and Expedition.
**The Legacy of SVT**
Although the Ford Thunder never made it to production, the legacy of SVT lives on through its iconic cars like the Cobra Mustang, Lightning truck, and Contour. The team's approach to building performance cars that were both comfortable and reliable has inspired many enthusiasts.
In conclusion, the story of the Ford Thunder is a fascinating tale of innovation and creativity within the automotive industry. While we may never see this project come to life, its legacy serves as a reminder of the power of imagination and engineering in shaping the world of high-performance cars.
WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- The Ford lightening is oneof my favorite cars ever.It inspired many OEMs to buildfast trucks of their own,and its influence is still felt today.(upbeat racing music)If the Lightning didn't provethat people wanted fast trucks,Ford would have likelynever produced the Raptor,which has imitators of its own.The Lightening occupies a strange placebetween ahead of its time and timeless.But what if I told youit had a sibling that waseven more groundbreaking,but never saw the showroom.The lightning truck was supposed to havean SUV sister namedThunder, (thunder sounds)but it never happened.Why haven't I, a huge fan of fast Fords,heard of this thing?Why was it killed?Was it middle management meddling,bean counter budget restrictions?Why hasn't anyone talked about this car?No joke, what I learnedforever changed how I see Ford.We're going to find the Thunder.Like any story in quarantine,this all began with a video call.I was talking to an industryinsider for another projectwhen they let it slipthat they worked with Fordback when SVT was still a thing.This piqued my interestbecause I'm a Ford fanespecially of the SVT cars.SVT stands for special vehicle team.They were a divisionwithin Ford whose sole jobwas to build hot rods thatFord could sell to the people.They built some pretty awesome cars likethe SVT Cobra Mustang,the first gen Lightening,the second gen Lightening, theSVT Contour, the SVT Focus,more SVT, Cobras, the FordGT, and the first Raptor.If you're a Ford fan, theseare some of your favorite cars.Maybe one of the coolestthings about the SVT lineupis that they were trulymeant to be attainable.The second gen Lightening costabout 45 grand in today's money.Which is pretty good when you considerthat dealers usually wantaround 70K for a Raptor today.My industry insider mentionedthat SVT had worked on an SUV.Which was weird because Inever heard of this project.I needed to know more.I went to Google andfound just five articleson the project FIVE, andsome of them were duplicates.I went over to YouTube andI didn't find anything.I got really excited.This was my chance to breaka story two decades old.I'm going to find this freaking truck.Using my connections I was ableto get in touch with John Coletti.Who is SVT's chiefengineer from 1994 to 2004.If there's anyone who couldtell me about this SUVand knew where it was today, it was John.He laid out the formationof the SVT division at Ford.- You got to give credit to two peopleand these are high level executives; okay.And Bob Ruley was the vice presidentof sales and marketing at Ford.So he kicked it off andthere was a gentlemanhis name was John Plant.John plant was the firstSVT marketing manager.He worked for Bob Ruleyand he was asked toput this organizationtogether back in Iran.I'm going to guess around 1990...91.- SVT was situated as itsown division within Fordcomplete with their ownsales and marketing team.Separate from what John calledthe mainstream Ford company.Oh, you listen to Ford.I'm more of an SVT fan.You probably never heard of them.I mentioned earlier, the SVTsgoal was to build hot rods,but it's actually littlemore complicated than that.Ford strategy was to useSVT as a sort of polishon the Ford Oval, usingspecialty products likeperformance cars to make theFord brand more sophisticated.- When the person sits inthe interior of the carhe should feel like he's in a special car.So we paid special attention to the seats.All the touch zones, we call themthe primary control touchstones.The steering wheels were unique.We put a nice leather on there.We put nice leather on the shifterto give the guy a feeling assoon as he got in the car,that he was special.There was something unique about this car,a unique instrument panel, for example.So, you know, in that contextthat's what the engineerswere striving for.- This sounds like prettystandard fare for an OEM.Many manufacturers employthe same tactics today,when they want to make anunassuming car more attractive.I mean, just look at Mazda or Honda.But something a lot ofbrands typically don't dois aggressively pursue the kind of peoplethat would buy enthusiast cars.- We wanted to create aspecial sales experience,a special service experience.He was already pre-sold on the product,but now the experience wasyou need to handle them in a special way.Usually most dealerships would have oneor two people that wouldsell the SVT product.- So what exactly was the SVT product?I thought the team justbolted on some go fast partsand called it a day, but it turned outthat was another false idea of mine.SVT was actually a lotmore methodical than that.- The SVT product had tohave a significant horsepowerincrease over the base modelthat it was coming from.Normally with performancevehicles, you always endedup with what peopleconsider pretty harsh ride.You know, you really want to tightenup the suspension and everything else.We wanted a supple ride.It doesn't need to be ateeth jarring harsh ride.- SVT was exacting in their approach.They had to make their carsperform better in every way,but still engineer them tobe comfortable and reliable.So the customer could actuallydrive the car every day.Anybody can throw some coil overs on a carbut the real magic, thereal skill is engineeringsomething that doesn'tbecome a chore to drive.Believe me, that is no easy task.I've ruined the ride on a few carsby changing up the suspension.You know, that's probably a good thingI'm not in charge of aperformance division.Yet. I can see it nowDonut performance group.Were putting spinningthings on everything,slam everything got louvers on the back,It comes with a free T-shirt.That's a million units sold right there.So through the 90s and early 2000s,SVT was putting out banger after banger.All of them classics, even the Contour.I mean who doesn't love a compact sedanmaking 200 horsepower that's sick.But how did SVT choose theirnext project in the first place?Well, that process was actuallypretty straight forward.- You know, the fact thatwe were kind of limitedto the Ford lineup of vehicles,we were always looking for whatcan we do with the SVT rank.Can we put an SVT brand on this particularkind of product or that product.- After working their waythrough most of Fords 90s lineup,it was only a matter of timeuntil SVT set their sightson one of the largestvehicles at Ford at the time,the expedition.Hell yes, this is itthis is what we came for.The brainstorm for this ideamust have been next level.A supercharged meetingof the minds so powerfulyou can hear tiresscreeching, smell the exhaustin the air as the teamrealize their genius.Or so I imagined.- One day, I rememberwhen he says, "Hey Colettimind if we put a lighteningmotor in a expedition?"I said, "well, that oughtto be interesting right?"And so they did it.And that's where the Thunder came from.- You know, you alwayshear stories of peoplelike John DeLorean, secretlybuilding cars for Pontiac,or someone extending theline graph onto the wallwriting a few dollar signsto convince the higher ups.But it's not always that interesting.Sometimes a guy namedColetti just says, okay.The build process was super simple.Since the F-150 and theexpedition used the same platform,SVT engineers took thesuspension and drive trainfrom lightening, through theparts, into the expedition SUV.This is why I was so excitedto hear about this car.This is a natural combinationlike peanut butter and jellyor pineapple and ham youget the savory practicalityof an SUV and that sweet sweetpower from a supercharged V8.Let me know what to thinkabout Hawaiian pizzadown in the comments.I welcome your opinion.The newly formed Thundermade 360 horsepowerand 440 lb-ft of torque andsend it all to the rear wheels.This honking SUV to zeroto 60 in 5.6 seconds.Nearly four seconds quickerthan a stock expedition.Talk about hauling groceries.- I still remember wewere 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 whateight people in, and it still ran a 13.87.And I said, "that's pretty damn coolyou can put eight peoplein the thing, right?"Still run a sub 14 secondwith a full-size SUV.- Not only was the Thunderquick, but SVT alsofitted a lightning stylebumper and wheels to the carwhich totally completed the look.I gotta be honest choosingbetween this or theLightning would be like choosingbetween pineapple or a ham.I just, I can't, I gotta have both.Today fast SUV's are everywhere.The Thunder was way ahead of the curve.Ford would have set the pacefor the industry once again.The origin story for theThunder was incrediblyanticlimactic, but itdid get me wondering whythe suits at Ford didn'tlet SVT build this thing.The answer to that questionkind of blew everything up.- In the case of the Thunder part of ithad to do with the fact thatit had a limited lifecycle,and there was going to be anew, a new expedition coming.And this one was basedon the old expedition.So it was just a matter of timing.- John told me that if the expeditionhad around four years left inits lifespan instead of twothe Thunder might've happenedbut it was out of his control.This was not an answer I was expecting.It seemed too easy, to reasonable.As my conversation with John went onI felt my preconceived notionsabout Ford being challenged.When I first learned about the Thunderthe gears in my head started turning,and I started to blame itsdeath on those faceless suitsin management and the funsuckers down in accounting.We here on Donut havetold countless storiesof outlaw engineers,building fun cars that flewin the face of company leadership.It's always a great story.But what I was learningwas that it was just thata story.I built SVT up in my mind asa scruffy band of outcastsdefying the suits upstairsand building the carsthey wanted on their terms.But that just wasn't the case.- And you got to keep mineand in a company like Fordand this is true for all big companies,when something like this starts upyou have to have somepretty high level executiveskind of protecting it to the let it grow.- It turns out that ifcorporations operated,how I imagine them towith divisions fightingand plotting against eachother without a common goal,they wouldn't be very good businesses.When talking to John he hadnothing but good things to sayabout his time at SVT. It sounds likeit was a really awesome place to work.I think the most importantthing I've learnedwith this video is that sometimesthe truth is boring and that's okay.The Dyatlov pass incidentwas just an avalanche.Those bears had the last name,Berenstain, not Bernstein.Not everything is explainedby some grand conspiracy.Sometimes things don't pan out becauseof factors that are out of your control.You just got to move on and try your beston your next project, whichis something SVT did a lot.- The old Thunderbird, thefour-seater Thunderbird,I think we looked at it inaround 94, 95, the SVT bird.The problem there was when we found outwhen we were developing itthere was only another year lefton the mainstream productand everybody thought, geez.It doesn't make sense to goahead and put this in productionfor one year when the baseproduct is going away, right?They were going to stopmaking the Thunderbird.Another one that didn't makeit was a an Escort coop.We made a turbo version of that.Internally it was called the CT 120.The trouble with that isthat we just could neverget it to have the refinementthat we would like.So it ended up in the cemetery.- Those are just two examples of carsthat SVT couldn't make happeneven if there were cool ideas.Especially, that Thunderbird.Just a quick side note,SVT actually did build oneof these things and it looks super badass.But like the expedition,the timing wasn't right.The important thing is thoughthe team didn't get discouragedand let those failures stopthem from pushing forward.Despite the setbacks, SVTwas able to keep movingand produce cars that westill talk about today,but still after learning so much from Johnthere is still onequestion I needed to ask.Do you know if there are anyThunders left around anywhere?- No. We only had the onethat we built, you know,I mean anybody can build one.I mean, it's one of thosethings all you almostyou've got to do is get all the parts liftoff of the lightning andstick it in an expedition.- So I can't end thisvideo with footage of usuncovering the Thunderprototype like I wanted to.How I planned out in my head,but Hey, that's out of my hands.Sometimes things just don't pan out,and we should build one of these suckers.A huge thank you to John Colettifor taking the time outof his day to talk with meand sharing his experiencesand insights from the industry.I hope you found it asenlightening as I did.If you're a Doughnut super freakand you want more content hitthat join button down below.Sign up for the Donut underground,check out our podcast, Pass Gas.We got some more shows on the way.Follow donut on social media @donut media.Follow me @nolanjsykes.Tag me in some pics of yourlightenings if he got them.Be kind, take care of each other.See you next time.
