12 Things You Didn't Know About the Ford F-150

probability are you ’ve either had an F-150 , driven one , or ride in one at some point in your life , such is its ubiquity on our roads after so many decades of sales dominance . But did you know that despite all those classic old Ford truck you see in picture , the F-150 did n’t survive as such until the ' 70s ? Or that once upon a time you could order it particularly setup to manage a motor home ? turn out , there ’s actually quite a bit about the F-150 that you probably did n’t be intimate .

1. Technically, the F-150 is a spritely young 40-something

The F - Series argument begin in 1948 , with trucks range from the farm - favorable F-1 to the industrial long suit F-8 . It was n’t until 27 year later that the first F-150 debuted in 1975 , seemingly to fill up a gap between the F-100 and F-250 . short thereafter , the F - Series took over the truck sales conduce that it ’s yet to forgo .

2. The F-Series has been the best-selling truck for 39 consecutive years

34 of those class , it ’s been the good sellingvehiclein America . Last year , for case , over 780,000 F - Series left the manufacturing plant . To put that in linear perspective , there were just over 120,000 Mustang gross sales last year .

3. The lineup of names as you know it today was established in 1953

That ’s when the F-1 became the F-100 , the F-2 , and F-3 wound up as the F-250 , and so forth . That might seem trivial , but the " names " were promiscuous to digest , and it arrange the stage for the wild sales that were to do .

4. And the ads back then weregloriouslyagrarian

Somehow , this just look like the opening collage of a Super Bowl commercial message .

5. The F-100 didn’t get factory four wheel drive as an option until 1959

Prior to that , it had to be post to a third party to be commute at an additional cost .

6. Six decades after Ford made the F-1, Ferrari made an F1 car named F150

While the tone arm debut prior to the universe of Formula 1,Ferrari ’s 2011 competitor was named F150 in honor of 150 years of Italian unification . Regardless , Ford pointed out the obvious stylemark issues , and Ferrari duly rename the machine the F150º Italia . In damage of being competitive , it was not a success .

7. In the mid-1960s, you could order your truck already setup to hold a camper

Camper conversion were just hitting their pace at the time , and Ford was the first to put up beefed up suspensions specifically to handle the extra weight .

8. You could get one as a… Mercury?

Yep . Ford of Canada deal the F - Series under the now - defunct Mercury brand , and accordingly the F became an M. In a very easy common sense , Ford beat BMW to the M - Series biff by a couple decennium .

9. It gave birth to the Explorer, andrebirthto the Ranger

Both darling nameplate first became associated with the F - Series in the sixties as styling package . The Ranger , though , was previouslythe fundament - model Edselin the late 1950s and consequently went down with the proverbial ship . After its stint as a style package in the F - Series lineup , Ranger was finally part into its own melodic phrase in the ' 70s . Edsel to F - Series to it ’s very own truck is a passably sizable argumentation for social mobility , no ?

10. Ford also made a sports car-slash-truck hybrid, and luxurious versions

Most of you probably commemorate theSVT Lightning , the exclusive cab , high performance motortruck that was to the F-150 as the Cobra was to the Mustang in the 1990s and early 2000s . Less will remember theLincoln Blackwood , which was equal parts F-150 and Lincoln Navigator . Few people engage notice of it when it was in reality for sale , leading to a very little life .

11. Speaking of sports car-slash-truck hybrids, this is what a F-100 crossbred with a Shelby GT500 looks like

It ’s mention " Snakebit , " and it was built by Gene Simmons to raise money for charity . It did exactly that , sell for $ 450,000 in 2014 .

12. The Ford F-150 was the original monster truck

Anyone that grew up in the ' 80s or later on hail of eld watching that beautiful blue F-150 fly through the melodic phrase and demolish cars with abandon . Then , in 2010 , after over 30 years of F-150 heroic meter , Bigfoot switched to Chevy .

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Aaron Milleris theCarseditor for Thrillist , and can befound on Twitter . He has some doting memories of joke in F-150s and Rangers over the years .

The F-150 Lariat Package