If we’re being honest, the standard Ford F-150 isn’t all that appealing or exciting and it’s unlikely that it would grace our pages here at Moto Networks. However, if we’re talking about the Raptor F-150, obviously things get significantly more interesting. But what if there was another option? It turns out that the talented minds at RTR have created such an animal and they’re calling it the F-150 RTR Muscle Truck Concept.
If this truck looks vaguely familiar to you that’s because its based on Vaughn Gittin Jr’s heavily modified F-150 he calls “The Funhaver.” Although, there is one major difference between this muscle truck concept and Gittin’s Funhaver, and that’s the powerplant sitting under the hood. In the Funhaver there sits the 3.5L Ecoboost V6 which we all know by now that it’s a stout little V6, even though it might sound like complete garbage. That won’t be an issue with the RTR Muscle Truck though. That’s because under the hood sits the tried and true 5.0L V8, and to make it even better it’s been modified to the point where it now puts out a staggering 600hp.
With a name like Muscle Truck concept, you might think this is just a hopped up F-150 that’s designed to be used on the street, and the street alone. But you’d be wrong to assume so. According to Michael Cresnshaw, who is the RTR marketing and communications director, “The Ford F-150 RTR Muscle Truck Concept is a multi-purpose machine capable of performing the wide range of tasks all F-150’s can handle, including other performance benefits the RTR Lab cooked up.” What he’s getting at is that the RTR Muscle Truck Concept is built to be good at just about anything you want it to be good at. If you’re an offroad junky, it’s got you covered. If you’re a speed freak that likes to let the tail end wag around corners while reducing the rear tires to a pile of dust and billowing clouds of smoke, it’s got you covered there too. Or if your more of a “plain Jane” type of person that just like to roll around town in a stylish truck that won’t blend in with the thousands of other F-150’s out there, it’s got you covered there too.
As I mentioned above, we are major fans of the Ford Raptor, and therefore lean more towards the offroad capabilities of the RTR Muscle Truck. Unfortunately, we don’t have a whole lot of the specifics regarding the offroad upgrades since its going to be officially debuted at SEMA 2017. But what we do know is that it’s fitted with RTR’s custom built long travel coil over suspension so it should be plenty capable. To give you an idea, the word “flying” was thrown around as a descriptive word by the folks at RTR.
Cosmetically, the RTR will surely stand out amongst other F-150’s, but only slightly. The trained eye will immediately be able to recognize the custom front grille and LED lighting package, not to mention the RTR badging. The inside gets it’s fair share of upgrades too with a custom leather interior built by automotive specialist Katzkin. And to top it all off, there’ll even be a custom nameplate signed by Mr. Vaughn Gittin Jr himself.
With SEMA 2017 literally days away at this point, we will know a lot more about this wicked truck sooner rather than later. And from what we know so far, it should be one hell of a truck. So assuming the price is right, could this be the V8 Raptor that we all wanted in the first place? Only time will tell, and we’re stoked to find out.
