From up here, at this altitude, you look down on a Ford Ranger, the pick-up the Blue Oval actually does sell in the UK, like it’s something you would give your small child at Christmas. But somehow – hilariously – rear leg room is actually quite tight. The cubbyhole in the centre armrest that’s big enough for a crate of beer. The oversized gearlever and big, toy-like buttons. Climb into the driver’s seat and see how everything inside is to scale. Soon enough, you’re desperate to drive it yourself. Even from a respectable distance behind, the Raptor looks hostile, with a gaping snout so huge you fear it might swallow you and your car whole, or perhaps just drive right over the top of you.
And when you see it in your rear-view mirror, it looks so tall and so wide, and the front-end styling is so aggressive, that you would swear its driver was furious with you.
You can actually learn a useful amount about the Raptor just by driving somewhere in its vicinity.įrom behind on a typical British B-road, you’ll see the wheels on the left side nudging up against the mud verge while those on the right roll over cat’s-eyes. The front wishbones look like deckchairs. Its bonnet is as high as most cars’ rooflines. Rarely has a car looked as out of place as a Raptor in the English countryside. It has all the single-minded purpose of a 911 GT3, only for a very different sort of task. But like a Porsche 911 GT3, the Raptor has been completely overhauled and re-engineered, given much more power and kitted out with trick suspension components. It’s the F-150 GT3, although Ford prefers to call it the Raptor. Which kind of begs the question: what is the US’s favourite car like to drive in Britain? You could even find somebody to convert it to right- hand drive, after which you’ll have spent close to six figures. You can’t buy an F-150 in the UK through official channels but, if you were really determined, you could import one yourself. It’s like a party that we Brits haven’t been invited to.
In fact, the F-150 isn’t just America’s favourite car – it’s the best-selling vehicle in the world, full stop.Īmazing, really. But most of the trucks Ford shifted last year were F-150s, just like this one.
The F-Series range also includes the F-250 and F-350, right the way up to the gargantuan F-750, which is the sort of thing you’d use to tow a stack of felled redwoods. Last year, 896,764 of them were sold globally, the vast majority of those staying within Canada and the US.
First cars of the world's most famous car makers.Origins: First cars of the world's most famous car makers.