Around the first of the year, aftermarket automotive parts manufacturers who belong to SEMA (Specialty Equipment Marketing Association) are entitled to submit vehicle proposals to various manufacturers in order to develop product that will eventually see the light of day and make it into production. The end result being the actual SEMA show held every year in Las Vegas, Nevada. Many of the vehicles and parts featured in magazines such as 8-Lug have some sort of direct tie to the SEMA show.
However, this vehicle was built with a twist. Wanting to take advantage of Ford Motor Company's impressive Super Duty fleet of trucks, this vehicle had to be both show worthy and ultimately outstanding at what its true intended purpose is-to tow a substantial load behind it. The key objective with these projects, as expected by Ford Motor Company, is to make the vehicles totally usable, daily drivers if need be, and something the average reader could create depending upon his level of build expertise and budget. And we didn't want to break the bank when it came to budget.
The '08 F-250 originally started out as a black 6.75-foot shortbed truck, and while the truck was purpose built, it did get some of the finest aftermarket parts from some of the astute companies who already have a very long and deeply committed relationship with Ford Motor Company in their own right. The first order of business was the suspension. This Super Duty Ford F-250 was dropped off at Extreme Trucks in Irvine, California, and fit with Fabtech's 8-inch suspension kit. This kit was designed exclusively for the '08 Super Duty and features the company's Dirt Logic 4.0 coilover shocks, its tubular coilover bucket with 1/4-inch-thick steel frame plate reinforcement, and large, 2-inch-diameter four-link bars fit with 1-inch spherical bearings. Also fit to the front and rear differentials were a set of Mag-Hytec front and rear differential covers. Planted under the four corners were KMC XD796 matte black wheels measuring 20x9 inches, dressed in LT38x15.50R20 Toyo Open Country Mud Terrain tires. To drastically aid in the stopping power, a set of EBC brake pads was installed on both the front and rear rotors. These are a must-have item for any lifted truck-especially one that will see many cross-country trips with a heavy load being towed behind it. To ease ingress and egress of the truck, the F-250 was fit with a set of retractable AMP Research running boards that tuck up and away when not in use, so when the doors are closed, the boards are undetectable
Under the hood is pure diesel muscle. The stock 6.4L twin-turbo engine was upgraded in the air department with an Advanced Flow Engineering (AFE) Stage 2 cold-air intake system that added an additional 25 hp to the truck's already impressive 350 stock hp and 650 lb-ft of torque. In addition, the truck was backed up with a polished, stainless steel, 4-inch MagnaFlow cat-back exhaust system fitted with dual 5-inch exhaust tips.
With the underside and performance aspects covered, it was time to deliver the F-250 to the paint specialists at L&G Enterprises in San Dimas, California, where lead artist Theresa Contreras took over and worked her magic on the topside of the Ford's stock black sheetmetal. Fit to the vehicle were several aftermarket accessories such as a Street Scene Equipment (SSE) front bumper cover and side vents. Also, an SSE tailgate handle relocator kit was added to the tailgate. Added to the front end assembly was a Rolling Big Power (RBP) RX mesh grille insert with stainless steel rivet heads surrounding the outer portion of the grille. L&G also shaved all the factory emblems and then went to work on adding the cool Knox Gold, Galaxy Gray, Black Pearl, Platinum Pearl, Sherwood Green Pearl, and Sunrise Gold Pearl hues-all courtesy of House of Kolor (HOK). The final accent pieces such as the chrome wheel center caps and the interior dash pieces were given a Root Beer Pearl and Black tint, again compliments of HOK and L&G. Upon completion of the paint spraying, the truck was taken over to Line-X of North Hollywood, California, where it was given a thick coat of its polyurethane coating. Upon completion of the exterior, Recon Truck Accessories was called on to add its smoked signal mirror lenses and a Line of Fire 60-inch rear lightbar.