Constable

I'm just making this thread so that it can easily be found when someone is searching for info on these trucks.




Ford had a deal going with Bondurant back in the 90's. They had all Ford and SVT products as race/instructor vehicles. The '93 Lightnings that they had were for chase purposes only... from what I can tell they were never used by students.




The trucks were sent from Ford to Roush Racing for prep. All of them were black. Don't know for certain, but I've only ever heard of 4 trucks. There may be more out there, but I doubt it.

They got full roll cages (in-cab extending through floor to frame, no kickers into bed). Reported by an owner to be the tightest fitting cage he had ever seen. They were fabbed in house at Roush. It's a main hoop, halo, and front bars that pass alongt he a-pillars through the top of the dash. There's a harness bar running behind the seat backs.

Each truck had a fire suppression system installed.

From what I understand, there were window net mounting points built into the door panels. The stock seats were modified for the use of 5-point harnesses. They passed through the seat-backs.

There was a master power-disconnect switch on the dashboard. It used a factory toggle, but I can't remember which one it was. It was either the fog rocker or the fuel tank select...

They also had the front fuel tanks eliminated. The rears were ditched in favor of large FuelSafe bladdered fuel cells with custom lines running up to the motor.

The radiators were replaced with massive all-aluminum units. There were external trans, oil, and power steering coolers installed. The stock oil cooler setup was ditched.

There were brake cooling ducts run from the air dam to the front discs. The front brakes were also upgraded to the 94/95 style.

The suspension was reported to be extremely firm, but there are no facts saying it was modified. I would guess that it was tweaked, but who knows.

Exhaust mid-pipes were modified. I believe there were no cats, but I could be wrong.

The motors, transmissions, and rears were left stock/OEM/factory. These trucks were about handling, not about laying down crazy lap times.

Most fluid hoses & lines were replaced with custom braided stainless.

There was an hour meter installed to monitor the truck's useage. All maintenance was performed based on time used, not miles travelled.

The transmissions and rear-ends were rebuilt religiously. The trucks had binders of maintenance records that were several inches thick.

When the trucks were retired, they were sold to the public under the stipulation that they would never be registered for street use. I know of at least one guy who bought one and then got a title through his home state. Some states do that stuff... many don't.



Firebird International Raceway (Firebird International Raceway - Something for Everyone) bought two of the trucks when they got retired from Bondurant. They painted them white. One truck got a large water tank installed in the bed, as well as an upgraded rear ssupension to handle the weight. Both trucks were used as rescue vehicles for their track. They were put up for sale on NLOC in December 2008. They were asking $4,000 each. The trucks still had under 30,000 miles (but each mile was full throttle around a road course )



The only NLOC member that I know of who owns one is "CanYouRide2", Eric Moore. He's in Ohio and is a great guy to speak with. Maybe we can talk him into taking a ton of pictures so that these trucks can be better documented on this site. I think he has a photo of his truck when it was still in service at Bondurant (lettered and numbered).




In conclusion, here are all of the NLOC threads/posts that refer to the trucks:

1-18-03: Used 03 for sale in Columbia

10-26-03: rare Roush gen 1

11-1-03: check out how much this is up to

12-24-03: Anyone We Know ??

1-13-04: WOW!! Who's is this in Marion, OH??

8-2-05: Informal "poll"


I gathered this info over the past few months. Some of it may be slightly inaccurate, but it's correct as far as I know. If anyone has more info that they want to share, post it up!

99WhiteBeast

Awesome-nice write up and research. I always enjoy reading about the one off L's

blkdvL

this thread is absolutely worthless without pictures....


jk...they would be nice though!!!

great writeup!

RhinoRacing

There was a black one on ebay a few year back went for like 10k I think.

I have 3 friends who went out there and bought Mustangs when they were selling off all the Ford stuff when they switched to GM. Also the had some Contour's done up also one is here in the KC area to.

I think I have some pics fromt eh ebay add somewhere I will have to look if I do I will post them.

BigD

Get pictures and any other info available, and I will put in the History Section above.

Thanks for the info.

...Dwight...

my94lightning

I know a guy on the SHO club (taurus) who has a sable that rousch converted to sho trim for bondurant. story was is ford sent rousch like 6 sho's and 2 Mercury Sables to get converted for there driving school. no one knows why ford sent 2 sables, but kinda crazy. I have seen it, and it definatly got the same treatment as the L's got with cooling upgrades, cage and fuel cell etc.
also saw a 4 cam cobra powered crown vic that rousch did for them also.

pretty cool stuff, would be cool for pics of the Lightning to surface.
I remember looking at the one for sale on ebay, but never saved the pics.

Jay Jr

APRIL FOOLS! Jk but would be sweet to run into one

dogman

I talked to Chuck at firebird a few weekends back, and he wanted to know if I wanted another Lightning, I asked him how much and I think he told me 2k ?? Also I think the L’s at bonduraunt were driven by students as it was in use for the teaser class they had many fathers day’s ago…


Greg

badpony93

yeah the track has I believe two? I wonder how many miles are on them even though they are HARD miles

blkdvL

If he's really willing to sell it for 2k, I will buy that thing RIGHT NOW. Tell him to call me 805-550-0392

-Steven

ROBSLXTASY

They are high mileage trucks not low.. They used them for everything not just around the track..They are pretty beat dont be fooled but for 2K they are at least rust free..

dogman

Steven,

I don't see him that often, your best bet if you are interested is to call firebird, and ask to talk to Chuck Sundstrom (SP ??)

Greg

blkdvL

Thanks Greg. I just called

__________________
Steven "Blkdvll"
2004 Jeep WJ - 3" lift, GY Muds, Front/Rear tow points
1997 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC - Drilled/slotted, silencer delete, loud pipes, sensor lower, tint

blkdvL

...I'm shaking with joy/anticipation/nervousness....


*hint hint hint*

jonwoos

Well, let us know what you found out.