Monday, April 04, 2005

SVT my way

I was reading on www.autoblog.com and other sites that Ford will expand the SVT lineup to 5 vehicles. The first will of course be the Shelby Mustang Cobra, and then the announced Sport Trac Adrenalin, also mentioned are the Ford Fusion and the Ford Focus. I don't recall the fifth model from these articles, maybe they didn't specify. But here are a couple of my ideas;

Ford Five Hundred/Freestyle SVT; since this model is built off the Volvo S-80/XC-90 chassis and the XC-90 is getting the old SHO V-8 from Yamaha, making 315 hp. Why not take that motor and drop it into the Five Hundred and/or the Freestyle? The motor was designed originally for a Ford product, and will obviously fit in the chassis. Take that motor and some of the S-80 R suspension pieces and there you have an SVT model.

Ford Crown Victoria; does anyone remember the Marauder? Well Ford could improve on that easily and give this platform a nice send off, before it is replaced or retired. The parts are there, but admittedly maybe the market isn't.

Ford Explorer, this one's a no brainer, if the Sport Trac Adrenalin is based off the Explorer chassis, the development work has been done, and this could be a direct competitor for the Trailblazer SS.

Ford Escape ; OK now, if the 3.0L V-6 in the escape is good enough for the Noble M-12 to have dual turbo chargers, why can't for do something with this, maybe a supercharger? The chassis has four wheel independent suspension and is tunable. This mini sport ute would be a natural. Look at the Saturn Vue Redline, with a 250 hp V-6, how long do you think it will be before GM puts this motor into the Chevy Equinox? I believe Kenny Brown had done a few hot rodded Escapes why can't Ford

I think the Focus SVT should have never gone away, that was a great car. The new Focus platform should have an SVT version, this time maybe off the 4 door sedan.

Ford has the know how, and the resources, why not use them.

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