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If it makes you feel better, I believe that Toyota are the best made import owned trucks.

Why are you sending him to us?

Crazy - I forgot all about the Jensens. I haven't seen one in a long time. Mr. P. - I don't think the Lightning is anything more than what it is. It's fun to drive, especially since I have a Hotchkiss Performance kit on it that lowers it and makes for a fun ride on twisty roads. I have found that by leaving my engine stock, I have not had all the problems that the guys who mod their trucks have. More horsepower = more heat, and more things are going to break. I'm happy with my truck just the way it sits now, so that's all that matters. I do wish Ford would have put a little better interior in it like the SSS, but I guess they were just trying to keep the price down. I'd rather have a stock supercharger set-up than all leather upholstery. But I really believe that I am witnessing the end of the second muscle-car era with the gas prices they way they are. It would be pretty stupid for any of the car companies to make these trucks again and expect many people to buy them. Right now it's hard to give away Lightnings or SRT-10's. Who wants 8-12 mpg trucks?

That almost looks like an Avanti? I still drive an old 1963 Pontiac big block 389. My father bought it new and left it to me when he passed away eight years ago. It still runs good and is basically stock.

I really wanted a two door regular cab two wheeled drive sport truck and tried to find a Joe Gibbs modified regular cab. Since I bought my wife a Toyota Highlander Limited with all the bells and whistles that has four doors and full time four wheel drive that we use as our family car, I really didn't need a family sized truck. I also own two other cars and four motorcycles; three of which are street legal that I use to commute to save gas money. My truck was bought for me to pick up garden supplies and other small household stuff, but was really just going to be a play toy for me to drive to work a few times a month and to screw around with on weekends. I love taking it out on back roads and power sliding it through turns and finding deserted straight-aways to hear that supercharger whine. I also use it to take my dirt bike out to the ranch and to tow my jet ski to the lake. And since I live in sunny California, I can drive it year round.

Because the Lightning comes with a beefed up transmission and rear end, all you really need to do is add more boost. But by doing that you lose your 7 year 75,000 mile power-train warranty. I like leaving my engine stock and being able to have a little fun without having to worry about breaking it. If Chevy would have offered a supercharger on the SS, I would be driving one right now, as I was thinking hard about buying an SS until I test drove my truck.

Maybe they were talking about the 1999-2000 Lightnings that didn't come with the 3.73:1 final drive, and the 90mm maf and the 380 hp and 450 lbs of torque, and the upgraded inter-cooler. The 2001-2004 were a bit faster with 0-60 times in the 5.1 range and quarter mile times in the 13.60's according to Motor Trend's Truck Trend 2004 Lightning vs Dodge Ram SRT-10 (see link below). You guys can think what you want but be prepared if you run a newer Lightning. And having a supercharger on your truck makes it drive nice and smooth like a stock truck until you get into the boost, which by the way, is addicting as hell. http://www.trucktrend.com/roadtests/pickup...s_overview.html

Thanks guys! I do know what he is talking about though, this is SilveradoSS.com. But to not have truck owners of other brands here would be a mistake. I personally don't like Trolls, but we are all in this hot rod truck family together. And besides, wouldn't it be a drag if we all owned the same truck?

I've been a member here for two years and haven't made any enemy's. We get SSS and SRT-10's over on the Lightning forums and as long as they don't come there to start trouble, they are welcome. Do you want us to go away?

If I lived in snow country I would own a 4WD truck as well. But since I live in sunny California, I can easily get away with my 2WD truck. I originally wanted a Joe Gibbs short-bed pickup, but I couldn't find one that was for sale, so I decided to get my truck. Below is the J-G truck I wanted.

You got what you wanted and that's all that counts. I already have a SUV for the family, so I bought my truck just for me. I like the single cab and it handles very well for a truck. I also like taking my dirt bike to my riding areas going 80 mph with the flow of traffic. I like the SSS trucks, it's just that after I test drove my Lightning I had to have it.

The Lightning in the video below has much more than a $50 tune, but 2001-2004 Lightnings should be able to run in the 13's out of the box with a decent driver. Watch the E.T. of the Lightning after the car's pass to see a quick one.

That's nice that the guy was cool. I'm one of the Lightning owners that have been a Chevy man my whole life until I test drove a Lightning. The Lightning comes stock with 8 psi of boost and a lot of owners put a larger pulley on them to give them 4 or 6 extra pounds of boost to get the trucks into the 400/500 or above club at the rear wheels. If the guy you raced had 10 psi, then he choose to go on the safe side. As a rule of thumb going 8 psi or above the factory 8 psi can grenade a stock engine in certain conditions. Putting an additional 4 or 6 psi pulley on can easily get these trucks in the 12's. But even stock they are a handful to try to drive under boost in the rain. Winter time they are dead meat to the all-wheeled drive SSS, so try him again when the weather is in your favor.

Try this place for all your questions: http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/ it's got a lot of information on just about everything you will need. I ride a Honda CRF450X and feel it's a good bike for a trial bike. Good Luck!

Thanks, it's called Dark Shadow Grey and they only offered it the last two years (2003-2004). It really has a lot of metal flake in it and looks pretty good in bright light. I don't have any real good shots of it but the picture below shows the color a little better, and how smooth the Gaylord's covers are.

As the others have stated, they are leather inserts with man made suede on the sides. I have just over 30,000 miles on mine and no wear at all. If I were you, I'd try to get a 2003-2004 Lightning, as they had the final upgrades and, the eight thread spark plug heads. The older Lightnings were prone to spitting out spark plugs before they changed the heads. The 1999-2000 Lightnings came with 360 hp and 440 ft lbs of torque, compared to the 2001-2004 380 hp and 450 ft lbs of torque. The 1999-2000 also came with 355 rear end gears while the 2001-2004 came with 373 gears which helped shave a third of a second of the 0-60 times. The newer trucks came with Bilstein shocks, an upgraded inter-cooler, a larger 90mm mass-air sensor, and the 03'-04's got an in dash six CD changer, keypad door entry and other upgrades that the earlier trucks didn't have. All in all get a 2003-2004 Lighting if you can swing it, as they are the ones to get. PM me if you have any questions about them and I'll try to answer them without taking up space here.

Go for it! I think the Speedsturr lip gives the truck a NASCAR truck kind of look. Mine came with the lid, but I'm real happy with it. Good Luck!

I know it pisses you off Joe, but it isn't worth going to jail over. Can it be repaired with some touch-up paint?

I agree with what BOB47 said. Besides, it could just be a coincidence. I'd ask him face to face if he knew anything about it and make sure you are looking him right in the eye while you are talking to him. I know when someone is lying to me because they can't look me in the eye. Since you have the nicer vehicle, do you really want to possible start a screw with the other guys vehicle war with someone that has less to lose than you?

I'm not even going anywhere near there.

There are a few ways to launch one that will all but eliminate the wheel spin, but you need to practice them. As I was trying to explain on another post that got into a little miscommunication with Crazymoparguy, if you bring the rpm's up to around 1,200 and then quickly floor it without stomping it, you can come out of the hole like shot. But not too many Lightning owners appear to use this approach.

Since they don't have all wheeled drive they can be a handful off the line and some smoke the tires into second gear. With 450 lbs of torque they can spin the tires until they melt if you want them to. After I put traction bars on my truck I came out of the hole much better and I'm sure they improved the 60 ft times. Lightnings' top out at 147 mph stock, so they get good traction at 50 and then start to stretch their legs. I had a friend that was into going fast until I took him up to 135 mph (truck handled tight) and then chickened out real quick. I guess the SS's all wheeled drive catches Lightning owners off guard.

The boost kicks in as soon as you push the gas pedal past a certain point. You can take off with partial throttle and the boost gauge will show your running on vacuum, but give it more throttle and the boost will go up to 8 psi if you want it to. You can be at a stand still and rev the engine and hear the supercharger, but they have a boost bypass for normal driving at partial throttle.

I think some of the younger owners are more like that than the older owners. I've been around and raced many people over the years and won some, and lost some, but I did learn that to get respect you need to give it. Unfortunately there are a few who haven't learned that yet, and they are diving every make of vehicle.