on the way to my friends house for lunch i saw a ranger thunderbolt at a chevy dealership so i stop and look took some pics ill post them later it was a 2002 with the 4.0 red 4 door really nice so i asked the guy to take it for a test drive and i did i liked it but they want 18,000 for it and it has 56000 miles on it plus i would be taking a big bite in the butt if i traded it in so im not going to it was real nice it was in great shape and it was pretty fast had a sun roof 6 disc changer hard tounna cover with the spolier and the thunder bolt wheels

 

I didn't know they acutally made them...

I thought they were just a concept or whatever...

 

What makes it so much better than your run of the mill 2wd XLT? The exhaust and front facia? I really dont know, but want to.

 

Back in 2003 when I was looking for a new truck I found a dealer in Portsmouth, NH who had at least two in stock. They didn't look like much to me, mostly just the trim and exhaust.

 

Are you maybe thinking of the Ranger Lightning Bolt SVT concept. That was not a production model.

 

The Thunderbolt was a 2002~3 Ranger that was modified by SLP Engineering and sold through Ford dealers with a Ford new vehicle factory warranty.




The Lightning Bolt was a heavily modified SVT concept Ranger flareside with a blown 5.4L. It used modified F150 Lightning powertrain, suspension and wheels.

 

It was mostly cosmetics inside and out plus a 2-3" drop and front and rear sway bars. There was an optional "performance kit" that was made up of the cone filter and dual exhaust that Hillbank is selling on eBay right now. The kit was supposedly good for +15HP, according to SLP. A 16" wheel option was just the factory 5-spoke 4x4/Edge wheels with different rubber.

 

I like the pic. Bob but those wheels suck big time! I cant beleive they would put those cheap-o wheels on a ThunderBolt. It definately needs something better!

 

I can't argue with you there! I would think that most owners would go for an upgrade, either to the 16" factory aluminum wheel option from SLP or a nice aftermarket tire/wheel combo.

SLP's optional wheels (painted Ranger 4x4/Edge wheels)

 

the only thunderbolts i have ever seen had the nicer wheels but they had a flushmount tonneau with a goofy looking spoiler mounted to the tailgate... i like the spoiler on the hard tonneau in these pics

 

The Thunderbolts could be ordered by Ford dealers with a variety of levels and options much like a factory built truck. They were shipped from the factory to a retrofit facility in Kentucky where the SLP parts were installed.

2002
http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/stor...underbolt.html

2003
http://www.pickuptruck.com/html/stor...rbolt2003.html

 

to me i think it looks pretty cool how it looks!
nick

 

My dealer only had the Thunderbolt in stock w/ the cheap-o steel wheels. I agree, it looked bad. As a whole I did not think much of the package at all.

 

i looked up the one i drove online it had the level 3 package with the cone filter and duel exust. it was nice i looked on kelly blue book to figure out what its worth and they didnt have the thunder bolt so i did a xlt it came out to 15500 for the price i looked up the L3 thunder bolt package and it came to about 3800 dollors so add that and its not a bad price but i think i like my fx4 better i like being able to go offroad

 

If I remember correctly, Roush ended up with the Thunderbolt from SLP. After that, all of the remaining parts were sold to Hillbank Motorsports and are still available and quite inexpensive. There website is: http://www.hillbankusa.com/catalog/h...5054cad798e6f4

They also use Ebay a-lot for these parts. They are pretty much always listed.

 

These wheels are heading toward the right direction but I thonk the meed to be wider and the truck needs to be dropped to make it look really good. Thats just my two cents.