If you’re looking for a pickup truck that makes a statement, you might want to consider one designed by Shelby Performance. Not only does Shelby offer unique, eye-popping aftermarket parts for pickup trucks, but it can also transform your bedded form of transportation into a canyon-carving, high-performance super hauler. You can have your own Shelby truck for a price, of course.
We jumped at the chance to spend some time in Shelby’s latest truck: a fully modified (meaning all the optional boxes checked) 2018 Ford F-150. We knew this was going to be something special, especially once we saw the six-figure price sheet.
The most impressive feature of the 2018 Shelby F-150 are the well-dialed-in ; they are complemented by a 4-inch suspension lift that comfortably fits 35-inch-tall BFGoodrich All-Terrain KO2 tires. The Shelby F-150’s ride is impressive for anything this size and weight. Amazingly, with all the interior and exterior add-ons and 20-inch wheels, not to mention extra underpinnings, the truck only puts on about 300 pounds (weighing just less than 6,000 pounds), so it still offers about 1,000 pounds of payload with its 7,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating.
We drove the Shelby F-150 truck up and down the canyons above Malibu, Calif. The massive Whipple supercharger on the 5.0-liter V-8 provides 755 horsepower, according to Shelby, which translates into almost instantaneous thrust when you mash the throttle. We especially liked the sound of the dual exhaust combined with the supercharger whine — it’s a symphony of testosterone. Other impressive details include the nine exterior Shelby logos scattered around and underneath the truck, the dual-stripe performance decal, the hard tonneau cover and carpet-lined cargo area, the Shelby cobra logos, custom transmission tuning to the Ford 10-speed and extra-high-flow air intake. We’re also told there was a massive amount of work done to the software calibrations to make sure all the transmission settings, shifting patterns and four-wheel-drive system was dialed in to work as similar to a factory vehicle as possible. Shelby offers a three-year/36,000-mile limited warranty on all performance upgrades.
So what did this 2018 Shelby F-150 ring up at? With almost every option Shelby offers (we wish there was a bigger brake package), the truck we drove cost just less than $107,000, not including the cost of the F-150 you need to purchase at a participating Ford dealership.
Since we got a few days behind the wheel, we shot a quick video to allow you to see and hear the 2018 Shelby F-150. Enjoy.
