Some of the most impressive cars in history have been designed not by automakers but by their dealers. Dealerships sometimes explore an automaker’s ordering system, looking for quirky combinations of features they can offer at affordable prices. In the process, they occasionally create something amazing.
That’s how the Mustang California Special was born in the late 1960s. Porsche dealers have created many combinations of 911 features that the company has gone on to market. And a dealership in Alabama has invented the inexpensive supertruck.
Town and Country Ford of Bessemer, Alabama, gets credit for the truck, and The Drive gets credit for making it a nationwide story. The dealership’s TCCustoms department has created the “F-150 Sleeper.”
A Base Model With a Supercharger
It’s a single-cab F-150 XL – the most stripped-down model of Ford’s full-size truck – fitted with a 5.0-liter V8 engine, a Roush TVS supercharger, and a 3.73 non-limited slip axle ratio. Because the parts are all factory-approved, they don’t void the truck’s warranties. And they take power up to a shocking 705 horsepower.
That’s more power than you’d get with an F-150 Raptor R. But, because it’s built off the base model without a lot of creature comforts, the dealership lists the F-150 Sleeper at just $46,998. It’s a TRX fighter for less than half the price you can expect to pay for the last TRX models.
It comes without all the creature comforts of most of today’s supertrucks. It has cloth seats.
And yes, it comes in 4×2. Won’t all that power be a little unpredictable without the traction of 4-wheel drive? Probably.
But Town and Country explains, “Due to many different supply chain issues, the 4×4 option may or may not be available in the regular cab configuration.” A snarling truck that hops around like a scalded kitten is fun in its own way, but you can always throw some sandbags in the back.
We hope Ford is listening. With its unique selling points and fantastic name, the F-150 Sleeper has the potential to be a factory option somewhere down the line.
