Boosted Pickups: A Brief History of Turbocharged and Supercharged Trucks

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We're not talking stolen trucks. Apropos of our recent test of an EcoBoost V-6 F-150, here's a look back at its forced-induction forebears. (For our purposes here, only trucks sold new through dealers with a supercharger or turbocharger count. And no diesels.)

2001 Ford SVT F-150 Lightning

Ford has built many a boosted F-150 in the past, all of them wearing superchargers atop V-8 engines. It all started with the 1999 SVT F-150 Lightning, which was based on the tenth-generation F-150 and used a 360-hp, 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 that put out 440 lb-ft of torque. The engine was revised for 2001, netting 380 hp and 450 lb-ft, while a detuned version was available in the first of many Harley-Davidson F-150s.

2007 Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson

The Lightning went away after 2003 never to return, but Ford continued with its factory-backed supercharged 5.4-liter for the eleventh-generation truck in the form of another Harley-Davidson special. This one was upfitted in Saleen's shops, using the same setup as the Saleen S331 Supercharged. A similar setup from Roush was applied to the 2008 F-150 Foose Edition.

Studebaker Champ (not an elusive supercharged model)

Before all that, though, was a pair of supercharged Studebaker Champs. The trucks—which are said to have used the R2 engine familiar to Gran Turismo Hawks, Golden Hawks, and Avantis—were built by the factory for unknown reasons. Then again, Studebaker didn't always do the logical thing.

1984 Subaru Brat turbo

2004 Subaru Baja Turbo

And lest we forget, there was also the Subaru Brat, which was offered with a turbocharged flat-four in 1983 and 1984. The Brat was so, uh, successful that Subaru reprised the car-truck in the 2000s with the Outback-based Baja. The Baja Turbo was offered beginning in 2004. The Baja bit it in 2006. We still can't figure out where they left all of those trunk lids.

1985 Toyota SR5

Toyota had its own brief encounter with American turbo trucks with the SR5 Turbo. It was sold in 1985 and 1986 and used a turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder. Marty McFly made do with the naturally aspirated version in Back to the Future.

2003 Nissan Frontier SC

Remember the Nissan Frontier SC? "SC" stood for "supercharged," of course, and force-feeding the 3.3-liter V-6 upped its output from 170 to 210 hp. Nissan offered the same powertrain in the Frontier's SUV relative, the Xterra.

1991 GMC Syclone

And last, but certainly not least, there's the GMC Syclone. Its 4.3-liter single-turbo V-6 produced 280 hp and 350 lb-ft of torque, not to mention the inspiration for a very memorable Car and Driver comparison test.

Will the EcoBoosted F-150 jumpstart a forced-induction trend among workhorses? With the way turbochargers are being thrown around these days in the name of fuel economy, we wouldn't be surprised. As long as the result is more trucks like these—blown party up front, bed in the back—count us in.

David Gluckman 24 Jun, 2011

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Source: http://blog.caranddriver.com/boosted-pickups-a-brief-history-of-turbocharged-and-supercharged-trucks/
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