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If you have owned a particular truck for a long time, you know that it has a life of its own. Though trucks are mechanical things, not living beings, however, you can never escape the feeling that the vehicle you are driving, a Ford F150 or F250 Super Duty, for example, doesn’t have a life of its own.
Flying F250 Super Duty Story’s Start
Maybe that explains it. Explain what? Perhaps it explains what happened to a junker F250 owned by Mark Freeman, a professional motorcross racer. By now, you are probably scratching your heads, wondering why we are talking about this. It is a good question, so let's go back to the very start of this tale, as related by The Ford Authority.
It seems that Freeman picked up a beat-up V-10 F250 Super Duty that was on its last axles. Ready for the bone-yard, Freeman, decided that the F250 should have a proper send-off.
The first thing that the race driver accomplished was parting out those bits that people wanted from it. Then, Freeman made final plans for the beaten-up three-quarter-ton pickup. Perhaps, in a fitting sort of memorial, arrangements were made for a jump between two dirt ramps that are on the racer’s large property. Rather than making it a manned jump, which wouldn’t have done the driver much good – especially the descent -- Freeman made plans for an unmanned launch.
How Would You Get The F250 To Take Off?
So, as the appointed time neared, Freeman had to figure out how to get the F250 Super Duty started and rolling toward its destiny. His first plan involved wedging a board between the throttle and the driver’s seat, throwing the vehicle into gear, and then getting the heck out of the cab. Now, if this looks a bit dangerous, you are right, it is more than a bit on the awesomely, hugely awful idea side. However, the problem of getting out of the way of the pickup was solved, and the whole show was set to begin.
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To solve the problem of getting out of the pickup, Freeman turned to electronics, rigging up a remote kill box so that the F250 would halt before it missed the jump, possibly hitting a tree, a bush, or a shrub. Getting things right for the run-up, it then took several attempts to get the F250 Super Duty on the right path, but it looks like fate took over to give the F250 the send-off it deserved.
F250 Super Duty Has Perfect Takeoff, Landing
Speeding unerringly downhill toward the ramp, the F250 scored perfect takeoff. Rocketing towards the opposite hill, the F250 sticks its landing for a perfect 10. The damage didn’t seem too bad, but, when they tried to get the pickup moving under its power, the F250 wouldn’t budge. The jump was just too much for the well-worn wreck whose next date was with the crusher.
Source: The Ford Authority (TFA) is one of the leading independent news and information sources on the Ford Motor Company and its products. TFA presents up-to-date information with daily posts.
About the author
Marc Stern has been an auto writer since 1971. It was a position that filled two boyhood dreams: One was that I would write, and two that I write about cars. When I took over as my newspaper’s auto editor, I began a 32-year career as an automotive columnist. There isn’t much on four wheels that I haven’t driven or reviewed. My work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, AutoWeek, SuperStock, Trailer Life, Old Cars Weekly, Special Interest Autos, and others. Today, I am the Ford F150 reporter for Torque News. I write how-to and help columns for online sites such as Fixya.com and others. You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook.
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