It was decided I would get some boxing instruction mixed in with my other martial-arts training. Cassidy spotted the little smile on my face when we were practicing our forms.
“You’re thinking about getting to punch my dad, aren’t you?” she asked.
I just smiled bigger.
◊◊◊
Mom, Dad, Peggy, Little David, and I all met Caryn and Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan at the car dealership. I needed to lease something for Peggy to transport Little David and my son around in.
“Caryn told us you wanted something large enough to take several people in that was nice and not a minivan,” Mr. Sullivan said.
“There will be times I’ll drive it, and I just can’t see myself driving a minivan around,” I admitted.
Over the next hour, we drove several SUVs. We looked at the Ford Expedition, Chevrolet Tahoe, and GMC Yukon. Each of them was eliminated for different reasons. That meant our decision came down to the Cadillac Escalade or the Lincoln Navigator. Mr. Sullivan pointed out that although the Lincoln Navigator belongs to the class of luxury SUVs, and was a status symbol, its design was considered obsolete. Ford planned to make many upgrades in next year’s model. So, by process of elimination, we settled on the Escalade.
“We have one more we want to show you,” Mrs. Sullivan said. “I’m not sure if you’d be interested in something used, but we received a call that a dealer in Missouri got something special in. So, we had them ship it over so you could check it out.”
“What makes it special?” Dad asked.
“Well, I think David asked for a vehicle that would seat more than five people. Ford used to have an enormous SUV called the Excursion, but they quit making the three-quarter-ton eight-seater in 2005. For those customers needing the extra pulling capacity and three rows of seating, the 2500-series Suburban and Yukon XL were the only choices. That is until GM cut production of those as well.
“Hennessey Performance has partnered with Ford to take their F-150 SVT Raptor SuperCrew series pickup truck and turn it into an SUV. The F-150 Raptor was designed by Ford as a great off-road truck. It has six preset modes for the truck, depending on terrain and driving conditions. Normal mode is well-suited for everyday driving, while Sport mode offers higher performance during on-road driving. Weather mode offers confident control in rain, snow, or ice. For muddy and sandy terrain, you can choose Mud and Sand mode. Baja mode is helpful during high-speed desert running, and Rock mode is your go-to for low-speed rock-crawling,” Mrs. Sullivan said.
My mom’s expression seemed to indicate she didn’t like the off-road options.
“What they created was the Ford Hennessey VelociRaptor SUV. The original list price for this vehicle was over $160,000. They’ve only made a little over 400 of these. The one we want to show you is two years old and has been sitting on the lot in Missouri for four months. They sent out a call to see if anyone might have a client who’d buy it. They’re willing to take a bath on it to move it.”
I looked at Mom and Dad, and they both nodded.
“Let’s see it,” I said.
Mr. Sullivan went around back and drove out a beast. The first thing that caught my eye was the large block Ford logo across the front grill. It was black. When I say black, I mean all the trim was black. The only white was on the driver’s door, where it said ‘VelociRaptor 650’ and ‘Supercharged’ in script below that. On the rear side window, the name ‘Hennessey’ was also in white. The wheels and tires were all black, and they’d tinted the windows black to the point you couldn’t see into the back seats. The Cadillac Escalade screamed luxury, while the Ford Hennessey VelociRaptor looked menacing.
“They designed the Raptor pickup trucks to be factory-ready to run Baja,” Mr. Sullivan said as he got out of it.
That earned him a look from my mom.
“Because the suspension is designed to take on the off-road, it’s an extremely comfortable ride. The man who bought this had five children and wanted something he could take his family camping in,” Mr. Sullivan continued.
I smiled when Peggy handed me Little David.
“I think I’d better test-drive this one,” Peggy said and then looked at my mom and Caryn. “You want to go with me?”
“We better test-drive it before David gets ahold of it,” my mom said.
Mrs. Sullivan went with them. Mr. Sullivan continued to run down the stats of the car. Then he said something that caught my attention.
“The previous owner had them put in a twin-turbo supercharger setup. I was told they tuned it so it pushed the 6.2-liter V-8 to 1032 horsepower. It is reported to do 0-to-60 in 4 seconds. Of course, they beefed up the brakes to compensate for that much horsepower. I took it out for a little spin, and it pinned me to the seat when I put the pedal down. It’s a quiet ride, and I found I was doing over 100 miles per hour and didn’t even realize it.
“It’s not your Charger Hellcat, but it can hold its own. I think you’ll like it,” Mr. Sullivan said.
