Now that a highly-equipped Ford F-150 can top $80,000, it’s easy to forget that the concept of a luxurious full-size crew-cab pickup was in its infancy 20 years ago. Back then, Ford asked less than $27,000 for an F-150 Lariat with leather seats, and even a loaded-up King Ranch was less than $35,000.
Splitting the difference — and going after a distinct market — was the F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition. Developed in concert with the Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer, the F-150 H-D came standard with a lowered suspension, big 20-inch chrome wheels wearing extra-wide tires, and quad bucket seats with front and rear consoles. It was unlike any pickup before in the way it blended sporty style and handling with a luxurious interior and, of course American swagger.
In 2002, Ford’s Lincoln division took a similar approach with its megabuck Blackwood, a $53,000 or so truck that didn’t sell well but certainly helped change the way we think of pickups as high-end human-haulers. The Blackwood was the first full-size truck to offer navigation, and the first to come with standard side airbags — two admittedly obscure feats, but feats nonetheless.
The F-150 Harley-Davidson, however, was almost a decent value: about $34,500 bought you nearly every option in the Ford catalog. As a Harley-Davidson-licensed product, it was of course loaded up with extra chrome, big Harley badges, and relatively subtle gray and orange stripes. Black paint was mandatory, and the only major options included a CD changer and heated seats.
The F-150 Harley-Davidson was unveiled, predictably, at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, and it went on sale for the 2000 model year in SuperCab extended-cab configuration. Amazingly, it wasn’t until 2001 that Ford offered a full crew cab F-150, and the Harley version switched to that body style for the model year. The following year, Ford swapped in the 340-horsepower supercharged V8 mostly borrowed from the F-150 SVT Lightning, and it added gray to the color palette. Changes for 2003 were mostly cosmetic, and in 2004 Ford switched its Harley-Davidson partnership to the Super Duty rather than the half-ton F-150.
This 2001 F-150 Harley-Davidson comes from the second year of production, when just 6,381 are said to have been built. With just 161 miles on its odometer, it appears to be an essentially new vehicle, and it even includes its original temporary license plate issued in March 2001 at Mike Andersen Ford in Smithville, Tennessee. The included window sticker shows that its original owner paid $295 extra for a six-disc CD changer for a $34,790 total MSRP.
Today, the used car dealer in Northwest Indiana’s Chicago suburbs wants a little more than that, but at $42,000 it certainly has to be one of the nicest available at any price. Find a Ford F-150 on Autotrader
