CUSTOM: FORD F250 BLACK OPS
WHAT TO BUILD WHEN THE BEST F250 IN AUSTRALIA ISN'T ENOUGH
THE 200 Series Land Cruiser is the benchmark all other 4WDS are compared to. It’s incredibly capable, pulls like a freight train, and is comfortable enough the Queen of England would probably eye one off if she ever had to live out of a car. The V8 twin-turbo diesel makes bulk-torque, and when given the Super Tourer treatment is arguably one of the toughest 4WDS on the market today.
So what the hell do you do when it isn’t enough? As Simon stood in his driveway, eyeing off his very own Super Tourer with a calendar full of trips and a fist full of catalogues for off-road caravans, it was a question he had to ask himself. The answer was every red-blooded American’s wet dream – a beast of a Ford F250, pushing out bulk power, along with huge tyres and enough off-road goodies to knock the LC200 off its throne.
THE ANSWER WAS EVERY RED-BLOODED AMERICAN’S WET DREAM – A BEAST OF AN F250
The 20 feet of American freedom you’re currently ogling is no standard F250, either. It’s a limited edition Black Ops model, something pieced together by American aftermarket manufacturer Tuscany Motor Co in Elkhart, Indiana, just a few hours’ drive from Detroit. While a stock F250 is nothing to turn your nose up at, the Black Ops edition options up a six-inch lift with 20-inch rims and 37-inch tyres, twin steering dampers, a black-on-black-on-black colour scheme with customised leather trim inside, a heap of carbon-fibre, a dual scoop bonnet, and a train plough of a bullbar up front from Road Armor.
“We bought it when the Aussie dollar was good,” Simon told us. “They have a much better towing ability than a 200. We have a caravan we could tow with our 200, but when you want to overtake some idiot doing 80km/h, the extra power is great.”
Despite coming reasonably decked out in stock form from the factory, Simon wasn’t planning on doing stock stuff. “We do a lot of touring,” he said. “This year we’re doing Tassie in September to October, then off doing the Kimberley and the whole West Coast the year after. We do a lot of weekends to Moreton and a lot of remote camping.”
Like most projects, things started to snowball pretty quickly. After a phone call to Rebecca and Luke at Outback Customs in Caboolture, a plan was set that’d see the F250 turn into a steroid-infused version of Simon’s own Super Tourer. The centre point is the huge Outback Customs tray set-up, and it’s probably the largest they’ve ever built. Like most of their builds, it starts with a trick heavy duty steel tray with an aggressive departure angle and plenty of storage. Due to the sheer size of the F250, they were also able to squeeze in a few extra lockable boxes in front of the rear axle in that iconic Outback Customs style. There’s also a three-quarter length trundle tray underneath for extra storage, not that it needs it.