2004 Ford F150 - Cold Heat

What if silver were fire, and its ethereal flames the result of pyro-metallic excitement without combustion? Simply heat a silver brand and watch it writhe, or touch it to a truck body with a painter's airbrush to burn away the mundane and reveal the truck's iron heart. Troy Bundy, owner of Iron Cross Automotive in Tulsa, Oklahoma, had his company build up an '04 Ford F-150 to grace a booth at the 2003 SEMA Show. It was designed as an urban off-road vehicle that features the company's flame-tube step and is otherwise outfitted in a manner that every enthusiast could afford and build. Its color scheme is black - dotted by ghost crosses - and scorched in blue and candy-silver flames - a dramatic rendering of the company's official colors demonstrates a less-than-common flair for depicting molten metal.

In other words, this vehicle is not extensively modified, but what changes there are look fantastic. Let's take another look at the body. DoughBoy Customs set fire to the truck with PPG paints, smoothed fender flares, and billet Boze door and tailgate handles. DoughBoy set up a Street Scene FX4 Speed Grille that has the dual purpose of looking cool and shielding the radiator from arthropod impacts. A Raider LoRider low-profile, composite lid protects the bed. Four 18-inch Wedge wheels from Boze gleam brightly through a ring of Nitto LT325/60R18 119S Terra Grappler tires. The interior of the F-150 had the privilege of being worked on by Classic Soft Trim, also from Tulsa, which laid custom-matched black and silver leather on the seats to complement the truck's OE appointments.

Underneath the truck is an extra 3 inches of air, thanks to a Skyjacker kit installed by the pros at Performance Truck in Tulsa. Performance Truck also installed engine accessories on the F-150's Triton 5.4L powerplant that includes an air-gulping Kenne Bell supercharger, air/fuel mixmaster AIRAID intake manifold, and Borla 3-inch stainless steel to evacuate the exhaust. Iron Cross' Flame tube step is a harbinger of what will soon be a series of new products that will include one-piece grilleguards, grille inserts, running boards, and receiver steps. This F-150 does well as a guidon for what's to come. Let's hope that whatever truck the company chooses to show off its new wares at the next SEMA Show renders them with the same molten intensity and liquid grace.