11-13-2007 until 12-14-2017
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Silver_2000
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When My truck was stolen, I sensed some concern about the future of TALON So I asked Dennis to put together a blurb about how TALON started and what it means now. Those of you who know Dennis ( Sixpipes ) know he has a way with words.
This is his email reply and the attachment he sent along - I think it sums up the history pretty well.
THANKS Dennis !!
Quote:
Doug,
See attached note. Not sure if this is what you were looking for, but It's what I wanted to write... :-)
Dennis
Quote:
I remember way back in February of 1999, placing my order for a 1999 black Ford Lightning. $500 down would get you in line and would allow you to pay full sticker price (take it or leave it). I had never owned a performance vehicle in my life although I did come very close to buying a Lightning in 1993 when the first Generation Lightning hit the streets.
Everything in those first couple of years after the Gen II was produced, occurred at a very fast pace. The NLOC was a Gen I club (as you might have expected) back in those days and some of us local Gen II enthusiasts started a club that was first organized and developed on the NLOC. Doug developed the SVT Lightnings.com web site and hosted a forum on his site for local DFW guys. I think Terry Hogg was the only Gen I guy that participated in club events those first few years. Eventually, we decided to vote on a club name and develop our own club logo and that in a nutshell was how TALON came about.
Those first few years were great fun as we saw performance improvements take place at a furious pace. Doug, Mark, Brian, Logan, Terry, and I were participants in early motocross events. In the early days, the Gen II Lightning just annihilated the local Dodge RTs at the drag strip and there was a significant amount of trash talking about how the nibble little RT would put a whoopin on the Gen II if we were unlucky enough to meet up with them at an autocross event. So we did and we pretty much ended all the talk after our Gen IIs handily defeated the Dodge RT guys (modified as they were) at their chosen venue. Don’t really know where the Dodge RT crowd is these days.
It’s easy to keep your enthusiasm up when performance increases are occurring by leaps and bounds and Ford keeps cranking out new Lightnings with upgraded equipment. It is quite another thing to stay enthused when performance gains have pretty much leveled off, with the exception of turbos and larger blowers.
That is one reason I appreciate this website. It keeps me in touch with people that I truly like; never mind that we met as a result of owning a really cool and unique vehicle. It’s interesting that although the Gen II was cancelled in 2004, here we are closing in on the end of 2007 and somehow we still maintain friendships even when folks decide to divest of their trucks. That’s pretty cool if you ask me.
I haven’t been a very active poster on the board lately, but I browse all the time. I can see why folks come and go if all they are interested in is the truck. If you haven’t gotten to know some of the guys in the club, it’s your loss IMO. It appears the Gen II is headed the same direction as the Gen I. That is, a very dedicated group of enthusiasts that appreciates the uniqueness of what has turned out to be a significant vehicle in the terms of American-built performance vehicles.
As many of you know, I have recently put a significant amount of money in rebuilding my Gen II since my little incident last December and I really don’t see me spending much on performance stuff from here on out, but I can tell you right now, my truck will be an heirloom because it will never be for sale. And when I finish my Gen I rebuild, same goes for it.One for each son the way I have it figured out…
The point I want to make is; I have met folks because of my love for the Ford Lightning that I never would have met otherwise. This website has been a big part of keeping those relationships alive even though the general enthusiasm for the Ford Lightning has understandably waned in recent years. I love my trucks, but they’re replaceable. What I have enjoyed the most is meeting new people and making new friends that have been a very real and fun part of my life in the past several years. Not to mention the fact that TALON has had the highest level of club participation in all five Lightning Fest events (2003-2007). That’s something we should take pride in IMO.
I guess Doug’s recent vehicle theft is just a sign of the times, but whether we own a Lightning or a Corvette or a Viper, we are not defined by what we drive. If Doug decides to buy a Hybrid instead of a performance vehicle of some kind, It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans to me. OK, maybe the Hybid thing is going a little too far, but hey, you get the idea.
Dennis
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