Reader Spy: U.S. Border Patrol finally gets its leatherless Ford Raptors

What the U.S. Federal Government wants, the U.S. Federal Government gets. And what the Customs and Border Protection division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security wanted were at least 10 Ford SVT Raptor pickup trucks to patrol the area where Arizona borders with Mexico. Only problem is that Ford puts a standard leather interior in all its Raptor trucks, which is evidently against the ordering preferences of the Feds.

So, what to do? Put in an extra-special order with Ford, make a few phone calls (give us what we want... or else...) and patiently await delivery – a truckload of specially liveried pickups that Autoblog reader Matt happened photograph and send in to us. We went ahead and contacted Ford to be sure that it managed to deliver the authorities the Raptors it wanted, and we got an affirmative... sort of.

Ford would need the actual Vehicle Identification Numbers of the trucks to confirm individual equipment levels, and we're not about to march on down to Southern Arizona to grab them. But Ford says the Feds did order Raptors without leather and that the Blue Oval Bosses complied. So we're going with a definite probably.

Gallery:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/u-s-b...pment/#3602350

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/23/u...tor-spy-shots/

 

Awesome truck!

There's one of these in my neighbourhood and I sat in one at the Seattle Auto show two weeks ago. Ford is on quite the roll.

 

nice trucks. what do the feds have against leather? too hot in the desert?

 

these things looks beastly. Nice to see the government buying ford instead of their government own GM products LOL

 

Cool trucks, I need one with leather/nav/sunroof/seat heaters.

 

Too hot, and with the kind of abuse the seats would go through from daily work duties, they won't last long.

 

Thats really cool. I havent seen one on the road yet though.

 

Sweet trucks. A neighbor of mine has one, and I was very impressed with it. I've never driven one, but I'm sure it's a great experience.

 

I fully understand how hard US CBP with regards to their job and obligation to prevent illegal immigration. They really deserve new toys to help them in their daily missions.