Ford celebrates centennial with memorial Harley Davidson model

Listen up, all you multitasking lawyers, bankers, doctors and executives. Yeah, you ... you know who you are! You wear a suit Monday through Friday, and you probably drive a so-called midlevel luxury car like a Lincoln, or one of those "suave" foreign brands that you bought up in St. Louis. You look forward to Saturday more than anyone else, because while the suit is at the cleaner you're sporting a skullcap, faded jeans, and a sleeveless T-shirt. And, you have a garage full of really cool toys that would make Onassis proud. Trouble is, that cool car of yours looks kind of funny towing your ChubbyBoy down to Bike Week, or dragging your WaveRipper over to the lake.

Ford has just the vehicle for you, sir, and Ford Groves in Cape Girardeau has one in stock. It's in stock, that is, when my wife or daughter, isn't hoarding it. You see, I'm supposed to test drive these vehicles for 24 hours. The vehicle is supposed to be delivered to me clean and ready to be photographed and brimming with a full tank of gas. (This is hard work, but someone's got to do it.) Well, things got out of hand when my normally mild-manner wife and wide-eyed daughter came home and saw Ford's low-slung Harley-Davidson F-150 sitting in the driveway. Did I get to cruise it down Broadway? No. Did I get to drive it to our favorite restaurant in the country for dinner? No. Did I get to play "Macho-Macho-Macho-Man" on the six-speaker stereo system? No ... instead I had to sit in back and listen to Sheryl Crow singing "Are You Strong Enough To Be My Man?"

Hey, women, this is a guy's truck, all right! After all, this puppy has a supercharger! Do you even know what that is? Huh? Do you know what a limited-slip differential is? Do you have any idea how to control a truck that can do a quarter mile in less than 15 seconds with its moon roof open? I don't think so! So PLEASE, just get in one of the bucket seats in back and BE QUIET, because I want to hear the rumble of the special exhaust system and the whine of that sweet supercharger under that big brawny Ford hood.

Yeah men, this is what we've been looking for. It's all luxury car on the inside, but pure he-man on the outside. It wears more Harley-Davidson emblems than a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and it will out-comfort its two-wheeled brethren as well. Hit a button and the foot pegs, I mean foot pedals, move forward or back to suit you. Another button slides the rear cab window open, and, of course, all the windows and the moon roof are power operated as well. So are the big reclining front leather seats.

The supercharged 2003 Ford Harley-Davidson F-150 SuperCrew is the fourth truck jointly developed by Ford and Harley-Davidson. This limited edition truck features a 340 horsepower supercharged 5.4-liter Triton V-8 engine with 425 foot-pounds of torque, unique styling cues and a new color option -- dark shadow grey. The only other color available, black, is reminiscent of Ford's early history when you "could have any color you want, as long as it's black."

Ford entered the car business in June 1903, the same year Harley-Davidson motorcycles were launched, so this partnership is a natural. Ford officially entered the truck business in 1917. Prior to that, aftermarket companies offered truck bodies to convert your Model T to a truck. Ford decided to capture that share of the market, and has been wildly successful: the F-series has been the best selling pickup -- best selling vehicle, in fact -- for the past 18 years.

The EPA says you can expect to get 12 to 16 miles per gallon on premium fuel, and Ford says you can expect to pay about $39,000 for a Harley equipped like this one. But there are incentives and deals galore right now, so a wise shopper will probably pay less. There are four full-size doors and an interior as roomy and luxurious as any family of four needs. Although it will tow more than any sedan I know of, don't expect this beast to ride like your luxury sedan. It's still a truck, and it has a heavy frame and a suspension to handle all that power and weight. Still, if you like the handling and ride of your typical full-size SUV, you'll like the Harley-Davidson F-150. Or, if you prefer a Mustang convertible, like my daughter drives, you'll like this Harley. About the only person I can't recommend this vehicle to is the guy in the witness protection program.

Steve Robertson of Robertson Photography is a car enthusiast and former photographer for the Southeast Missourian.