Harley-Davidson's Pickup Trucks: From the Ford F-150 to the LoneStar Big Rig

Pickup trucks have been around on everyday American roads for exactly 99 years. Back in 1925, the age's most potent carmaker, Ford, introduced the Model T Runabout, a vehicle that was for all intents and purposes the first factory-made pickup truck average Americans could buy.

The arrival of a vehicle that could be used as a daily driver and could easily double as a workhorse on ranches and for delivery purposes gave birth to a segment that is very difficult to equal today. Here's what I mean.

The new year just arrived, so we do not have the full numbers pertaining to 2023. The picture for the previous year, however, is complete, and it paints a beautiful future for pickup trucks. In 2022, the American market swallowed no less than 10.9 million units, making this kind of vehicle the king of all the others.

At the end of 2023, Ford, which will be an important part of this here story, reported that its very impressive line of pickup trucks, the F-Series, is once again the leader of the pack, being chosen by no less than 700,000 customers. As said, we don't know the entire picture for the segment yet, but the number was high enough to make Ford confident enough to claim the F-Series is, for the 47th year in a row, the best-selling truck in the United States.

Americans love motorcycles too, so much so that, at least when it comes to certain brands, we're faced with something akin to a cult. One only needs to look at what Harley-Davidson has done to Americans (and even people abroad) to know that's so.

The brand celebrated its 120th anniversary last year, making it for all intents and purposes the oldest bike maker of this size to still operate on the American market. The bikes it makes are literally everywhere, influencing not only the way people ride, but also their lifestyles and aspirations.

Given all of the above, it was only natural (and just a matter of time) for someone to think of a way to mix what pickup trucks and Harley motorcycles mean for the American buyer in a single package. Those someone were Ford and Harley-Davidson, who together released the first-ever co-branded vehicle and effectively introduced the world to a new kind of special edition pickup truck.

The collaboration between the two giants began more than two decades ago, and since then has grown both cold and hot at the same time. Cold as in officially Ford and Harley no longer cherish their tie-up as much as they once did, and hot as in for a few years already we no longer have solely Harley-branded Fords, but GMC pickups as well. Why, we've even had a Harley-branded big rig.

For one reason or another, we've decided to remind you on the first weekend of the new year about all the Harley-Davidson trucks, pickups or otherwise, that have been presented recently. Some of them are still around, others are not, but they all come together to form a picture of powerful American-made vehicles in the purest sense.

2000 Ford Harley-Davidson F-150

We'll start, of course, with the Harley-Davidson-branded pickup truck that started it all. On August 10, 1999, at the Sturgis Rally & Races event in South Dakota, the Blue Oval announced to the world the 2000 Ford Harley-Davidson F-150, a limited edition vehicle meant to celebrate two of the most important icons of American motoring.

The four-wheeler was the result of a collab announced by the car and bike makers a little earlier that same year, in March, at the Daytona Bike Week. To us today, it seems a little underwhelming, but for the time, and for fans of the two brands, it was something like never before.

From afar the 2000 Ford Harley-Davidson F-150 looked like your average Blue Oval half-ton, but once you got close to it all the limited edition, special bits came into focus, starting with the telltale Harley-Davidson orange pinstriping and chrome accessories.

On the outside the all-black 4x2 SuperCab truck set itself apart from the rest of the F-150 pack thanks to a flareside box covered by a hard shell tonneau. Wherever you looked you saw unique badges. The most impressive piece of exterior hardware, however, was the set of four five-spoke cast aluminum wheels.

This breed of F-150 was the first-ever Ford vehicle of any kind to be equipped from the factory with 20-inch wheels, and all four of them were wrapped in Goodyear Eagle tires.

The wheels spun under the power supplied by a Triton engine that cranked out just 260 horsepower. The powerplant was made to breathe through an SVT Lightning-tuned muffler and dual chrome 3.5-inch slash-cut exhaust tips.

It was the interior of the pickup that paid tribute to the iconic American bike maker the most. Aside from the Harley-branded dash ornament, the pickup offered an accessory pouch with a saddle-bag-like clasp installed on the center console, and a spun metal instrument cluster.

The seats, including the captain's chair in black leather, featured the Harley-Davidson logo on their backs. Chrome elements could be seen on the steering column stacks and door release bits.

Ford planned a production run of 7,500 units of this special truck at the time. The MSRP back then was set at $32,995, which would mean the equivalent of around $60,000 today. Only a handful of options were on the table for the truck, including stuff like a six-disc CD changer (yes, they still had those back then), a sliding rear window, and an engine block heater.

Somehow the Blue Oval overshot its initial target. For the first year on the market it made a little over 8,000 Harley-branded F-150s, and it continued to offer it every year until 2012, when it pulled the plug. During all this time, some 70,000 such trucks were sold, ten times more than Ford initially planned.

As a bit of a surprise, the model returned in 2019, this time not as a product of the Ford Ontario Truck Plant, but of an Indiana-based crew called Tuscany Motor Company. But more on that later.

2000 Harley-Davidson F-150 for Jay Leno

Being a public figure naturally comes with a lot of perks, and no one is better suited to attest to that than Jay Leno. The TV personality is both a car and a motorcycle lover, so there was no way in hell he was going to miss out on a Ford F-150 – Harley-Davidson mashup.

He could have just as well placed an order for a regular truck from this series, but he's Jay Leno, and that simply won't do. So the Blue Oval had something truly spectacular tailored for the man, a 2000 Ford Harley-Davidson F-150 unlike any other.

From afar, the truck looked like all the others. It rode on the same 20-inch wheels, came with the same black exterior and Harley-Davidson orange pinstriping, the proper badges in all the right places, and all that other stuff.

But whereas the regular Harley-Davidson F-150s had a Triton engine that cranked out just 260 horsepower under the hood, this one rocked the SVT Lightning powertrain. That means a supercharged 5.4-liter Triton tweaked into developing 360 horsepower and 440 ft/lbs of torque. The special single-inlet dual-outlet exhaust system helped with that too.

Unlike the regular Harley pickups, Leno's was lowered by one inch, and featured revised springs and heavy-duty sway bars. The interior came in black leather, just like it was the case with the others.

So when it comes to the engine it packed the Jay Leno F-150 is unique, as no other was made like it that year. The one-of-one piece was presented to Leno at Ford World Headquarters in May 2000. Six years later, the TV star sold it at auction.

Auction house Barrett-Jackson was tasked with finding a new owner for it, with all the proceeds to be donated to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. And that's exactly what happened, with the organization getting all the $200,000 the truck eventually went for.

It's unclear who owns the Jay Leno 2000 Harley-Davidson F-150 in 2024.

2019 Harley-Davidson F-150

After the initial run of Ford-backed, Harley-branded F-150s ended, there were a few years when fans of the two brands could only enjoy the mashup on the used car market. That changed in 2019, at the Chicago Auto Show.

It was there where a company called Tuscany Motor Co., an offshoot of suspension-making giant Fox Factory Holding Corp. introduced the world to something called the Harley-Davidson F-150.

Based on the most recent incarnation of America's favorite pickup truck, the model was for all intents and purposes more Harley-Davidson than anything else before it. That's because the Harley references were much more present and visible, and the truck itself was much more intent on satisfying both truck and bike lovers.

The idea started out not as a continuation of the 2000 example but as a means for Fox to celebrate its 115th anniversary a year before. As part of the celebrations of 2018, it showed together with Harley-Davidson the concept of such a pickup truck. And it was so well received that the top brass decided to launch it into production.

The model was made possible not only through a partnership with Harley, but also thanks to the fact Tuscany is "a Ford Motor Company specialty vehicle manufacturer in the personal-use segment." With ties with both companies, Tuscany allowed itself the luxury of including on the F-150 no less than over 70 Harley-branded parts. Most importantly, a large chunk of them took not only after the bike maker, but after very specific models: the Fat Boy and the Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO)-tweaked rides.

The connection with these bikes was made immediately obvious through the deployment of Fat Boy-style wheels, made from milled aluminum and sized at 22 inches, ten percent larger than the ones originally fitted on the Harley F-150.

The wheels were fitted at the end of a suspension lift that was not available on any other F-150, backed, naturally, by Fox shocks specifically tweaked for this model.

Harley references were everywhere on this thing. The proper Milwaukee logos are present on the locking ABS tonneau cover and carpet liner inside the truck bed. The bar and shield badge is present on the fender vents on the outside, and on the leather seat covers on the inside. Also, on the interior, there is a numbered Harley-Davidson center console badge.

As far as paint is concerned, the truck bet on three main body colors, namely Agate Black, White Platinum, and Leadfoot. Regardless of choice, they were all accompanied by orange or other specially prepared accents on the grille, fender flares, and front bumper cover.

Inside the same treatment was reserved for the door panels, dashboard, and steering wheel. These accents were made even more special by the availability of stainless steel Harley-Davidson gauges in the dashboard, Harley racing pedals, floor mats, and entry sills.

Mechanically speaking no changes were made to the F-150s, but the trucks did benefit from the fitting of solid billet aluminum exhaust tips with orange accents.

At the time when the truck was introduced, it sold for prices ranging between $97,415 and $98,433, depending on exterior color. They went through either Ford's own dealers, or through a specially created website that's no longer up and running.

Tuscany itself no longer lists the Harley-Davidson F-150 as available in 2024, with only two other Harley-branded trucks on sale (we'll discuss them further down). There is no info available on how many such vehicles Tuscany was able to sell in the few short years the model was on the market.

2020 Harley-Davidson Ford F-250

If you go over to Tuscany Motor's website right now, you will only find a couple of Harley-Davidson-branded trucks. Only one of them is a Ford and no, it's not an F-150.

Back in 2020, at a time when the hype surrounding the 2019 Harley-Davidson F-150 was at its highest, Tuscany decided it would be better to expand the offering, and gave the world a Harley-tweaked F-250.

The choice to have it made was taken after Tuscany found people in the market for such a design might also want more towing capacity.

Just like its half-ton sibling, the design of the new truck was inspired by the Fat Boy motorcycle, more specifically the 30th Anniversary model released by Harley that same year.

The F-250 rocks 65 edition-specific components, slightly fewer than the F-150, but overall comes with pretty much the same appearance. It received 22-inch milled aluminum wheels with styling like on the Fat Boy, solid billet aluminum exhaust tips, and stainless steel Harley-Davidson gauges.

On the inside the truck was treated to billet pedals, and diamond stitched and perforated leather seats.

The proper badges (including the famous Bar & Shield) and logos can be found in all the right places, and there is also a numbered badge on the center console of the truck.

The truck received some mechanical upgrades as well to go with the improved looks. The most obvious is the fitting of 36-inch BFGoodrich tires, which meet the ground with the power provided by the BDS suspension lift and upgraded Fox shocks. Power deploying running boards have been installed on the sides.

When Tuscany made the MSRP of the 2020 Harley-Davidson Ford F-250 public, it became obvious this is one expensive toy: $127,000. If you are wondering how many of them are available right now, you should know the list of available trucks is no less than 177 units long.

2020 Harley-Davidson GMC Sierra 1500

A short time before the Harley F-250 was presented, Tuscany let roll the first-ever non-Ford pickup truck to be presented with the looks of the Milwaukee motorcycle company. The brand was GMC, and the model of choice for customization was the Sierra 1500.

The truck was shown for the first time during the January Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, and it was initially planned to be a limited production run of 250 units. Despite being based on an entirely different platform from all the other Tuscany products, it used pretty much the same upgrades as the Fords.

Just like in the case of the F-250, the Sierra sported 65 edition specific upgrades, ranging from the 22-inch set of wheels wearing 35-inch tires to the more potent Fox shocks. It topped it all off with orange tow hooks, a piano black interior offset by leather seats with orange patterns, and all the proper badges and logos.

It too inspired by the Fat Boy, the truck was supposed to give people who like Harley-Davidson but are not so fond of Ford an alternative. And for a while it did, although getting your hands on one now could be tricky.

Why is that? As said, Tuscany only planned for 250 units of the truck. We don't know if it actually did that, but the reality remains that, try as you might, you won't get the chance to buy a brand-new one from the company itself.

That's because despite the Harley-Davidson GMC Sierra 1500 being the sole companion of the Harley-Davidson Ford F-250 on the Tuscany website, not a single one is presently listed for sale at the time of writing. Just to give you an idea of what one would have meant financially, consider the MSRP of these things was always over $100,000.

BONUS: LoneStar Harley-Davidson Special Edition

Now this is the Harley-Davidson truck to end all trucks. That's because it's not a pickup but a big rig with a bad-boy attitude. Back in 2009 one of the world's biggest makers of cargo haulers, Navistar, introduced what is, to my knowledge, the only Harley-branded big rig to ever walk this Earth.

The truck chosen for the honor of wearing the Harley markings was a LoneStar, a cab truck of the conventional variety that was only entering the market at the time. Envisioned as a special build, the so-called LoneStar Harley-Davidson Special Edition was shown for the first time at the Mid-America Trucking Show.

The truck was a real sight to behold for people with a soft spot for such things. Painted in a deep black offset by contrasting silver and orange striping, it sported so much chrome you could probably use it to make not one bike, but several.

Just like the pickups we've discussed earlier, it too bet big on the logos and badges of the Milwaukee bike maker to make an impression. Unlike them, though, it added a few unique touches the likes of which the world had never seen before.

The most important such enhancement came as the truck's headlights. They were not some non-descript elements wearing the Harley logo, but actual pieces of hardware the bike maker used on its two-wheelers, adapted for use on a truck.

The LoneStar beautifully blended this Harley cues with important features for a machine playing in this segment. The front grille, for instance, was inspired by the 1939 International D-series, and the Harley touches made it even more special.

Then we had the forged aluminum wheels, 24.5 inches in diameter, wearing the Harley-Davidson Bar & Shield on the center caps.

The interior came in leather and benefited from turned aluminum gauge faces, dark rosewood cabinets, and a dark walnut floor. At the rear of the cab there was a pull-down mattress that turned into a 42-inch bunk.

Navistar only made 250 units of these babies, all of them in sleeper configuration. It's unclear how many of them are still on the road, but chances are, if you come across one now, you'll know what it is.