Clubs & Groups

SVT Owners Association

Website : www.svtoa.com

Ford Motor Company created the Special Vehicle Team (SVT) in 1991, when some senior Ford managers recognized the corporate advantages of capitalizing on niche vehicle market opportunities. The idea was to assemble passionate driving enthusiasts within Ford and some of its key suppliers into a small, cross-functional group of engineers, product planners and marketing professionals with a common mission: create vehicles to satisfy the desires of knowledgeable, high-performance auto enthusiasts.

SVT was charged to develop and market factory high-performance "halo" vehicles that would add luster to the company's lineup -- or "Polish the Ford Oval." To that end, the team focused on creating limited-production cars and trucks with balanced performance attributes -- vehicles that stop as well as they accelerate, ride as well as they handle and, above all, are fun to drive. All vehicles that wear the SVT badge were designed and developed with four hallmarks in mind: Performance, Substance, Exclusivity and Value.

The official launch of Ford SVT came during the 1992 Chicago Auto Show with the unveiling of the 1993 SVT Mustang Cobra and SVT F-150 Lightning. Both went on sale in February of '93. Since that time some 150,000 SVT vehicles have been produced, including several versions of the Cobra (both coupe and convertible) and Lightning pickup, the SVT Contour sports sedan, and both three- and five-door versions of the SVT Focus. SVT has also produced special Cobra 'R' models in 1993, '95 and 2000. The Special Vehicle Team was also responsible for the development and production of the 2005-06 Ford GT supercar, and before SVT was finally assimilated into mainstream Ford during 2006, its engineers completed work on the most powerful production Mustang ever, 2007 Shelby GT500.

The Ford Special Vehicle Team left its mark on the industry as the undisputed leader in factory-built performance vehicles as the longest-running, best-selling most successful niche vehicle operation in history. Owners of these low-volume, limited-production vehicles that had been sold by specially SVT-trained and certified Ford dealers in North America are serious driving enthusiasts who are highly influential in the marketplace -- and important customers for Ford.

With that in mind, SVT created its own Special Vehicle Team Owners Association back in 2000 with the motto --Drive Safe and Have Fun-- as a way to enhance the SVT ownership experience and build on the core values of Ford performance for any driving enthusiast. Through its chapters across the country, the SVTOA offered plenty of opportunities to get out and DRIVE with other SVT owners on road trips and cruise nights, but what really differentiated the SVTOA from most other car clubs was its series of Ford-sponsored On Track High Performance Driver Education events. Much more than typical open-track sessions, the SVTOA On Track events were set up at racetracks across the country with experienced driving instructors, so that all levels of participants -- from beginner to intermediate to racer -- could get personalized help improving their driving skills in a single weekend -- and have an absolute blast doing it!

Although the Special Vehicle Team organization and its funding was part of corporate restructuring during 2006, enthusiasts both inside and outside of the company sought a way to keep the SVTOA intact. Thanks to some former SVT staffers, managers at Ford Racing and key SVTOA organizers and enthusiasts, a new private enterprise was formed to assume management and operation of the SVTOA for 2007 and beyond -- with the same name, goals and organizational structure that Ford had so successfully built over the club's five-year development period. The new and improved SVTOA is an independent club "dedicated to the enjoyment, care and history of all SVT vehicles produced by Ford Motor Company." Now run BY enthusiasts, FOR enthusiasts instead of a Ford-paid agency, the club's operating directors are fully licensed by Ford and bring years of Ford SVT experience to bear on positioning the SVTOA to be come one of the largest automotive clubs of its kind, with the help of its many longstanding SVTOA regional and chapter leaders. -