Blacklake Research & Development recently introduced what it calls the ultimate truck named the XT1. So, what is an XT1? In short, it's Blacklake's answer to the Ford F-150 Raptorand Ram 1500 TRX. And it faces quite an uphill battle because prices start at $250,000. In short, you can afford to buy either the Raptor or the TRX, crash it, buy a new one, and still save money over the MSRP of the XT1. Heck, you can even afford to wreck either car two times, but by then, you really should have learned your lesson.
For that amount of money, the XT1 had better be special. It starts its life as a Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss equipped with the optional 6.2-liter V8, which has an MSRP of around $48,000.
Blacklake adds carbon-kevlar fenders and bedsides, steel-reinforced bumpers with shackle mounts, a carbon-titanium hood extractor, and integrated LED marker lighting. As you might know, those are expensive materials usually reserved for proper exotica.
While trucks like these should look extreme, it's what's underneath that matters most. At the front, the suspension consists of JRI three-inch adjustable bypass coilovers, billet lower control arms, steel upper control arms, and a high angle upper ball joint. Blacklake goes to town on this truck's rear too. It removes the factory setup and replaces it with a Blacklake five-link independent suspension setup. It has the same coil overs and shocks, but the suspension travel at the rear increases to 17.5 inches. The result is 11.8 inches of wheel travel. The XT1 also has an upgraded driveshaft, G-Force Performance Engineering HD half shafts, and an electronically locking rear differential.
To get more power out of the naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8, Blacklake uses a Lingenfelter x Magnuson supercharger and a Borla stainless steel exhaust system to produce 650 horsepower, sent to the wheels via the standard ten-speed automatic transmission. That is a tremendous amount of power, but noticeably less than what RAM gives you in the manic TRX. A set of Black Rhino 17x9.5-inch beadlock wheels with 35-inch BFGoodrich tires is tasked with transferring all that power to the road.
On the inside, Blacklake chose to keep it simple. The seats are shod with Katzkin leather, which has nothing to do with real cats. To spruce it up a little more, Blacklake uses metallic trim from GM's parts catalog. The interior also incorporates a touchscreen for all the accessories.
The available accessories include a Warn winch, AMP Research Powerstep running boards, Rigid Industries fog lights, a full aluminum skid plate, and a Blacklake spare tire mount. While all of the above doesn't explain the asking price, there is something to be said about exclusivity. The XT1 will only be made to order to ensure that no two trucks are alike. What's that worth? It will undoubtedly be more exclusive than the upcoming Silverado ZR2 and the F-150 Raptor R.
"This is a truck built for the true enthusiast," says Blacklake. "This is not a mall crawler, this is not a set of wheels and tires on a leveled pickup. This is a completely integrated, fully functional, off-road masterpiece. This is the giant fireball in the sky ready to end the reign of the dinosaurs, yet again. If this sounds like your kind of truck, we'd love to hear from you."