The Raptor is Unofficially Official

At Ford's recent Dealer Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, dealer sources attending the event revealed what they've seen and heard about the Raptor--and it sounds like the Raptor won't be an urban legend for much longer.

With new Ford Marketing chief Jim Farley officially doing the honors (described as giddy while introducing it), video of a Raptor mule was shown bombing across the desert at high speed.

A picture of the production grille was shown, with "Ford" prominently stamped into its black mesh. The anticipated BOSS engine was quoted as being rated at 380 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque. Those numbers may be purposely on the low side. Experts estimate power will more likely be around 420 horses, based on the expected engine's 6.2-liter displacement.

One of the Raptor's long-travel shocks shown to the dealers was confirmed as sourced from Fox Racing and specially built for the Raptor program. It looked similar to Fox's 2.0 Piggy Back reservoir units. They'll have four inches more travel (50 percent more) than the 8.0-inch shocks found on Ford's off-road FX4 trim package.

Ford isn't holding back bragging about the truck, firing up dealers by calling it, "The first and only Baja 1000 Trophy Truck you'll be able to buy from a dealer."