This 2019 Ford F-150 has just been sold for an incredible $195,000. While it may sound out of this world for America’s most popular truck, there is something special about it. It is an HM Elite Prerunner, which has spent most of its life at the Petersen Automotive Museum.
The 2019 Ford F-150 HM Elite Prerunner is a heavily modified, street-legal off-road machine built by HM Offroad to mimic the capabilities of a Baja Trophy Truck, while retaining the creature comforts that it came with from the factory.
The example that has spent years in the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California, has just about 7,700 miles (12,392 kilometers) on the clock. Seven years and 7,700 miles ago, the original owner paid $42,460 to drive it off the showroom floor, which is more than four times less than the price that it has just fetched.
The truck is powered by Ford’s 5.0-liter Coyote V8 engine, which produced 395 horsepower (400 metric horsepower) and 400 pound-feet (542 Newton meters) of torque in stock form. But the V8 has been upgraded with an Edelbrock, a new radiator, and MMR timing components, taking output to a whole new level.
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The transformation also includes a custom 63-gallon fuel cell, dual racing fuel pumps, a Pedal Commander throttle response controller, and an SCT tuning device. However, the listing doesn’t say how much, and the museum doesn’t disclose that info, either.
However, similar supercharged 5.0-liter Coyote-based setups typically push these vehicles well past 700 horsepower, so it is probably safe to assume that this truck has been dialed up to produce around that much, but a dyno sheet hasn’t been provided to confirm the actual extra oomph that it comes with.
A ten-speed automatic transmission with a SunCoast torque converter puts the power down through the rear wheels. It is, after all, a desert rally truck in the shape of a muscle truck. A custom-fabricated exhaust roars out the drama of the V8 from under the hood.
The 2019 Ford F-150 HM Elite Prerunner wears Agate Black with a red, white, and blue wrap over a black and gray interior. The truck features a race-spec 4130 chromoly roll cage, built to SCORE specifications, which means that the safety structure meets the rigorous rulebook requirements dictated by the premier sanctioning body for desert off-road racing. The roll cage extends fully through the cab, engine bay, and bed.
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The adventure-ready Ford F-150 also comes with a long-travel setup up front, using KING Shocks 4.0 bypass shocks and bump stops, paired with HM Offroad upper and lower control arms, along with hydraulic swing-set steering.
Out back, it got a fully caged, back-half chassis yielding up to 25 inches of travel, sporting billet 7075 aluminum trailing arms, a custom rear sway bar, and a fabricated 4-inch Trophy Truck rear housing with a 10-inch ring gear and heavy-duty 36-spline axles.
For an intimidating stance, the 2019 Ford F-150 HM Elite Prerunner was fitted with McNeil Racing fiberglass widebody front clips and bedsides, which dramatically widen the track width, making room for the 17-inch Trail-Ready beadlock wheels with a true six-lug trophy truck bolt pattern and massive 40-inch BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM3 tires. An R1 Concepts big brake system handles the stopping power.
The vehicle is also equipped with air conditioning because you surely need it while dune-bashing, and with a rear window defroster because you don’t know when that might come in handy. Three PRP racing seats in custom Alcantara upholstery, with five-point harnesses, keep the occupants secured. A fire suppression system is on board for those just-in-case moments.
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The cabin looks like the cockpit of a purebred rally car, hosting a Switch-Pros switch panel, PCI Rae Radios intercom, a Lowrance Elite GPS, a Pioneer touchscreen head unit, and an AutoMeter oil pressure gauge. A custom horn and siren are also on the menu.
Nothing to complain about so far. However, it hasn’t been all milk and honey with this truck. It has obviously been forged in the fire. A day out on the sand dunes for a bit of fun ended up with a costly engine replacement.
That was because the person driving it (the listing says it wasn’t even an active employee of the museum) did not use the cooling fans installed out back and failed to keep an eye on the gauges. “That person is no longer with the museum,” the seller explains.
The truck was shipped straight to Galpin Ford to assess the engine condition. It was so bad that the truck needed an emergency “heart” transplant. Because of all the systems the vehicle is running, the Check Engine light occasionally comes on, but the Petersen Automotive Museum representative says that is nothing to worry about, because it by no means affects any mechanical or driving condition.
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This is what the buyer got for $195,000, along with a clean Carfax report, one key, the window sticker, two spare wheels, a spare driveshaft, spare engine oil containers, fire extinguishers, and a jack. Before this purchase on Cars and Bids, the truck had been with the Petersen Museum since 2023.
