The Top 5 Most Popular Steeda Vehicles of All Time

Steeda History

Dario Orlando, president and owner of Steeda, has a long family history in the automotive sector. Dario’s grandfather, Al Valeria, worked as an Industrial Manufacturing Foreman at Ford Motor Company for 46 years. But the roots don’t stop there.

Dario’s father, Domenico Orlando, was a successful designer for Ford in the mid-20th century after working his way through the ranks, first as a broom sweep. Domenico Orlando quickly discovered a passion for automobiles during his initial stint at Ford, leading him to join Ford’s Dearborn Design Studio after taking drafting classes at his local University. 

Years later, Domenico’s talent earned him a place aboard the design teams of such projects as the first-generation Thunderbird, 1964-½ Mustang, and the Ford GT40 Mark IV (J Car). It’s these experiences that fed Dario’s obsession with sports cars at a young age–especially Ford. 

After a long stint in racing and operating an automotive performance and repair shop, Dario’s Foreign Car Service, Dario Orlando garnered the attention of Ford Motor Company, who recruited him to serve as a test driver for the Merkur XR4TI program. This experience only furthered Dario’s interest in Ford performance products, leading him to open Steeda Autosports in 1988. 

Though initially a modest company manufacturing limited runs of performance and specialty parts for Ford vehicles, Steeda has since boomed into the massive company it is today, with Dario still behind the wheel, both figuratively and literally! Check out the comprehensive recap of Steeda’s History on their site for the entire extensive backstory.

Steeda Vehicles

Since Steeda’s conception, the company has focused exclusively on Ford vehicles, similar to its top competitors–Roush, Shelby, and Saleen. While originally leaning toward Mustang R&D, Steeda has since branched out, offering support for several Ford chassis, including: 

• Mustang

• Focus

• Fiesta

• Fusion

• Escape

• Mache-E

• Explorer

• Bronco Sport

• Bronco

• F-150

• Super Duty

• Maverick

• Ranger

Our Experts' Top 5 Steeda Vehicles

Over the years, Steeda has been hard at work developing products, and to showcase their new developments, the company has constructed a fleet of project builds and limited-run serialized vehicles. 

Steeda works alongside Ford as a customizer, offering brand-new, warrantied vehicles packing Steeda’s most impressive parts. In this section, we’re running through five of our expert’s top Steeda builds.

Steeda Thunder F-150

The Steeda Thunder F-150 is a remarkable sport pickup; think of it as a true modern-day Lightning, seeing as Ford adopted the moniker for its first-generation electric pickups. 

The Steeda Thunder harkens back to the true Lightning: a sport-tuned, color-matched, 5.8L Windsor-powered F-150 sporting GT40 cylinder heads and an impressive-for-the-time 240 horsepower and 325 lb/ft of torque. The Steeda Thunder takes notes, though it blows its inspiration out of the water regarding performance. 

The Steeda Thunder pumps out a whopping 775hp and up to 685 lb/ft of torque through a Steeda/Whipple-supercharged 5.0L Coyote V8. Other features include: 

• Steeda aero package

• 22x10” Velgen Forged wheels wrapped in LT305/40R22 Nitto 420V tires

• Steeda/IHC Performance suspension system

• Steeda/Katzkin custom leather interior

• Extang Exceed tonneau cover

• BedRug bed liner

And countless others!

Steeda F-150 Raptor

There are few off-the-shelf vehicles more impressive than a Ford Raptor, aside from maybe Steeda’s spin on the off-road supertruck.

Steeda takes everything we love about Ford’s high-speed, desert-inspired half-ton and improves upon it, creating the ultimate Ford Raptor. The Steeda variant boasts an impressive 510 horsepower and 590 lb/ft of torque (80 lb/ft of torque and 60 horsepower more than stock) through the addition of a Steeda/Whipple Mega Cooler oversized intercooler, roto-molded intake system, and custom tuning. 

In addition to the performance mods, Steeda adds several exterior upgrades, including: 

• Addictive Desert Design Stealth Fighter front bumper  

• Addictive Desert Design Stealth Fighter rear bumper 

• 40" RIGID Industries LED bar and dual 10" off-road lights

• Dual-integrated projector reverse lights 

• Extang Xceed tonneau cover

• Icon Vehicle Dynamics leveling kit

• BedRug Impact bed liner

And more!

McQueen Racing / Steeda Mustang Bullitt

Few vehicles have left a mark on the entertainment industry like Steve McQueen’s 1968 Mustang GT 390 Fastback from the film Bullitt. With its pony-less grille, Dark Highland Green exterior, and original magnesium American Racing Torq Thrust wheels, the Bullitt Mustang is nothing short of iconic. The original car has become such a thing of legend that Ford has manufactured several limited “Bullitt Edition” Mustangs throughout the 2000s. 

Steeda takes things a step further with its most recent McQueen Racing (as in, the family of Steve McQueen) collaboration: a black-on-black S650 Mustang sporting McQueen/Steeda 5 spoke wheels, a stealthy black paint job, and a fire-breathing Steeda/Whipple-supercharged 5.0L Coyote V8! 

Though the current-gen variation is still in development, we can only imagine it’ll be as impressive as the company’s previous 825-horsepower S550 Bullitt builds.

Steeda Special Service Vehicles

While we tend to root for the counterculture anti-heroes in auto-based cinema, think Paul Walker’s Brian O’Connor in The Fast and the Furious or Steve McQueen’s Frank Bullitt in Bullitt, we can’t help but gawk at the 800+ horsepower special service vehicles produced by Steeda. 

Steeda transforms everything from Mustangs to F-150s and Explorer Police Interceptors into raucous performance builds engineered to outrun, outhandle, and outperform practically any vehicle in a police pursuit. Steeda Special Service Vehicles come in marked and unmarked variants, with both sporting several specially crafted performance modifications. 

Check out Steeda’s Special Service Vehicle build sheet for a full list of modifications and specifications.

Steeda Bronco

Though Steeda has yet to announce the details of its newest serialized release, we can’t wait to see the company’s plans for the 6th-generation Ford Bronco, likely available in 2024. 

While we hate to speculate, we’d love to see such products as a Steeda/Whipple intake and intercooler, Ford Performance suspension, and aftermarket bumpers. Stay tuned; we’ll update this page as more information becomes available.