Second Chance — Completed
F-150 "Fraptor"
2017 Ford F-150
A 2017 F-150 Lariat bought as a flood-titled IAAI auction truck in 2018 for about $17,000, converted into a Raptor-styled build over roughly nine months.
What was actually wrong
It carried a flood title with no visible flood damage. The real issue was a tree limb that had come through one of the two panoramic moonroof panels and smashed the bed. The moonroof got fixed first.
The find that changed the plan
Sourcing a replacement bed turned into a hunt that ended in Ohio, with a genuine Raptor bed — and that single find is what tipped the project from repairing a damaged truck into a full Raptor-style conversion. Nights and weekends went into forum research, eventually producing a parts list over 100 items long, including genuine Roush take-off components sourced from Atlanta.
The paint lesson
Partway through, the family moved house — the truck rolled into the new neighborhood wearing a grey Raptor hood, a white Raptor fender, a primer panel, a white Raptor bed, and a silver factory body, all at once. It was painted at Maco to unify it, and looked great for about a year before it began to chip. The lesson learned too late: the cost that matters in a paint job is the prep, and that's exactly where a cheap job cuts corners.
Gallery
Notable components
Raptor-style front end conversion
Built using genuine Roush take-off parts sourced from Atlanta, part of a 100+ item parts list
Replacement bed
A genuine Raptor bed, sourced via a parts trip to Ohio — the find that turned storm-damage repair into a full conversion
Paint
Done at Maco; looked excellent initially but began chipping about a year later due to prep, not the paint itself
Financial summary
Bought at auction for about $17,000. The paint job at Maco ran under $3,000. The full Raptor-style conversion — the 100+ part list, the Ohio bed, and the Roush take-off components — is estimated at roughly $8,000 total, though a detailed breakdown hasn't been done. Eventually sold to make room for a family van.
Lessons learned
- Sourcing genuine take-off OEM/aftermarket parts, rather than reproductions, takes real logistics — parts runs and forum research, not just online orders.
- A bed replacement can become the decision that redefines the whole project. What started as fixing storm damage became a full Raptor-style build the moment a genuine Raptor bed turned up in Ohio.
- A cheap paint job can look great on day one and still fail within a year if the prep work was cut short — the cost that matters most in paint is the part you can't see.