Here Are Some Outside-The-Box Ways To Use The F-150 Lightning’s Enormous Frunk

The frunk cargo area is just gravy, and there are plenty of things you could do with it that you might not consider with a standard car trunk. A quick search online reveals that Ford has submitted a number of patents for concepts of how this space can be used for work or play. While the ones I’ve seen have been interesting and logical uses for such a compartment, you can imagine my screwed-up mind wants to take it further than the creatives in Dearborn seem to want to go. I’ll let you take a look and see what your opinions are, though the fact that you’re reading this ill-publicized website at all makes me question your judgment.

In most of their promotional images, Ford has shown the frunk as space for the Lightning to help owners get their jobs done with 120-volt power outlets and space for equipment to run. Certainly, there’s far more that this area could be used for to make a mobile workspace.

Based on the patent drawings submitted, Ford has considered this idea, or at least the concept of a pull-out work surface. The one I’ve seen pulls pretty far outwards, but I’m imagining something that just gives a few feet to work on whatever part you’re trying to create or mend. The actual void space of the frunk itself would be filled with modular tool cabinets that could be removed entirely or just the drawers themselves (which might have clear covers on top to allow them to be self-contained little bins).

The open hood acts as a sun/rain shade, but more importantly, it could hold high-intensity LED downlights for night work. One thing that seems to be ignored by the patent drawings that I’ve seen is some usage for the area above the frunk space and below the bottom of the open hood. I’ve proposed a flip-down (or flip-up) pegboard-backed reconfigurable tool panel with clear doors on the front; sort of like a back-of-workbench tool wall for more items to get your job done. The possibilities are limitless and won’t end until we see drill presses, tools to repair hydraulic hoses, or any specialized equipment you can think of.

Ford has shown patents of TV monitors under the open hood of a Lightning-type vehicle, yet the ones I’ve seen involve a clamshell-style opening where the hood portion folds down. I’d leave the hood section there to act as a sun shade for the screen, and a place to put in downlights for the bar below.

What, a bar? Sure, a full wet bar with a refrigerator, ice maker, sink, and a tap for a keg that can fit into the well below the floor. The space behind the bar unit and the firewall can hold a freshwater tank; the sink can drain into a tank under the floor or make like the Dave Matthew’s Band’s tour bus and just let the water fall to the ground. Hey, it’s not solid waste!

What a great way to have an outdoor tailgate party in the front and watch your favorite sports team or have a Ford movie festival; you can watch stuff like Bullitt and Gone In Sixty Seconds but unless you have some Aussie Ford mayhem I’m not attending.

The rebirth of Honda’s little folding Motocompo scooter has been long awaited by fans of the original one that fit into the back of the little Honda City in the early eighties. The thought of those bygone days was that you would drive the car as far into the city as you could, then park it, take out the Motocompo, and ride it the rest of the way to your urban destination. This was a really exciting solution to a problem that in reality didn’t seem to exist, but I think I have a way that something like this could work for a specific need today.

With the population aging, many people are seeing the need for wheelchairs or mobility scooters. Transporting these things often involves rather unwieldy-looking platforms that fit into a trailer hitch on a car or truck, blocking rear cargo area and likely giving you a very dirty scooter by the time you reach your destination.

There might be a better way. Some time back, I presented a rather unique use for that giant frunk on the Type 4 Volkswagen that I’d seen online. In the early seventies, an insurance company wanted to show that they would cover virtually any kind of car, and presented a series of ads with “Anycars” in them. While some insurance companies today will show a non-descript generic vehicle in their promotions, this company commissioned customizers to make humorous hodgepodges from components taken from dozens of unrelated models. The last one of record (“Anycar III”) used a 1973 VW 412 wagon as the basis:

The AnyCar III featured a mic-drop trick that was rather ingenious. Behind the Rolls Royce style grille was a single passenger scooter that lowered out of the frunk space of the now-unrecognizable Volkswagen.

Wow, we could do the same thing with our Ford Lightning frunk! Imagine a platform that you can drive a folding scooter onto; the platform raises up and retracts into the covered space keeping it clean, dry, and secure. Obviously, I had to make a 60^th Anniversary ‘Lil Pony Mustang-style scooter with a scaled-down front end and even fake side scoop vents; the handlebars and “Pony interior” style seat fold down to fit in the frunk. You can even charge the thing while it sits in there.

By the way, if you think that I haven’t considered a high-powered Shelby version of this scooter to wreak havoc on a retirement center, you still really don’t know me at all, do you?

The sky’s the limit with what we can do with a big frunk. For work, play, or the special needs of people very young or sort of old, there are lots of ideas we can explore. I guess, in a pinch, you could put suitcases up there, but where’s the fun in that?