WINDING ROAD Talks With Funkmaster Flex About His Limited-Edition Expedition

Not only has there been a Ford Expedition Funkmaster Flex edition in our fleet for the past week, but we had the chance to speak with the legendary DJ himself about the ins and outs of this limited-production model. When we first heard about the Funkmaster Flex Expedition—or “FlexPedition,” as we’ve lovingly referred to it—we had a lot of questions as to how it came about and what specific modifications were made to Ford’s largest sport-ute. Thankfully, the Funkmaster himself had all of the answers we were looking for.

Click through the jump to read what Funkmaster Flex had to say about this special edition Expedition, and stay tuned for our full review in an upcoming issue of WINDING ROAD.

WR: So how was it decided that this special Expedition would go into production?
FMF: Well, I take a lot of Ford vehicles out on my tour, and Ford marketing had an idea to take one vehicle to the dealer’s show and I did a presentation. We had good feedback from the dealers. I let them get an up-close look at it and we started getting orders and we ended up doing 700 vehicles.

WR: Was there anything on this vehicle that you wish you could have changed?
FMF: I probably would have added the running boards on. Yeah, if I could do anything differently I would have kept the running boards on.

WR: We noticed that you decided to keep Ford’s stock Audiophile sound system. It’s a good setup, but was there ever a thought of offering an upgraded stereo?
FMF: I decided to keep that system this time around. When the new Ford Flex comes out, a Sony system upgrade will be available, and there’s a rumor that I’ll be getting a similar upgrade option for the Expedition. I’m definitely moving with the manufacturer on this one.

WR: You said that 700 vehicles was the original production run. Will this change if a higher demand for these vehicles presents itself?
FMF: 700 is definitely the cap for now. I really wanted to make these collectible. I want the people who buy these to feel like they’ve got something special. It’s also sort of a model, too, for people who like to do their own customization. People should feel free to get the regular Expedition and do their own customizations.

WR: We noticed that there were no modifications to the drivetrain or suspension. Why did you decide to keep the standard inner-workings of the Expedition?
FMF: The main reason I wanted to leave it as-is is so that customers could have all of the factory benefits. Not just incentives, but warranties, too. If people want to lower the suspension or something, they can, but we wanted to keep all of the warranties intact. I was really careful with deciding stuff like that.

WR: What do you think is the best part about this vehicle?
FMF: The best part about it is being able to get an SUV with two-tone paint off the assembly line. That’s my favorite part.

WR: Did you toss around any other ideas for color combinations, or was red and black the one you wanted to use from the get-go?
FMF: It’s always been red and black. I think that the red and black is energetic, and that’s what I was going for. I’m not sure what colors we’ll do in following years. I’d like to keep the red and black but maybe introduce another color.