Ford GT

The Ford GT is a mid-engine, two-seat sports car built by Ford. It was introduced for the 2005 model year to coincide with the company’s 100th anniversary in 2003. A second-generation GT later arrived for the 2017 model year. The car pays homage to the GT40, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times in a row (1966–1969), including a 1-2-3 finish in 1966.

**First generation (2005–2006)**

**Development** The Ford GT started as a concept car created for Ford’s centennial and to revive heritage nameplates like the Mustang and Thunderbird. At the 2002 North American International Auto Show, Ford showed a GT40 Concept. Camilo Pardo, head of Ford’s “Living Legends” studio, was the chief designer, working under J Mays. Carroll Shelby, the original designer of the Shelby GT 500, helped develop the GT, including performance testing of the prototype. During development, the project was called Petunia.

The GT looks similar to the original GT40 but is larger, wider, and 4 inches (100 mm) taller than the original’s 40-inch (100 cm) height. A possible name was the GT44. Despite the visual resemblance, the modern GT shares no structural similarity with the 1960s GT40. Six weeks after the concept was unveiled, Ford announced a limited production run. Three pre-production cars were shown in 2003 for Ford’s centenary, and deliveries of the production version—simply called the Ford GT—began in fall 2004.

Because the GT was built for Ford’s 100th anniversary, the left headlight cluster was designed to read “100.”

**Naming difficulties** A British company, Safir Engineering, which built continuation GT40 cars in the 1980s, owned the “GT40” trademark. When that production ended, the excess parts, tooling, design, and trademark were sold to a small Ohio company called Safir GT40 Spares. This company licensed the “GT40” name to Ford for the 2002 show car. When Ford decided to put the GT40 concept into production, negotiations failed because Ford would not pay the $40 million demanded by the name’s owners. So the production cars are simply called the GT.

**Production** The GT was built for the 2005 and 2006 model years. Assembly started at Mayflower Vehicle Systems (MVS) in Norwalk, Ohio, then moved to Saleen Special Vehicles (SSV) in Troy, Michigan, for painting and further assembly under contract with Ford. The engine was built at Ford’s Romeo Engine Plant in Romeo, Michigan. Engine and transmission installation, along with seats and interior finishing, were done at the SVT building in Ford’s Wixom, Michigan plant.

Of the 4,500 cars originally planned, about 100 were to be exported to Europe starting in late 2005, and 200 more were destined for Canada. Production ended in September 2006 without reaching the target. Approximately 550 cars were built in 2004, nearly 1,900 in 2005, and just over 1,600 in 2006, for a total of 4,038 cars. The final 11 car bodies from Mayflower were disassembled, and the frames and body panels were sold as service parts. The Wixom Assembly Plant stopped production of all models on May 31, 2007. Sales of the GT continued into 2007 from stored cars and dealer inventories.

**Heritage edition** Ford produced 346 Heritage editions, recognizable by their Gulf Oil-inspired livery. This livery honors Ford’s back-to-back wins at the 1968 and 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans by the GT40 Mk I.

**Sales and marketing** When the Ford GT was announced, demand exceeded supply, and early cars sold for premium prices. The first private sale was on August 4, 2004, when former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley took delivery of his Midnight Blue 2005 Ford GT. He earned the right to buy the first production car (chassis #10) at a charity auction at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, bidding over $557,000. A few other early cars sold for as much as $100,000 above the suggested retail price of $139,995. Optional equipment included a McIntosh sound system, racing stripes, painted brake calipers, and BBS forged alloy wheels, adding $13,500 to the MSRP.

**Performance and engineering** The Ford GT featured technologies unique at the time, including a superplastic-formed frame, aluminum body panels, roll-bonded floor panels, a friction stir welded center tunnel covered by a magnesium center console, a “ship-in-a-bottle” gas tank, a capless fuel filler system, one-piece panels, and an aluminum engine cover with a one-piece carbon fiber inner panel. Brakes are four-piston aluminum Brembo calipers with cross-drilled and vented rotors at all four corners. Opening the rear canopy reveals the rear suspension and engine.

The 5.4-liter longitudinal rear-mounted Modular V8 is an all-aluminum alloy engine with an Eaton 2300 Lysholm screw-type supercharger. It has a forged rotating assembly in an aluminum block designed specifically for the car. A dry sump oiling system allows the engine to sit low in the frame. The DOHC 4-valve-per-cylinder heads are a revision of the 2000 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R cylinder heads (with slightly increased wall casting thickness in the exhaust port). The camshafts have unique specifications with more lift and duration than those in the Shelby GT500. Power output is 550 hp (410 kW).