Guide: Ford GT
Background
Henry Ford II’s decision to build the original Ford GT came about when Enzo Ferrari reneged on a deal to sell his company to the American behemoth. After a difficult gestation, the GT programme started to come good in 1965 and four back-to-back Le Mans wins were subsequently achieved between 1966 and 1969.
Although the GT (more commonly referred to as the GT40 on account if its 40-inch height) had catapulted Ford into the big league of sports car racing, this success had been achieved at vast cost. By contrast, the Mustang (which had also formed part of the company’s Total Performance programme) proved a massive money spinner and arguably had an even more positive effect on the Blue Oval’s image, particularly in the USA.
As a consequence, when Ford pulled the plug on the GT, no successor was lined up to take its place. Meanwhile, the Mustang became a permanent fixture in Ford’s model line up.
After a gap of nearly 30 years, Ford finally began to make tentative plans for a GT replacement. The GT90 unveiled at the 1995 Detroit Motor Show was a fully operational concept with an aluminium monocoque and 5.9-litre twin turbocharged V12. However, although it pioneered Ford’s New Edge design philosophy that influenced a range of late 1990s and early 2000s models, plans for a production version were quickly abandoned.
Seven years passed, during which there seemed little prospect of any policy reversal.
Then, at the Detroit Motor Show in January 2002, a new design study emerged to celebrate Ford’s 100th anniversary as an auto maker.
Dubbed the GT40 Concept, the Camilo Pardo-styled machine caused a sensation and a production version was given the go ahead in May 2002.
Unlike the 1960s original, this latest machine (re-named GT for production as Ford no longer owned the GT40 trademark) was created purely for road use.
Customer deliveries began in August 2004 for the 2005 model year.
The complicated build process saw each chassis start life at Mayflower Vehicles Systems in Norwalk, Ohio with further assembly and painting then carried out at Saleen Special Vehicles in Troy, Michigan. From here, each car headed to the Ford SVT facility at Wixom, Michigan, for completion.
Chassis
This latest iteration of the Ford GT was based around an aluminium spaceframe chassis supplied by Metro Technologies in Troy, Michigan. The chassis had a 2710mm wheelbase and was a combination of 35 extrusions, seven complex castings, two semi-solid formed castings and various stamped aluminium panels.
Suspension was via forged aluminium double wishbones with coil sprung forged aluminium dampers and an anti-roll bar at either end.
The brake system was supplied by Brembo in Italy: cross-drilled and vented discs were fitted all round (355mm front and 335mm rear) along with monobloc four-piston aluminium calipers.
ABS was standard along with power steering.
The six-spoke wheels were cast alloy items supplied by BBS. Those at the front measured 18 x 9-inches while the rears were 19 x 11.5. They were originally shod with Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tyres.
A 66.3-litre fuel tank was unusually housed within the transmission tunnel.
Engine / Gearbox
In the engine bay was a 90° V8 loosely based on the unit found in the F150 SVT Lightning albeit much modified by Roush Engineering in Livonia, Michigan.
Instead of the SVT Lightning’s wet-sump cast-iron block, Roush created a brand new dry-sumped aluminium block for the GT. There were also new dual instead of single overhead camshaft heads with four as opposed to just two valves per cylinder.
Other Roush enhancements included high-lift camshafts, forged alloy pistons, high-strength connecting rods and a forged steel crankshaft. There was a new supercharger too - the Roots-type unit found in the F150 was replaced with a more efficient intercooled Lysholm screw-type Eaton 2300 compressor that ran at 0.83 bar.
Engine management was courtesy of Ford’s EEC-V OBD II software and fuel delivery via a sequential multi-port electronic system with dual injectors per cylinder.
As per the SVT Lightning, displacement was kept at 5409cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 90.2mm and 105.8mm respectively. Similarly, the compression ratio was an unchanged 8.4:1.
Peak output was 550bhp at 6500rpm and 500lb-ft at 4500rpm.
For comparison, the SVT Lightning produced 380bhp at 4750rpm and 450lb-ft at 3250rpm.
Engines were assembled at Ford’s Romeo plant in Michigan and hooked up to a six-speed manual transaxle developed by Ricardo in the UK. Transmission was through a single-plate AP Racing clutch and helical limited-slip differential.
Bodywork
The GT made it into production with relatively few cosmetic changes from the original 2002 concept.
Its styling tapped into the popular late 1990s / early 2000s trend for retro design which ensured there was a strong visual link to the original GT of some 40 years prior.
Chief designer, Camilo Pardo, incorporated an array of trademark features to the new car; in addition to its overall profile, the lighting, air vents, intakes and windows were all largely faithful to Roy Lunn’s original. Among the most highly reminiscent features were doors that cut well into the roof to ensure cockpit access was as easy as possible.
The aero kit comprised a front chin splitter, side splitters, mini underbody diffusers, full underbody cladding, massive rear diffusers and a discrete rear lip spoiler.
Adhesive sill stripes complete with Ford GT script were fitted as standard.
The car’s aluminium body panels were supplied by Mayflower Vehicle Systems in Ohio. Large single piece clamshells were fitted at either end; the engine cover incorporated a single-piece carbonfibre inner panel and a small luggage compartment was housed underneath the front section.
Interior
As with the exterior, the retro theme continued inside where Ford’s design team did their best to ensure the GT’s cockpit was faithful to the layout of its forebear.
Housed in a wide oval binnacle was a cluster of seven horizontally laid out gauges. Directly behind the three-spoke steering wheel was a large 8000rpm rev counter flanked to the left by a water temperature read out. Off to the right was an oil pressure gauge, a voltmeter, a vacuum boost dial and fuel meter. Angled towards the driver at the far right-hand side was a 220mph / 360kmh speedometer.
In addition to a bank of warning lights, the instrument binnacle housed a quintet of large toggle switches.
Carbonfibre Sparco seats with vented portholes were another nod to the GT’s heritage. In between was a chunky magnesium transmission tunnel complete with polished aluminium gear lever.
The seats, dash, door panels, header trim, centre console armrest, centre bulkhead panel, A and B pillars and cowl trim were all upholstered in black leather. The rest of the interior was a mix of natural aluminium and hard black plastic.
Air-conditioning, a two-speaker audio system, remote central locking, electric windows and driver and passenger airbags were fitted as standard.
Options
Customers could choose from six exterior colours: Centennial White, Mark II Black, Mark IV Red, Midnight Blue Metallic, Speed Yellow and Quick Silver Metallic.
Optional extras included forged BBS wheels, painted racing stripes (in white, blue or black), painted calipers (red or gunmetal grey instead of the standard black) and a McIntosh audio system that featured a four-channel amplifier, an 8-inch subwoofer and a tweeter in each door.
At no cost, customers could request the adhesive side stripes be deleted.
Weight / Performance
The Ford GT weighed in at 1538kg and had a 43% front / 57% rear weight distribution.
Top speed was 205mph and 0-62mph took 3.7 seconds.
Early Production Changes
During the first year of production, Ford made a number of changes to the GT’s specification.
To improve cooling, the screen that was originally mounted in front of radiator was deleted.
Flexible stainless hoses for the transaxle oil pump were fitted instead of solid tubes.
A revised clamshell release now incorporated helper springs instead of rubber stops.
Additionally, following a single failure on an early car, Ford temporarily switched from cast aluminium rear control arms to billet aluminium. However, once the casting issue was resolved, the company reverted to the original design.
2006 Model Year
For the 2006 model year (production of which began in August 2005), Ford introduced a new Heritage Blue Livery option inspired by the Gulf Oil-backed John Wyer Automotive Engineering GT40s that won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1968 and ‘69 as well as the 1968 World Sportscar Championship.
Quick Silver Metallic was dropped in favour of a new shade called Tungsten Grey.
Other changes were comparatively minor: the brackets that held the engine oil tank to the chassis were switched from silver to black while the painted clip that helped conceal the gap between the roof and rear clam was deleted.
GTX1
A surprise addition to the GT range was introduced at the SEMA Motor Show in Las Vegas during November 2005.
The GTX1 (covered in detail separately) was a homage to the experimental Roadster of the same name that was built up in late 1965 and went on to win the 1966 Sebring 12 Hours.
The new GTX1 was a collaboration between Ford and the Genaddi Design Group of Green Bay, Wisconsin. It offered buyers the choice of three body configurations: Coupe, T-top and Roadster.
Ford offered the GTX1 conversion through its official dealer network at a circa 15% premium over the standard car.
End of Production
GT production ended in September 2006 by which time 4038 examples had been completed. This figure was some way short of the 4500 cars Ford had originally hoped to sell.
Of these, 4038 units, 2027 were ‘05 model year cars and 2011 were from the ‘06 model year.
343 of the ‘06 model year cars were optioned with the Gulf Oil-inspired Heritage Blue Livery.
Just 101 cars were originally delivered to the European mainland and another 28 to the UK.
All were left-hand drive.
A replacement GT subsequently arrived in late 2016 having debuted at the Detroit Motor Show in January 2015.
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Ford - https://www.ford.com
