"The One" - Ford's GT & Fashion & Glamour models Dalene & Shannan

Shannan & Dalene & Ford GT 

The One - Ford’s GT Text & photos by AdPix.Biz Stylist: Pam Short Models: Shannan Harris & Daylene Costley Ford calls their new GT “The One.” It’s a “pace car for the whole company.” It’s “Everything it’s supposed to be.” (Watch the video at www.fordvehicles.com/FordGT/ ) Yeah, yeah. Just corporate hyperbole, like Microsoft’s stuff. They sell you a software package full of bugs and then sell you another one later, with some bugs fixed, some different bugs thrown in for good measure, and call it an improved system. The most audacious the statement, the more disappointing the product. And this is Ford, the company of Pintos and Edsels, of Windstars, Contours and Tauruses – all of them more complete than Windows, but not anything like World-Beating Excellence. “The One”?! Puh-leeze. And what does that mean anyway? Not so fast. For one, Ford is building on a proven performer. The original GT-40 proved its pudding on the world scene, and is still doing so (see companion article). It wasn’t just a little bit better or unusually lucky. It was an astounding car. Some people have complained that Ford “can’t do anything more innovative than re-building winners” like the retro-inspired Thunderbird or Mustang.  But what’s wrong with that? At least they’re not too proud to recognize proven winners and build new versions without destroying what made them winners. And that is certainly true with the GT. How many times have you looked at a Mercedes 300SL Gullwing and wished they’d make a new one with today’s safety and technology? And then you see a GT in person. This car is truly amazing. Amazement is easy with those low, wide door sills, the audacious flying doors, beautiful 18 and 19-inch forged alloy wheels inside sensuous fenders wrapped around a giant, menacing and massive 500 hp motor, all laying there at about your knee caps, and inside, that giant center console between the futuristic reclined racing buckets. Lola’s Eric Broadly gets credit for the timeless design. Ford gets credit for not messing it up. And amazement is easy to understand without even seeing the car – it boasts performance numbers of 0-60 of 3.6 seconds, the quarter mile in 11.6 seconds at 128 mph, and a verified top speed of 205 mph (Ford says it was actually hitting between 208 and 212 mph at the world’s fastest test track in Nardo, Italy), yet still listing at a base price under $140,000 brand new. It has all the right “stuff”: aluminum space frame chassis, upper A-arm and lower L-arm suspension, 6-speed transmission, cross-drilled Brembo 14” 4-piston caliper brakes, plastic-formed aluminum body panels, a power-to-weight ratio of a mere 6.4, with 500 ft/lbs of beefy gorilla torque from its 5.4 liter hand-built supercharged V-8 DOHC low and mid-mounted motor to prove it’s no welterweight. That would be enough, but thankfully Ford also got the handling right on. It doesn’t do anything too tricky or delicate. Above all it exudes predictable confidence and shoots straight wherever its pointed. But on top of all of that, what’s actually the most amazing of all, is that the car even exits at all. It’s a Ford, remember. And as you get in this car, hear its motor, feel the thrust and the solid ride, that’s the thought that keeps coming back to you – it’s a Ford. Either we’ve got Ford all wrong, or they’re right, this is The One. In the 40 years since Ford’s LeMans dominance with the GT-40 they had been rumored to working on a new one. We even got to see one – remember the strange, angular GT-90 concept car in the ‘90’s? So re-building a GT-40 was not a surprise. Building one that is so good, is. Despite the mere 16 months of development they were allowed by Chairman’s Ford’s public announcement in 2002, the GT is more complete and thought out. The GT-40 was a race car from the start and this is a street car first. But it is 4 inches taller than the GT-40 (so why isn’t this the GT-44?), heavier, with airbags, crash protection (even child safety seat latches), beautifully finished instrumentation, and a bit bigger in dimensions and more refined everywhere. Notice the wheel arches, for example. The GT’s curve right to the tire edges. The GT-40’s stick out as if they still didn’t know where the wheels would end when the body buck was finished. About the only thing that looks out of place is the 8” subwoofer protruding like a canon between the occupants’ heads and blocking the view of the supercharger, but it is a concession to a surprisingly-nice McIntosh audio system. The GT benefited from extensive, pioneering, computer-aided design, reducing the need for prototype models by 90 percent. This is one reason Ford also considers its GT a car for the next century.

Although not produced as a race car, the GT is not just a souped-up road car, which is where it differs so significantly from its cousins coming out of the Ford SVT department. Its basic structure is from the building blocks of the best race cars. Its weight distribution is 43/57. In these days of front wheel drive and front weight bias understeer for liability concerns (too many cars are designed by lawyers) the GT’s rear-weight bias is a nod toward track handling where drivers with a better concentration and skills can wring much better performance out of the oversteer potential. Ford is only making 800 GTs for 2005. Some have said 1,500, but regardless, the limitation certainly raises the price, with new ones now selling close to $250,000, despite the $150,000 “list price.” Some car companies limit production to avoid the embarrassment in case the new car does not sell. Pontiac tells us the Aztec was actually intended to be limited production. Whoops, that must be post-hyperbole for sure. But with the GT, Ford may have not realized just how good a car it is. The GT celebrates Ford’s 100th Anniversary. And June 19th is the 40th anniversary of Ford’s “second most important day” – the day they won LeMans with the GT-40 Mark II. (Ford’s first most important day was October 10, 1901, a day everyone remembers of course, when Henry Ford himself won his first and only race in a “Sweepstakes” race car and then started the company.) They’ve announced a commemorative color, Tungsten Silver. It replaces the silver presently on the palette, but this is a special dark color similar to what is used in design studies to show off the curves and body undulations. Another commemorative edition will be in the famous orange and blue “Gulf” colors, replete with ovals to insert your own numbers! They’ve had a few problems. In late 2004 Ford had to recall all GTs delivered due to potential cracking in the cast aluminum suspension control arms. But Ferrari had to do something similar with their F40 in 1990. Ford also suffered some embarrassment with a main seal oil leak which Ford unfortunately decided to fix with a “Speedi-Sleeve” band-aid of sorts. But even then, compared to other completely brand new vehicles from any manufacturer, the Ford GT is doing quite well. Some complain that the doors leak rain on to the occupants because of their style, cutting into the roof line, something which also mandates a large A-pillar. These are the type people who complain because Pamela Anderson has a tattoo. Magazine tests, not manufacturer’s hyperbole data, puts the GT easily ahead of the Ferrari Challenge Stradale and Porsche 911 GT3. It’s beat the Lamborghini Gallardo, the Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG, and the Aston Martin DB9. Those cars were already in their own league and here comes a Ford, of all things, to beat them. Yet it is even more amazing than that. The GT actually compares with Supercars, like the Enzo, Mercedes SLR, and Carrera GT, which cost more than three times as much. In this perspective, the Ford GT is truly in a class by itself. Maybe it is in fact, The One.