The car began assembly at Mayflower Vehicle Systems (MVS) in Norwalk, Ohio and was painted and continued assembly at Saleen Special Vehicles (SSV) facility in Troy, Michigan, through contract by Ford. The GT was produced for the 20 model years. Thus, the production cars are simply called the GT. When Ford decided to put the GT40 concept to production stage, negotiations between the two firms failed as Ford did not pay the US$40 million the owners of the name demanded. This company licensed the use of the "GT40" trademark to Ford for the initial 2002 show car. When production of the continuation cars ended, they sold the excess parts, tooling, design, and trademark to a small Ohio based company called Safir GT40 Spares. Naming difficulties Ī British company, Safir Engineering, who built continuation GT40 cars in the 1980s, owned the "GT40" trademark at that time. Three pre-production cars were shown to the public in 2003 as part of Ford's centenary celebrations, and delivery of the production version called simply the Ford GT began in the fall of 2004.Īs the Ford GT was built as part of the company's 100th anniversary celebration, the left headlight cluster was designed to read "100". After six weeks from the unveiling of the GT40 concept, Ford announced a limited production run of the car. Although the cars are visually related, structurally, there is no similarity between the modern GT and the 1960s GT40 that inspired it. The GT is similar in outward appearance to the original GT40, but is bigger, wider, and most importantly 4 in (100 mm) taller than the original's 40 in (100 cm) overall height as a result, a potential name for the car was the GT44. While under development, the project was called Petunia.
Carroll Shelby, the original designer of the Shelby GT 500, was brought in by Ford to help develop the GT which included performance testing of the prototype car. Camilo Pardo, the then head of Ford's "Living Legends" studio, is credited as the chief designer of the GT and worked under the guidance of J Mays. At the 2002 North American International Auto Show, Ford unveiled a new GT40 Concept car. The Ford GT began life as a concept car designed in anticipation of the automaker's centennial year and as part of its drive to showcase and revive its "heritage" names such as Mustang and Thunderbird. Romeo, Michigan ( Ford Romeo Engine Plant Engine and transmission)ĥ.4 L (329.5 cu in) supercharged Ford Modular V8ĭevelopment The first Ford GT prototype, "Workhorse 1" at the Shelby American Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada.Norwalk, Ohio (Mayflower Vehicle Systems Production and assembly).Wixom, Michigan ( Wixom Assembly Plant interior)
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