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Iain Kelly
Contributing Journalist
2 May 2019
3 min read

Ford’s Le Mans-conquering GT40 has to be the Blue Oval’s brightest light, standing out in a galaxy of high-performance stars they’ve given the world since the 1950s. Based off the English Lola Mk6 sports car the GT40 was the result of Henry Ford II’s determination to thrash Enzo Ferrari at the most prestigious motor race in the world after Ferrari backed out of selling his sports car company to Ford.

The 105 original GT40s, built between 1964 and 1969, were mostly racing cars designed to tackle sports car racing though there were a limited run of road cars. The GT40 represented a shift in the sort of cars that contested sports car racing and the cultural impact was so large that a whole industry sprung up recreating the GT40 in kit and turn-key form.

Ford shocked everyone in 2002 when it showed off a new-generation GT40 concept to celebrate their centenary. The public reaction was so strong they wound up building 4038 production versions, powered by a supercharged 5.4-litre quad-cam V8.

The new-generation GT40 concept was simply called GT because of a trademark dispute over GT40.
The new-generation GT40 concept was simply called GT because of a trademark dispute over GT40.

A trademark dispute over the name GT40 meant the spiritual successor to the Le Mans-winner had to be renamed the Ford GT, but that did not dissuade buyers who lapped up the supercar and drove prices up to US$100,000 more than the US$149,995 list price.

To celebrate 50 years since the GT40’s first win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 Ford unveiled a new-generation GT at the 2015 North American International Auto Show. Controversially Ford dropped the traditional V8 engine and fitted a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 producing 482kW, paired to a twin-clutch seven-speed transmission.

Ford also announced they would only build 250 GTs per-year, and that 2017-2018 model GTs would be sold to those invited by Ford to purchase them. The 250 2019-build GTs would go to those who missed out on the initial release, while 2020 GTs will be publicly available.

Read More: Ford GT supercar power and performance specs confirmed

In addition to being the fastest production cars Ford has produced, the GT40 and GTs are among the most collectable. Original GT40s rarely come up for sale, but have sold for between US$3,000,000 and US$11,000,000 depending on the car’s provenance.

Original GT40s have sold for between US,000,000 and US,000,000.
Original GT40s have sold for between US,000,000 and US,000,000.

Second-generation models are starting to climb with between US$250,000-US$350,000 needed to buy a mint GT. To date, only one 2017 Ford GT has sold in public. Mecum Auctions won a court case to sell a silver example with delivery kilometres for US$1,815,000.

As all Ford GTs are left-hand-drive and not easily converted to right-hand drive they’re not currently eligible for registration in Australia. However, with proposed changes to the import for limited-production specialist vehicles this could change. You’d need deep pockets, though, as the import taxes and charges on the cheapest GT you could buy would still run you more than $40,000!

Read More: Ford GT Carbon Series 2019: harder, faster, stronger

Do you wish Ford made the GT in right-hand drive? Let us know in the comments.

Iain Kelly
Contributing Journalist
A love of classic American and European cars drove Iain Kelly to motoring journalism straight out of high school, via the ownership of a tired 1975 HJ Holden Monaro.  For nearly 20 years he has worked on magazines and websites catering to modified late model high-performance Japanese and European tuner cars, as well as traditional hot rods, muscle cars and street machines. Some of these titles include Auto Salon, LSX Tuner, MOTOR, Forged, Freestyle Rides, Roadkill, SPEED, and Street Machine. He counts his trip to the USA to help build Mighty Car Mods’ “Subarute” along with co-authoring their recent book, The Cars of Mighty Car Mods, among his career highlights.  Iain lends his expertise to CarsGuide for a variety of advice projects, along with legitimising his automotive obsession with regular OverSteer contributions. Although his practical skills working on cars is nearly all self-taught, he still loves nothing more than spending quality time in the shed working on his project car, a 1964 Pontiac. He also admits to also having an addiction to E30 BMWs and Subaru Liberty RS Turbos, both of which he has had multiple examples of. With car choices like that, at least his mum thinks he is cool.
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