Hungry for a Hit, Ford’s Getting Consumers Primed for a Blast From Its Past
Ford Motor Co. is reaching into its storied racing history in an effort to polish an image tarnished by production and quality glitches, declining sales and deep losses.
Ford, desperately in need of some positive news, is resurrecting an icon of 1960s speed and performance: the GT40.
It intends to use the modern version as a so-called halo car, generating interest that will pull shoppers into showrooms.
Only about a hundred of the original GT40s were built: low-slung, mid-engine racers meant to beat the best in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which GT40s won four years straight from 1966 through 1969.
Ford said last week it will build a sleek new street-legal GT40 to help celebrate the company’s 100th anniversary next year.
“Our revitalization plan is centered on products,” said Chief Executive William Clay Ford Jr. “The company that builds and delivers the best cars and trucks wins, and we’re going to win. I can’t think of a better symbol of that winning attitude than GT40.”
Some analysts scoff, saying Ford has established itself in recent years as a pickup truck and sport-utility maker, with little to offer car buyers.
But Ford executives, naturally, gush about the new car.
“GT40 is the ultimate Living Legend,” said J Mays, Ford’s vice president of design. “It’s a true super car with appeal equal to that of the greatest sports cars in the world, but with the addition of a heritage no one can match.”
Living Legend is the name Ford gives classic cars in its model lineup that have persevered or been reborn in recent years, including the Thunderbird, Forty-Nine concept car and the Mustang.
Essential elements of the original GT40, such as the ground-hugging stance and mid-mounted V-8 engine, will remain in the resurrected racer, although the new production car will be more than 18 inches longer and nearly 4 inches taller than the original.
The GT40 “is not overwrought with advanced technologies,” Mays said. “While it represents the best of Ford design, engineering and expertise, it is a no-frills machine. You won’t find voice-activated telematics here, not even power windows--just pure, refined performance.”
Ford wouldn’t divulge the production location or numbers, performance specifications or pricing of the super car-to-be.
But the concept version of the GT40, shown at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January, had a supercharged 5.4-liter V-8 with a six-speed manual transmission. The package produced more than 500 horsepower and 500 foot-pounds of torque, capable of propelling the car at speeds in excess of 200 mph.
Ford’s Specialty Vehicle Team engineering unit, which also has designed performance versions of the Ford Focus, Mustang Cobra and F-Series Lightning pickup truck, developed the GT40 chassis and powertrain.
