2006 Ford GT Review

Specifications

New Paint Scheme Highlights GT Design Elements

Ford has a lot of reasons to be proud of its GT40 race car, a vehicle that swept the competition off its feet and won the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans four years in a row, from 1966 through 1969. The most impressive victory was the 1-2-3 sweep in the 1966 event, which started the four-year winning streak. To celebrate 35 years later, Ford unveiled a limited-run reincarnation of its all-conquering machine, the retro-shape GT supercar.

While the construction and engineering of yesteryears machines were farmed out to various entities in the racing industry, Fords 21st century interpretation was put together by the firms in-house speed shop, the Special Vehicles Team (SVT). With just under four decades separating the two vehicles, SVT drew on the originals uncompromising performance, but also on the teams own performance machines, which include the SVT Mustang, SVT F-150 Lightning, and the SVT Focus just to name a few.

Announced as a concept in 2002, the GT was ushered into production by CEO and President Bill Ford for the companys Centennial celebration. The turnaround time for the project, from concept to production road car, would be just fifteen months.

The Ford GT is without doubt the ultimate Ford. Under its sleek, retro-style body is a completely modern, super-stiff aluminum chassis, aluminum suspension and a supercharged 5.4-liter V8 engine which packs a whopping 550-horsepower punch. The GT is capable of reaching speeds in excess of 205 mph, and can hit 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds. Shocking performance, especially from a modern day Ford, no?

Meanwhile, unlike other supercars, the GT can be used as a daily driver, with an easy-access driver-focused interior and all the amenities and goodies of a luxury car. With the ability to outperform the likes of Porsches, Ferraris and Lamborghinis despite a price tag of just $139,995 it truly deserves the motto, “The Pace Car for an Entire Company.”

Whats new for the GT in 2006, now in its second year in production? Ford will be adding a new color to the palette called Tungsten Silver in commemoration of the cars first victory at Le Mans, forty years ago. It was developed for the “Performance Trilogy” show cars at the 2004 North American International Auto Show, including the Shelby Cobra roadster concept, the then-new 2005 Mustang GT, and the GT. The slightly darker Tungsten Silver replaces last years Quick Silver paint, and can be ordered with a Quick Silver racing stripe, if desired.

Camilo Pardo, designer of the GT says, “This dark silver color brings out all the design features and the subtleties of the car.” He adds, “In fact, people whove seen it thought wed added a feature line around the side of the car. Its always been there, but you may not notice it in the cars other colors. The Tungsten Silver really brings it out.”

Ford has officially adopted Tungsten Silver as its color of product development. The production paint is actually very similar in hue to the Dynoc material used to cover the clay mock-ups, which allows the designers to more visibly see subtle differences, such as minor changes in horizontal and vertical surfaces, and other subtle details.

Like the car itself, the Tungsten Silver paint is a commemoration of the original Ford GT40 and its significant victories. Unfortunately, the car and the paint are in a limited production run. While Ford may never build an all-American supercar again, expect to see subtle reminders of the GT in the future, either through world-class performance, or something as simple as the special Tungsten Silver paint.