Ford GT History
The Ford GT was first a concept car that revived some of Ford’s iconic cars. It was first introduced in 2002 North American International Auto Show as a concept car with the name GT40 Concept. The car got its design thanks to the cooperation between the then head of Ford’s Living Legends Camilo Pardo, J Mays, and the designer of Shelby GT 500 Carroll Shelby. Ford named the project of designing, testing and developing the car as Project Petunia. The concept GT that got developed was exactly 4iches taller than 1960s GT40, and thus they named it GT44. Ford started the production of the car in 2005. They assembled it in several assembly lines. Each of the assembly lines had a specific task for the car. The GT44 started its assembly in Norwalk, Ohio, then transferred to Troy, Michigan for painting. Ford built the engine in their Romeo Engine Plant in Michigan and then the finishing of the car was done in Ford’s Wixom, Michigan plant. There, the engine, transmission, and interior were installed.
2005-2006 First Generation Ford GT
The sports car was available only in one body style, a 2-door coupe. With only one engine and one special manual transmission. For the First generation of the GT, Ford built 3,221 vehicles in total. The technologies used to manufacture the GT44 were the newest and effective ones known. Some of them are superplastic-formed frame, friction stir welded centre tunnel, and a ship-in a-bottle gas tank. The brakes used for the car were not your average brakes. Ford composed them of four-piston aluminium Brembo callipers with cross-drilled and vented rotors on all four wheels. The engine in the GT44 is rear mounted Modular V8. It is a 5.4L V8 supercharged with the Eaton 2300. The engine uses a dry sump oiling system, thus allowing to be mounted lower on the car’s frame. The engine outputs 550hp and 678Nm of torque. Ford paired this powerful V8 with Ricardo 6-speed manual transmission with helical limited-slip differential. The car achieved acceleration 0-100km/h in 3.8 and its top speed is 330km/h. With all that power, the gas mileage of the car is closer to a truck than a normal car. With 20L/100km city driving, the GT44 won Top Gear’s Gas Guzzler award in 2005.
2016-2022 Second Generation Ford GT
The new Ford GT got introduced in honour of the original GT that won the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans on its 50th anniversary. They kept the development of this GT secret until 2015, when it got introduced at the North American Auto Show. The second generation GT has better weight distribution and is equipped with a more powerful engine than its predecessor. These are not the only differences between the first and second gen. The second gen has better aerodynamics, newer technologies integrated in everything, and one of the biggest changes are the butterfly doors installed on the new GT. The GT is powered by a 3.5L twin charged EcoBoost engine with a power output of 669hp mated to a 7-speed Getrag dual-clutch auto transmission. They equipped the engine with a four-stage external dry sump oil pump and the engine has an oil capacity of 14.5L. The new GT also managed to improve its acceleration time for 0-100km/h. It achieved it in 3.1 seconds.
Ford released an only track Ford GT with the name GT Mk II. It was released in 2019. The engine got a tune that added several ponies under the hood, making the power output of the car to reach 700hp. They also installed special air intake on the roof of the car and outboard intercoolers.