It's Detroit Auto Show time again. Monique and I took our nearly annual sojourn down to see what the automotive world has to offer for the new year. We saw some pretty cool things that I'd like to share over the next few weeks. We'll start with the new Ford GT.
Who says that bitter industrialist rivalries aren't beautiful? The original Ford GT40 was born in the early 1960s after negotiations for Ford Motor to take over Ferrari collapsed amid a dispute between Henry Ford II and Enzo Ferrari over the future of Ferrari's racing program. In a fury at Ferrari, Henry Ford II ordered his racing division to build a Ferrari beater.
The Ford GT40 first hit the track in 1964. By 1966 Ford GT40s finished 1-2-3 at the 24 Hours of LeMans, the first of four consecutive victories at LeMans. A beautiful Ferrari beater, indeed:
1966 Ford GT40 Mk1.
The original GT40 program made cars from 1964 to 1969. In 2002 Ford brought a new GT40 concept car to the Detroit Auto Show. They sold more than 4,000 of the retro-styled GTs in 2005 and 2006.
Ford GT One, the first of the 2005-2006 cars to roll off the line. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
This year Ford brought a new Ford GT to the Detroit Auto Show and announced plans to begin production again with a 2016 launch of the revived supercar. The new GT will supposedly have a supercharged V6 with 600+ horsepower, a 0-to-60 time of three seconds or less, and a top speed of more than 200 mph.
We shall see about the performance, but after seeing it at the show I can tell you one thing for sure. It's every bit as pretty as its predecessors:
Nice.
I reckon I better start putting away quite a few pennies if I want one of my own next year.
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