Why is Ford Motor Company--having suffered a severe financial downturn and quality problems in the past few years--building a car worthy of a Premier Automotive Group badge, which might not break even at a price nearing $150,000? The reasons are many, and valid. There's that 100th anniversary, first of all, and through thick or thin, the Ford family and the preponderance of its employees are justifiably proud of the company's long and worthy heritage.
"This polishes the Oval," says Chris Theodore, North America Product Development vice president. And it's a halo that excites engineers and designers about the brand as much as the customers. "Everything we're doing on this program is unprecedented," says SVT Director John Coletti. "I think it's going to have a lot of benefit on the mainstream." The latest in a flurry of crash-course programs out of Detroit (this one began just last May), the GT is the type of car that encourages engineers and designers to take work home over weekends and holidays.
Ford bought a Ferrari 360 Modena to benchmark and, to the dismay of some executives, disassembled it for reverse engineering (it has since been reassembled for what's sure to be more-than-aggressive evaluation driving). The GT's structural stiffness "exceeds the Ferrari's by a very large margin," Chassis System Supervisor Huibert Mees claims. He further notes it's 40-percent stiffer than the Modena. "This car [the GT] is going to feel as if it's carved from a block of granite."
The GT's double-wishbone suspension is all aluminum, including cast-aluminum knuckles. Coil-over shocks are attached to the lower control arms, and it has front and rear anti-roll bars. The ZF steering gear mounts forward of the front axle for better steering response. Brakes are four-piston fixed-caliper Brembos with 14-inch rotors front, 13-inch rear, vacuum-boost assist, and four-channel Bosch ABS. The front tires are 235/45ZR18 Goodyears on 8.0-inch-wide rims; rears are 315/40ZR19s on 11.5-inch-wide rims.
The new GT will be the real deal--the roadgoing, mid-engine exotic that Ford was supposed to homologate for its successful Le Mans effort of the mid-'60s. The company sees the GT not so much as a retro car, but as a continuation of the series. It's being designed, engineered, and assembled by a team with the passion to make it work. But will the '03 Ford GT conquer the Ferrari 360 Modena, just as the GT40 so handily beat the Ferrari 250LM nearly 40 years ago? We'll have that answer in a few short months.
...
>>next page