FORD'S GT OFFICIALLY ENDS PRODUCTION

When Ford Motor Company ends production of their 505-hp GT on September 21, the total production figure of the $150,000 two-seater will be 4,038 units. The Shelby Mustang GT 500 takes over as Ford's performance flagship.

Following several recalls, Ford's GT has hit its stride. As is the all-too-common normalcy in Detroit, once they get everything right, they kill it. It's happened before: Corvair, Allante (with the Northstar drivetrain), Fiero and many, many more (most of them GM products, come to think of it). (Photo: Ford GT, Ford's 100th anniversary celebratory automobile).

This Ford GT started out life with a name Ford didn't even own.

Ford naturally wanted to call their 100th anniversary car the GT40, the name of the car which won the LeMans races which put Ford on top of Ferrari, Porsche, and all the others, at least for a few memorable years in the '60s. With drivers such as  AJ Foyt and Dan Gurney (who supposedly created the racing tradition of "spraying champagne" on the winner's podium), Chris Amon and more ... And Carroll Shelby running the show for Henry Ford II (Henry The Deuce in the biz), who had determined to beat Enzo Ferrari at LeMans, the GT40 was Ford's first true "supercar". Heck, "Ford" and "supercar" in the same breath ... no way!

This all came about because Ford had actually visited Ferrari in his office in Modena, Italy and made  him an offer on the company. Enzo listened intently and seemed to be going along with the idea, until it came to the topic of running the future Ford/Ferrari race team. Henry couldn't promise Enzo he'd be allowed to personally run the team in the future, as Ferrari would be a mere division of gigantic, worldwide Ford, etc etc etc. The story says that at that point in the conversation, Enzo ordered Henry and his entourage out of his office, with a four-letter epithet that sounds like something to do with hockey following them out the door. (Photo: Ford GT40 race car).

Interestingly, with Ferrari now a part of gigantic, worldwide Fiat, they seem to have little trouble keeping the team small and efficient and successful ... and the man in charge of Fiat, Luca De Montezemello, used to run Ferrari, so no one expects any 'outsiders' to be running the race team anytime soon.

Incidentally, there's quite a move for Montezemello to be the next Prime Minister of Italy. As they change governments about every 20 minutes there, it's altogether possible. And having dined with Montezemello several times, I can tell you he is the classiest head of a car company any one will ever meet. Smooth, well-dressed in the $4,000 Armani suits (from the factory, no doubt), beauties on each arm, Luca is the epitome of the modern-day head of a great Italian racing car company.

Back to our story: GT40 was named so because its overall height was 40 inches. Simple, right? But when Ford announced that the name of their new supercar for the 21st century, celebrating the 100th birthday of the FoMoCo, was to be "GT40", there were some objections. Especially from one particular supplier to the original Ford team at LeMans, who had somehow wound up owning the name "GT40". No one knows exactly how this came to be, but the courts evidently agreed with its present owner. (Photo: GT40 at Daytona).

The story says that as much as Ford tried to coax the name's owner, he'd have none of it. He wanted, so they say, somewhere between $10 and $40 million for the use of the name (this is not the only case like this --- believe it or not, some guy who somehow currently owns the name "Dusenberg" wants $30 million from whoever will stand up with the cash). The 'GT40' gentleman was not very smart, because Ford would probably have gladly paid him from $1 to $5 million for the name. But he got greedy, so they say, and got aced out completely.

FoMoCo thought about it for about ten minutes, said "Screw you," and simply called it "GT".

After the car was produced and hit the roads, problems showed up with the GT. This was not the PR which FoMoCo wanted for their "100th anniversary" car, for the only car they'd be making which would harken back to the glory days of the 1960s and LeMans victories which would probably never happen again. (Photo: GT40 racing).

While Ford did their best  to make these recalls go down easy with buyers (you don't just send a mass-mailing letter to "Jay Leno, 3000 W. Alameda, Burbank, CA" and tell him to bring his new Ford to the shop for a fix and donuts will be available), the problems cost Ford a lot of jokes on late-night TV and especially among car enthusiasts and collectors. Ford did all the right things --- Picked up the cars on flatbeds from the owners, took them to GT-authorized dealers for the fixes, returned the cars with a full tank of gas --- Heck, everything Saturn did for their recalls (but Saturn held BBQs for their customers; Ford didn't go quite that far for their GT buyers).

But Saturns don't cost $150K a pop and are not made (yet) to be the symbol of the 100 year anniversary of one of the world's greatest automobile companies, certainly the first one with a mass-producing production line. By paying his workers $5 a day, Henry Ford made it possible for his employees to actually afford the product they were making ($800), and in a decade changed the face of the US and world economy forever.

Suddenly borders were just lines on a map; It was possible for the average man in the new and growing middle-class of the USA to afford the conveyance which would make it possible to drive the entire length and breadth of the US, without once being stopped for "papers" (remember those days?). This was big stuff, and the anniversary car problems sort of blew the celebration for FoMoCo overall. After all, you didn't see Honda getting hit with recalls for their S2000, their 50th anniversary car, did you? (Photo: GT engine).

Now the GT is officially gone; its prices will skyrocket at auction and in quiet, private sales. Too many of these wonderful (and now fixed) cars will spend the rest of their days on trailers and in garages, under wraps.

Let's hope that for every one of the 4,038 buyers of the Ford GT, the majority of them will keep their cars streetable, in running condition, and out on America's roadways for the next 100 years, to thrill another generation or more of car-lovers. (Photo: GT interior).