Thanks to a recent in-depth interview with chief designer of the 2005 Ford GT program, Camilo Pardo, by Hot Rod, we’ve learned a lot about the rebirth of The Blue Oval’s iconic supercar. That includes Pardo’s influences growing up in Detroit during the muscle car era, Ford’s effort to take the Ford GT from concept to production in just 15 months, and the many incredible challenges the design team faced during that process. But another interesting tidbit worth highlighting is that the Ford GT was supposed to have had a different name altogether.
Indeed, we’ve often wondered why Ford didn’t just use the GT40 nameplate of the original. After all, we are talking about one of the most famous race cars of all time. The “GT” portion of the name was a nod to Grand Touring, or cars designed for both high speed and comfortable long-distance driving. And the “40” is famously a reference to the car’s rather low overall height in inches.
So why didn’t Ford just call the GT the GT40 when it brought the model back to life in 2004? Well, as it turns out, some plans called for doing just that. Ford design director Tom Scott told Pardo “you’re going to be on the GT40 program” when the whole project came about in 1999. Management instructed the designer that it needed to look like the original GT40, and Ford continued to call its new project the GT40 for some time after its announcement.
But suddenly, Ford was forced to go with GT instead. For whatever reason, the automaker had failed to register the GT40 trademark decades earlier and a company called Safir GT40 Spares Ltd., which sells replacement parts for the car, acquired rights to the mark in 1999 after it was transferred from GT40 replica producer Safir Engineering Ltd., which had subsequently closed. That company had owned rights to the GT40 name since 1985.
When Ford approached the company about acquiring rights to that iconic model name, the owner reportedly asked for a whopping $40 million dollars in return. Thus, Ford simply decided to drop the “40” and save the cash.
So in October of 2002, Ford announced that it would call the new model the GT, and the rest -as they say – is history. Though it seemed like a big deal at the time, the decision worked out just fine in the end, and most rarely even think about it nowadays.
We’ll have more on the Ford GT and GT40 soon, so be sure to subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford GT News and around-the-clock Ford news coverage.
Comments
this ford gt news series is really interesting. keep it coming!
Someone surely drop the ball on the trade market end of the business, that should have never happened with a car and name that played a major part in Automotive history. At the same time someone should have named the 2005-06 models GT42 for 2 reasons “ No pond intended”. 1st The new car is the 2bd generation of the first 2nd The new model is actually said to be 42 inches tall, but FORD GT it is…
“No POND intended”? The saying is “No PUN intended” there champ…
Eh…first…that reason is obvious and moot and 2nd, nope sorry GT42 just doesn’t have the same ring to it, regardless if it’s actually 42′ off the ground as opposed to the original 40′.
I Love the GT40 and Love the Ford GT! Interesting article about the GT40, but you should probably check your facts about saying “the owner reportedly asked for a whopping $40 million dollars.” A statement like this is not fair to Safir GT40 especially after reading there was never an offer given by Ford, or a dollar figure provided by Safir GT40. I would have loved to have seen the 2005/2006 Ford GT be called the GT40 but sadly it didn’t work out that way. Happily Ford continued with the beautiful Ford GT’s and Safir and Superformance maintained production of the iconic GT40. The world is a better place with these cars in our lives!
Sorry for the confusion, but part owner of Safir Bob Wood has confirmed that they initially asked for $40 million in exchange for the name, but Ford never made a counter offer.
Haha sounds like you need to check YOUR facts buddy! I think I’d take the word of the part owner over some “article” read on the internet somewhere cause you know…the internet is 100% facts and truthful. At least you got it half right, there was never an offer on Ford’s part, initially or counter.
The $40 million demand is total BS … the true story, will soon be revealed in a new book, with comment with the man from Calgary who currently owns the GT40 brand … in all honesty, he would have given it to them, for free … if they were “car guys” … who cared about the brand … but they weren’t … they were Ford money men, who didn’t give a sh-t about cars … or about the heritage of the name … they offered him a pittance, and of course, he turned it down … this story ain’t over folks …
Meh this sounds like a back track cover your backside cover up story. They put the figure out for $40 million and Ford walked away then the got hounded and blasted for being greedy you know what’s and business started to decline so now they’re putting a book out with the “real truth” to was the mud off their name. THAT is what that sounds like to me…but for the time I digress and yes we shall see what this “book” has to say and offer in regards to actual FACTS, details, and the TRUTH.