As Ford Authority previously reported, The Blue Oval itself announced that it would be auctioning off a very special 2006 Ford GT at Barrett-Jackson’s Fall Scottsdale sale, which just took place this past weekend. That particular model was just the third Heritage Edition ever built, and the earliest example ever sold to the public, so most assumed that it would rake in huge money. However, that wasn’t exactly the case when the hammer fell.
Rather, 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition number three sold for “just” $742,500, despite the fact that it was appraised at somewhere between $800,000 to $1.1 million, Ford archivist Ted Ryan told Detroit radio station WWJ in a recent interview, according to Automotive News. This comes as a bit of a disappointment given the fact that the proceeds from this sale are slated to go to the U.S. Ford Heritage Collection, a group of special vehicles that The Blue Oval is aiming to restore and keep alive for generations to come.
“When we founded the fleet earlier this year, we knew that we had duplicates and we had vehicles that fell outside our collecting zone,” Ryan told WWJ. “For example, we had Heritage No. 1 and Heritage No. 2 of this exact same model. We don’t need three. So this was a perfect vehicle because it’s a significant one, and it will be the lowest serial number that will have ever been offered to the public.”
“Our main goal here isn’t about hitting a specific dollar amount, but really about making sure this incredible piece of Ford history goes to someone who will cherish and preserve it for years to come,” Ryan previously said. “It’s more about its legacy than just the ledger for us.”
Regardless, this result also comes as a huge surprise given the fact that the first-generation Ford GT market has been on literal fire for some time now – after CEO Jim Farley recently admitted just a few years ago, “no one would buy” that same sports car.
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Ford Corp. themselves should fund their own heritage.
Maybe spend a little less on Train Station restorations.
Ford is selling a car from their collection to fund their heritage program. That's pretty much funding their own heritage. Sell assets to pay for other things. Just like when people sell their own car to afford another, or sell their home to buy a new home.