What's the news?
Slobber. Dribble. Drool. Pass the towels and someone please check my bank balance, because Ford has just seriously upped the GT supercar's desirability rating. Not that it was ever especially low to begin with...
Fresh from winning the GTE Pro category at this year's Le Mans 24hrs (in an effort short of neither controversy nor excitement) the new Ford GT has decided to offer a salute to the car that first won Le Mans for Ford in 1966, kicking off an unbroken series of four back-to-back wins to round out the sixties.
The Ford GT Heritage Edition gets the same black-and-silver-stripe livery as the car driven by New Zealand pair Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren fifty years ago. You can have the black paint in matte or gloss finish, and there are both areas of visible carbon-fibre (of which the whole car is constructed) and the iconic white racing roundels with the number two decals of the Amon/McLaren car.
The 20-inch one-piece forged alloy wheels are finished in gold satin clearcoat (what is it about racing cars on gold wheels? So cool...) and inside there are carbon fibre seats with pillow-stitched leather inserts and blue seatbelt straps (again, nods to the interior of that original GT40 race car).
"Celebrating the anniversary of Ford's historic victories at Le Mans has always been a part of the return of the Ford GT," said Raj Nair, Ford executive vice president, product development, and chief technical officer. "The 2017 Ford GT '66 Heritage Edition is a stunning tribute to the car that kicked off Ford's string of Le Mans victories in 1966."
Garen Nicoghosian, exterior design manager for the car, says the team set out to highlight where it all started with the Ford GT. "While the looks are distinctly based on the GT40 Mark II race car," he says, "we've accentuated new styling cues to provide a modern interpretation."
Ford hasn't said how many will be made yet (only that limited numbers of the 2017 model year production will be made available) nor how much it will cost. We'd guess at least two major limbs and your kids' college fund. It'd still be worth it.