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NO RESERVE - LOT #748
LIQUID BLUE 2019 FORD GT

WIND-SHAPED

RACER

It started in a basement. One of Ford’s most
anticipated, dominant and historic vehicles began
in little more than a repurposed storage room.
Beginning in the fall of 2013, a secret project was
beginning to take form. Tucked away at the back
of Ford’s Product Development Center was an
inconspicuous door protected under lock and key
with a mysterious sign that read “Past Model Parts
Depot.” It was a project above top secret, a project
with enough subterfuge to fill a John le Carré
novel. Only a few executives were in the know;
the skunkworks team of engineers and designers
worked long hours into the night living off energy
drinks and protein bars, crafting what would
become a fearsome carbon-fiber competitor.
When Ford Motor Company first unveiled the
second-generation Ford GT in Detroit at the
2015 North American International Auto Show,
the contingent of press gathered in Motown
collectively had their jaws drop. Ford had done it;
speed was back in the picture and contemporary
supercar manufacturers had been put on notice.
With the debut of the second-generation GT
things were different. It was far more than a wade
into nostalgia, it was the start of something new.
From the onset, the GT was engineered
concurrently as an endurance racer and road
car. Engineers worked to shape every crease,
angle, vent and channel to maximize downforce, ducting to feed air into the engine and the
minimize drag and optimize efficiency. The emblematic circular taillights help expel hot
deliberate engineering choices led to a gorgeous air from the intercooler – a perfect example of
yet functional design, the sculpted front-end function and form, with a primary goal to make
cuts through the air expelling it via the large better use of the air. The GT was a car truly shaped
hood vents – an allusion to the legacy of the by the wind.
GT’s racing pedigree. While the distinctive flying The entire design was dictated by the
buttresses channel air around the dramatically requirements of victory in endurance racing.
tapered teardrop-shaped fuselage and over the The tapered teardrop was narrow, similar to
rear spoiler, there are other bouts of aerodynamic that of an LMP1 race car, therefore rendering
sorcery, too. The hollow flying buttresses house the selection of the powertrain as secondary to

26 BARRETT-JACKSON EXPERIENCE FALL 2021