As part of Ford Motor Company’s centennial celebration, the company debuted the retro-styled GT at its North American International Auto Show display. A modern homage to Ford’s racing heritage, the GT celebrated the highly successful GT40 programme of the 1960s, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans an impressive four consecutive times from 1966 to 1969. Production of the new GT began in 2004 with release slated for the 2005 model year.

The new Ford GT featured impressive performance, the likes of which had not been seen from a production car built in Detroit. Powered by a 5.4-litre DOHC V-8 engine and equipped with a Lysholm twin-screw supercharger, the GT is rated at 550 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque. The engine is paired with a Ricardo six-speed manual transmission featuring a helical limited-slip differential. This driveline allows the Ford GT to achieve a 205 mph top speed and a zero to 60 sprint of 3.3 seconds. These extraordinary performance figures put the car in competition with other supercars of the time, such as the Porsche Carrera GT and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. Exceedingly popular since its debut, the GT was produced for just two model years, 2005 and 2006, during which time only 4,033 examples were built.

As part of the Ford GT build run, 101 examples were made for the European market in 2005. These cars featured the addition of headlight washer sprayers, front wing marker lights ahead of the front clamshell latches, a revised rear bumper design accommodating two additional lights, and the addition of “ONE OF 101 FORD GT” door sill plates.

This Ford GT was built at Ford’s Wixom plant in May 2005. It left the factory finished in Centennial White over an Ebony black leather interior, outfitted with three options: Sonic Blue racing stripes, Black painted callipers, and BBS forged lightweight aluminum wheels. Upon completion it was shipped to Ford Motor Co. Ltd. in Basildon, Essex, and sold in the United Kingdom, one of 33 such examples.

The first owner purchased the car in April 2006; it was later acquired by present ownership in February 2007. Today this GT is offered having covered 11,104 miles at the time of cataloguing. Under current ownership the car has been serviced by Mountune as well as the marque experts at GT101. It is accompanied by a Deluxe Marti Report outlining the car’s build, options, and rarity.

One of just 101 GTs produced for the European market, of which 33 were sold in the United Kingdom, this three-option GT is a wonderful representation of what was referred to in period as Ford’s “pace car for an entire company”.