With designers and engineers inspired by the Le Mans-winning GT40 of the 1960s, and with the company’s top brass looking to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Ford Motor Company, the turn of the 21st century was a perfect time to recreate and produce a modernized version of the GT40. Ford wanted to show that at 100 years old and 40 years after the GT40 program began, it was still capable of producing a world-class supercar. Ford even released a commercial during Super Bowl XXXVIII that proclaimed the new Ford GT to be the “Pace Car for an Entire Company,” which was a bold statement coming from a company that at the time owned both Jaguar and Aston Martin!

Visually, the GT was the spitting image of its forefathers. Strip the Ford badge off the nose and it was immediately identifiable as a modern GT40 to any petrol head. Its silhouette perfectly mimics that of the Mk I GT40, although it is just a tad larger in order to accommodate for taller passengers, measuring in at 44.3 inches, as opposed to the original car’s 40 inches in overall height. Also like the original, the car’s performance was world-beating as well. The Ford GT was aimed squarely at the Ferrari 360 Modena, and it all but obliterated its closest competitor from Maranello. It could sprint from 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds and achieve a top speed of nearly 200 mph, putting it in the league of Porsche’s Carrera GT and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.

Not only that, but it was available at a fraction of the cost of its competitors. With a list price of $139,995, the Ford GT was a relative bargain, especially when considering other cars that provided the same level of performance. Only 4,038 GTs were produced after three years of production, and customer demand far outstripped supply, leaving many examples to be sold new with substantial premiums over the original MSRP.

This particular Ford GT was built in November 2004 as the 356th Ford GT of 2,022 built for the 2005 model year, and it was optioned by the Andrews’ in Mk IV Red and with three of the four available options, the upgraded McIntosh stereo, the lightweight aluminum BBS wheels, and red-painted brake calipers, which matched the car’s exterior color. Unusual for most GTs, this particular example received no hood stripes, leaving it as one of eighty-two cars that year that were finished in Mk IV Red and wore only side tape stripes. It was purchased new by the Andrews’ from Don Davis Ford in nearby Arlington, Texas, and it has remained in their collection ever since. This GT is in virtually as-new condition, as it has accumulated just over 800 miles and has been properly maintained its whole life by Don Davis Ford and Sam Pack’s Five Star Ford, of North Richland Hills, Texas. It retains its original set of manuals, as well as its original window sticker.

Exactly 10 years after the first GT rolled off the production line, Ford’s new GT has proven to be nothing short of a modern-day classic. It was produced in limited numbers, its design harkens back to one of the greatest racing cars of all time, and it has looks to kill, making it easily one of the most iconic automobiles built and designed in the early 21st century. The Andrews’s example is one of the best. This example, finished in Mk IV Red and with the exceptionally rare partial “Stripe-Delete,” has been wonderfully maintained and regularly exercised, and it is ready to be cherished and enjoyed by its next owner.