Ford GT Production Ends This Year, but Not Before One More Limited Edition
The Ford GT is done after 2022, but did you think it would disappear without a Limited Edition? Of course not.
When Ford relaunched the GT sports car in 2016, it was a big deal. Ford took the car to Le Mans, held contests to decide who could buy one in an attempt to stop flippers and cope with demand, and launched a near-endless stream of special editions.
The final year of production for the supercar is 2022, so Ford is making one last special edition: the Ford GT LM Edition, with a little reminder of Le Mans inside each one.
Ford Loves Retro GT
This Ford GT is actually the second time around for the retro reboot. The first was made in 2005 and 2006. This GT is inspired by the racing-only Ford GT40 the company built to give the sports car world the what-for from 1964 through 1969.
Ford’s 2005 GT used a supercharged 5.4L engine. The aluminum-bodied car arrived at the tail end of the retro movement that brought back the Ford Thunderbird. And while it was very quick on the road, it was never taken to the circuits where the original made its name.
In contrast, the second-generation Ford GT that debuted at the 2015 Detroit auto show was a technological tour-de-force. The chassis was all carbon fiber, including the bodywork. The windshield was the same Gorilla Glass from Corning that you would normally expect to find in a cellphone’s touch screen.
EcoBoost GT Aimed Squarely at Le Mans Victory
Then there was the engine. Instead of a V8, the Ford GT used a Ford EcoBoost 3.5L twin-turbo V6 version. Early cars made 647 horsepower, with the figure boosted to 660 after the 2020 model year.
Ford also brought the car back to sports car racing with a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ford Chip Ganassi Racing did the circuit work, and it took four cars to the event and campaigned in the FIA World Endurance Championship all season.
Fifty years after the GT40 took the top three spots at Le Mans in 1966, a Ford GT won again. This time, it took the top spot in the LM GTE-Pro class, as well as third and fourth in the class.
Tinted Carbon Tie-In With Race Winner
This 2022 Ford GT LM Edition celebrates that 2016 win. While its carbon bodywork is finished in Liquid Silver, the accents honor the race livery of the winning car. From the base silver, buyers can pick from red or blue for their accents. This was chosen because the Le Mans car wore a red, white, and blue livery.
Ford will tint the clearcoat for the exposed carbon fiber parts in the chosen color. The main tinted parts sit low on the car, including the front splitter and rear diffuser, as well as the side sills and door sills. Higher up, the engine cover louvers and the mirror stalks will also have the carbon fiber tint.
Look deep inside the wheels and you’ll find more color-coded changes. The barrels for the carbon fiber 20-inch wheels will be tinted in red or blue. A black finish for the Brembo brake calipers makes the wheels more visible.
Inside, GT LM Edition cars come with a red or blue driver seat thanks to Alcantara in the buyer’s chosen color. The passenger’s chair is black, with stitching to match the driver’s seat, giving the cabin a very unusual asymmetric appearance.
3D-Printed Exhaust & Special Dash Plaque
Ford has printed up a special exhaust system for the GT LM. The 3D-printed titanium exhaust has a special cyclonic design inside the tips, with a matching GT LM badge just above them.
What might be the coolest feature is the special GT LM instrument panel badge. Ford took the crankshaft from car 69, the one that finished third in class in 2016. It then ground up the crank into powder, which Ford used to create a special 3D-printable alloy. The badge for each of the 20 cars is made from that alloy, so there’s a bit of Le Mans finisher in each one.
Ford GT Limited Edition: Deliveries & Pricing
Ford didn’t say how much one of these GT LM Edition cars would cost, but the company was clear this was the last special edition for this GT generation. Deliveries of the final cars will start in the fall with the production of the GT over by the end of the year. A standard-edition Ford GT starts around $500,000 MSRP.
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