When Ford loosed the latest GT resurrection in 2016, the automaker initially planned to build 1,000 units over four years. After more than 7,000 hopefuls applied for the chance to buy one, someone widened the production spigot a wee bit. Ford agreed to instruct Canadian contractor Multimatic to build 1,350 examples, the revised figure carrying the build process into 2022. Here we are, and the end of the GT line is maybe 10 months away. Ford spokesman Jiyan Cadiz told Motor Authority on the sidelines of the Chicago Auto Show that 1,100 GTs have been built, with production of the final 250 expected to end in December.
Some of that 250 will be the just-revealed Alan Mann Heritage Edition (above) that celebrates lightweight GT40 prototypes from 1966, and the 1964 Prototype Heritage Edition that recalls Ford’s original 1964 GT40 prototypes. We not sure how many of each will make the request list, but Cadiz did share production figures for previous heritage editions. Ford sold 27 examples of the 2017 Ford GT 1966 Heritage Edition that looked back at the first of the GT40’s four-in-a-row Le Mans victories in 1966. There were 39 of the 1967 Heritage Edition sold in 2018, that car honoring the #1 GT40 Mk IV that carried the second of the four straight Le Mans triumphs. The Gulf Livery Heritage Editions spanning the 2018 and 2019 model years attracted 50 buyers, the coupe hearkening back to the #9 John Wyer Automotive Engineering car that won Le Mans in 1969 and the #6 car from the same team that won Ford’s final victory in 1969. There were another 50 examples of the 1966 Daytona Heritage Edition, a nod to Ken Miles winning the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona in a GT40 MkII. That’s 166 Heritage Edition cars out of the 1,100 total.
Classic celebration or modern marvel, there’s no wrong answer for any of the 250 buyers sponging up the end of the GT’s run. Now that the sun is about to set, we can turn our imaginations toward what a third GT resurrection might look like. Electric supercar, anyone?
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