OK everyone, Here we are. The Rambo, Chuck Norris and possibly the greatest American Supercar of all, the 'Good ole American made, American muscle, the FORD GT. So let's Rock and Roll!
It's January 14, 2005 and I'm on my way home from the office, it's 3 p.m. or so and I'm minding my own business looking forward to a nice dinner. I get home and let the dogs out, come back in and see there's a message or two on the answering machine. Check a couple out and then finally get to this one...... "Hello, my name is Frank (so and so) from Donnel Ford in Boardman, Ohio, and I've been told by someone who knows you that you're into 'exotic cars' and I have something here you might want to look at. It's called a Ford GT. Please give me a call so we can make an appointment because I'd love to show you the car. You can call me at 758-_ _ _ _."
I turn to my girlfriend Euni, of 5 years (now) and say "What the heck is he talking about? I heard about the Ford GT from a dealer friend of mine, an absolutely unreal car from what I've read, and I've also heard that they're sold out from now until the end of the world and there's even a waiting list after that! Why on earth is he calling me? Besides, what's the gag with me liking 'exotic cars'. I got a few BMWs and the Porsche GT2 and a couple of Range Rovers. What's so 'exotic'? Yeah maybe the GT2, but when I hear the word 'exotic', I think Ferrari, Lamborghini, ummmm what else? See, I don't even know what's 'exotic' and heck, I have a hard time even spelling Lamborghini!
OK..... I'll bite!! I tell Euni, let's hurry up and eat and we'll go up to the dealership and check out this Ford GT. We'll just look it over and then go home. Yeah... sure! Somehow I think I've said that before ... a million times! I call this guy Frank and tell him we're coming up to see the car and he tells me he'll be waiting for me. Yeah..... I'll just bet you will! My mind is spinning with an attack plan just in case I like the car and may try to work out a deal, WHAT?..... Wait a minute, how the hell am I going to be able to buy the Ford GT. I just spent $215K on the Porsche GT2! WHAT am I thinking? I gotta see a shrink.... soon!
We get there around six or so and start walking forward to see the GT which is sitting in the middle of their showroom. Frank hasn't found us yet. From a 30 or 40 foot distance, it's an outrageous red, with white stripes at the bottom, sits lower than ants eating crumbs on the ground from a picnic and looks like it could be 'faster than a speeding bullet'..... sorry Superman, but this thing looks even faster than you!
I remember my Dealer friend telling me that the car was going to sell for around $150K or so. Still don't understand why they're calling me though? We walk closer to the car to check out the sticker...... sure enough it reads $155K and change. What's going on here? Wait a minute..... there's some kind of piece of paper or sign taped on the front window. Ahhhh..... NOW I understand why they called me! That little piece of paper on the front windows says 'OUR PRICE $250,000. I turn again to Euni and say wait a minute, I gotta go to the restroom, throw-up and then check my forehead out. I think a-hole or s_ _t head must be embossed on it!! Of course she's laughing her little ass off at me (she loves doing that you know)!
I regain my composure and start talking to Frank who has just come over after he sees me turning around in circles, mumbling! Frank says hi and I say "Frank..... what's all this special pricing about? Are you guys trying to pay the dealership mortgage off with this sale?" Frank says "calm down.... Do you like the car? Good, let's see if we can work out some kind of deal." Frank asks if I want him to start it up and I say OK. He starts the car and revs it up and now I know for sure that I'm screwed!! I say to Euni... "This should be good. They'll probably knock a couple thou off and think they got my ass! Heck, I don't NEED or really WANT it that bad....... the HELL I DON'T!!" I WANT THIS CAR! I can see it now, LeMans, Laguna Seca, Monaco..... maybe the Indy 500. There's no end to what I can do with this 'bolt of lightning'.
So we sit down, start massaging numbers, the General Manager, Donnie comes over (he's been trying to sell me a car for years but their price has never turned me on) , enters the conversation and we finally come up with a number, $216K plus I tell them they have to make the first two payments, and he says he has to get it OKd by the owner (another decent friend of mine). Dave, the owner, OKs the deal and, and.... I've got my first 'exotic supercar'! Damn, I feel good!
The reason I made them make the first two payments was because there was a recall on all of the Ford GTs due to control arm problems. Why? Because as I was told and read about later on, there were hairline cracks appearing in them from being made with a new process called ' injection casting process' or something like that. They then tell me they're not even sure when I'll be able to take possession of the GT but it could be as long as a month or two. Are you kiddin?
So after agreeing on the deal, I get my financing approved in a day or two and they tell me they'll keep me up to date on when the control arm replacements will be shipped. I wait and wait and wait! It's now early March and I'm getting 'ants in my pants' psycho. So I call Donnie and he says he'll check and see what's going on. He calls me a day or two later and says Dave called Ford, supposedly bitched them out saying I bought the GT on January 15th, I'm a very good customer and it's to the point of being ridiculous and they say OK, they'll ship them out immediately, ahead of all others on their schedule! Not too shabby!
The control arms finallt come in on March 16th. They begin work immediately. Meanwhile, I decide to make a trip to the dealership cause I want to see what all this fuss is about. I get there the next day and their mechanic shows me the old and new arms. The old ones are nice but the new ones are a work of art. FORGED! SHINY! BEAUTIFUL! He says he had to take an old one off, put it in the special box and then put the new ones on and repeat the process all around the car. They have to pack up all the old ones and send them back to Ford! Donnie and Dave tell me that the whole exchange is costing Ford around $8000 per car! Ouch! Later on, I read or hear that the actual figure is near $15,000 or so!
It's Thursday, March 17th, 2005, St. Patrick's Day. Too bad the car's not Electric Green! Eunice drops me off at the dealership and I'm about to come home in my new FORD GT. Donnie and the mechanic show me the ins and outs of the car and I start her up and almost have an orgasm! As I begin pulling out of the dealership, there's a couple dozen or so employees and spectators waving and smiling to me! Whoa Daddy! I cruise home and park her in the garage and just look and look. It's mine..... all mine!
A couple days later, I get a call from Frank and he asks me if everything is OK with the GT? He then tells me, he, his wife and his kids want to thank me for buying the Ford GT. He's very happy now and has enough money to buy school clothes for all his 5 or 7 kids. I thank him for his concern and say I'm glad to have supported his family in school this year. Later on that month after talking to Donnie and Dave (who is one of my new drinking partners at the local restaurant where we all go to) explain to me that they gave Frank a commission of $30K! They say that they were not going to take advantage of the sale but were going to offer a fantastic commission to the seller of the car. Jeez... that really makes me feel good! Yeah right!
I suppose you would like to hear a little about the mechanics of the car now, Huh? All right, here we go.
Your at the car and open the door and..... wow.... that door really opens wide. Wonder why? I start to get in and whack! Now I know why the door opens so wide. There's this thing attached to the door and it's part of it. It hangs over the door edge about a foot or so. Crazy, but wild design. I sneak into the driver's seat finally and freak out over the interior and all the neat looking toggle switches and retro gauges and seats with holes the size of nickles in them. It's really comfortable and everything is within easy reach. The radio is decent, a McIntosh, but the buttons are small, confusing and tricky to change bands and modes. I check to see how to set the clock and can't find it. I look in the manual, find out how, set the time and everything is OK...... except it defaults to the radio station preset every time you restart the car. I have only had the clock on one or two other times since. It ain't worth the hassle. Bad design!
There's no storage space in the interior. No glovebox, no console, no anything! Whatever you want to carry in the car will have to sit on the floor between your legs. Oh yeah, no drink or coffee cup holders either. You better have a lot of close friends who are willing to sit next to you to hold your coffee or you're SOL! No ashtray..... GOOD! No change tray..... BAD! No Cruise Control....... hey, how come none of my supercars have that? Maybe their theory is that your not supposed to be cruising around but instead should be going through the gears taking full advantage of the cars capabilities instead of driving them around like Grandma used to!
Taking the car for a drive goes as follows: Get in without tearing your head off (it really isn't that bad.... it just sounds good saying that), put the key in the ignition, push in the clutch, turn the key to start.... hey, I can't turn the key to start..... oh yeah, you don't turn the key to start! You push this little red button on the dash that says 'start'..... I knew that! The car starts with ease and seems to say, "I'm ready, willing and able..... let's go get em kid!" I put her in reverse, in reverse, in reverse..... reverse is a little tricky here. You kinda have to smack the stick a little to convince it to go left and into 'R'. You start backing up and you have no idea what the hell is behind you! I go to get back out of the car to see if there is anything behind me and smack.... yep,you got it, I nailed the door overhang with my head! This is for real! Getting out is really the hairiest part of ingress and egress. You have to put your right arm on the windshield pillar and push up slowly and backward to avoid the overhang. After 3 conks on the head, (Euni had 4 or 5), I learned real fast! But this is what makes this and the other cars I own so nice. They're different is so many ways from 'normal' cars, that you feel special just to be able to manage the special tricks of driving them.
Well, were going down my drive which is about 2500 ft. long and I can keep her in 1st gear and not even hit 1000 rpm or so. In the Carrera GT, I have to shift to 2nd and she's still doing better than 2000 rpm. On the road now and she feels great. This car has the long legs of a 8' basketball player. It just cruises along so mellow that it's unreal. Push down on the throttle anywhere, in almost any gear and pow, bang, boom, she rockets off into the sunset. The torque on this machine is like that of a bulldozer because of it's supercharger. I probably could pull out some old stumps from my fields if necessary!
There's lots of people out there with some sore necks from jerking them all over the place looking at the GT. Boy does she draw attention and comments. What the heck is it? Waddya mean it's a Ford? You trying to be funny boy? No honestly... Ford made this car! After I finally convince them and walk away in one piece, they're still looking with amazement. I get her out on 680, our local freeway, and give her some gas to let her stretch out. It's 3 to 4 miles before the next exit and I'll bet I could keep it in 4th gear doing 70 or so. The power of this car is unreal. You punch the throttle and you feel like you can reel in any car on the road like a 8" fish on shark tested line.
Filling her up with gas is fairly easy although you have to use your key to unlock one of the side latches to pop the cap. The latch on the other side pops open the trunk hatch lid. Oh, there's a little space there but not too much. The engine latch is above the driver's head near the rear window. What's funny is, today when I went to take the pictures of her, I forgot where the latch was. Had to look for 3-5 minutes to find it. The clam shell engine cover is huge but super impressive. I won't have to tell you about the engine cause the pictures will do that for me. Plus, I'm not totally sure what everything is back there anyway. There's space age stuff all over. Almost looks like a mini space shuttle!
What's really wild is when you look over your shoulder while driving and see this huge (well it looks like that when you in the driver's seat) supercharger with it's belts and pulleys just spinning wildly behind you! If she ever blows, you can kiss your ass goodbye! And there's that sound! Pure American Muscle Car kinda sound. Just like in the 'good ole days'. You know, 427 Corvettes, 454 Chevelles, 426 Hemis, 455 4-4-2s, 428 Ford Mustangs and GTO Judges all making ground pounding horsepower and earthquake torque! This is just like all of those and more. Trust me.... I had three of the five I mentioned. I was lucky as heck to live in the era of the 'true American Muscle Cars'. It's something I will never forget.
I just happened to cruise down a 4 lane highway last summer in the Ford GT when we had a annaul National Hot Rod Show and Meet. It was lined with people for a mile or so. As I went down the road, there were thumbs up everywhere and tons of people taking pictures just like if the President of the United States was visiting our town!
I bring her back home and slip her into the garage while remembering that door that seems to swing open 50 feet or so. I get out making sure not to wind up needing stitches in my head and close the door. I step back and gaze at her with complete amazement. She's beautiful, awesome, unreal, ground shaking and boy does she sit low. Wait a minute..... isn't this almost the same car, the Ford GT, (albiet a slight variation of the original car the GT40) who 's historic 1-2-3 sweep at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 and its consecutive wins over the next three years beating the hell out of Ferrari? That's right, she is! And they say American ingenuity is dead. Are they kidding me! U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A.
p.s. Please check out the one pic looking out the rear window from inside and you'll get an idea of what the driver is really able to see. Hardly anything! I told you I can't see squat!!
p.s.s. I've included pics of the Ford GT in front of my house. I can't prove it's my house cause I can't find the owner's manual or the keys. I hope Jabba and TT will believe me or I guess my ass will be banned! I hope I find the keys and manual soon so I can prove I own a house and don't live out of one of my cars. Heh.... heh..... heh.....
