Ford GT factory tour

[John B]

Ford GT assembly slide show.
I don't know if you guys have seen this here before. It's pretty cool.
Take the interactive tour.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=107085#

 

[FordGTGuy]

http://www.fordgtforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111

sorry beat you by ummm lots of months. heh thanks for posting anyway.

remember looks through all the threads in Sound and Fury for media.

 

[Waldo]

The last picture of that slide show answers the age-old question: "What does heaven looks like?"

 

[SuperB]

Funny, they talk about all the checks they do to make sure nothing goes out with a problem. Mine had two issues that I noticed when I picked it up, both of which the video says they check more than once. Good ole American quality assurance :lol

My dealer has been great about addressing the issues that were overlooked at the factory though, great job.

 

[LEMANSZ]

what issues?

 

[SuperB]

Maybe it's me, I'm pretty demanding.
But for the money I paid, I think demanding should be expected.

The drivers door has a significant noise which can't be missed. (the video shows a track they use to check for any noise) My dealer confirmed the noise before they even got out of the parking lot and said no problem to fix.

The pasenger window barely goes up and down (the video shows that this gets checked TWICE!!!). Dealer is ordering new parts, good job dealer. :cheers

There are many, inconspicuous, areas where the paint is so thin you can see the primer. Nothing major, but the video shows that they check the entire car several times :bs . Guess these are the 5 spots they don't check. :biggrin

And the Ford execs wonder why americans don't want to buy their $20,000 cars. If they can't get simple stuff right on a $150K+ car, you can imagine a 20K cars issues. Hand built is supposed to be better right? Frankly I'd rather have a machine do it. :willy

I do, however, love the car. Just wish all the American auto makers would move the quality level up from piss poor to unacceptable. :biggrin

 

[FGT4me]

I love my GT also but have come to expect many imperfections in these types (expensive, hand made but still "assembly line" quality) of vehicles.

I wonder if the earlier cars had fewer imperfections (the recalls notwithstanding since those were engineering and not quality issues) before everyone found out they were being laid off?

I am a cynic, I guess, but I do not assume everyone out there takes the same pride in their work that I do. In fact, I prefer to assume the worst and then be pleasantly surprised when it's not so bad.
This way, there are fewer disappointments.

 

[SuperB]

Yes, I expect lots of minor issues due to it being hand built in limited quantity.
My understanding is that the very early GT's were a bit less perfect due to the workers getting up to speed.
Glad I already have my Heritage, before the workers loose interest. I think it would be difficult for anyone to care about perfection knowing their days are numbered.

 

[dbk]

The only thing I'll tell you is that although there are Wixom workers being laid off that work on the GT decking the motor and whatnot, the majority of the workers are Saleen's people, not Ford's. So if there are issues like paint, panel gaps, etc, that's a Saleen worker deal. They may be getting laid off as well because they have no other projects; I don't know. But they aren't part of the "Way Forward" plan if they are....

 

[Neilda]

SuperB - great news on the car..

On the paint issue - and I may be telling you something you already know - I would have put money on the fact that on mine some primer was showing through. Turned out is was some protective (greyish colored) wax in some potential 'rub' areas, where the clamshell almost touches the rear panel for example.

I guess you will have checked and double checked - so this post will appear to be nonsense, however I was surprised to see, what I thought to be primer, removed with a little polish.

 

[K-P Garage]

Defending American cars

Folks- While I admit I am a third generation Ford man and may be bias in their favor, I think it is all too common to jump on the bandwagon about criticizing these cars and for that matter all American built cars. I have had foreign cars over the years and with the exception of my old VW bettle, NONE of them can touch any of my Fords in regard to overall quality, durability and value.
The GT is an amazing car and value when you look at all of the so called competition. I went to a car show this weekend in which there were four GTs. There were many Lambos, Porsche and Ferrari cars there. In talking with them, their cars cost a great deal more, are not as fast and every little thing that does not work requires some guy named Hans or Detter or Georgio to tend to it while wearing a white lab coat. They for the most part sort of snubbed their collective noses at the GTs, especially the Porsche and Ferrari guys. (The Lambos guys were too busy having fun).
When the show was over all the Fords started right up and rubbled off. Not so for the Ferrari's as one even had to be pushed off to the side to await a lab coat guy to get it fired up. The Porsche crowd had two that would not climb back on their trailers. The Lambos all fired up as did even the Jags.
The fastest car there, one of this forum's members, a guy who I call Joe Speed from Jacksonville (the guy in the video). How do we know he was fastest? Watch the video. Also, he is a motorcycle racer which means he has that lack of fear of the edge. Both carrera GTs just eased away form the show in fear of the GT of Joe Speed. I suppose it is hard to compare paint quality when a car blows by you with blue flames coming out the rump and sucks the paint off the side of your euromobile.
Give the guys in Detroit a little more credit. The grandpa of these GT's kicked the world's butt before and this car is doing it all over again!

 

[SuperB]

Wax, interesting, never thought of that. Really looks like thin paint but I'll be checking on that today and sending out my apologies if I was wrong. :ack

I can't spell worth a crap, gotta get DBK to find a spell checker for the site. I have to copy everything here and spell check it on my site. :biggrin

 

[SuperB]

I was not complaining about the quality issues so much as discussing them.
They were expected, and it was not the paint that was the major issue. It was the door and the other door. Didn't even mention that the front hood wouldn't close. All new cars have issues, but there are simple 'in your face' issues that no one can miss.

I agree completely about the snobbery of Ferrari and Porshe guys. I tried to buy a Ferrari, but the dealer acted like they didn't care. If my $200,000 is no good I'll take it elsewhere, and I did. I don't even get Porche, never liked them, they are ugly to me (excluding the Carrara GT). Drove a twin turbo before I decided on the GT. It was ok, but you gotta shift at 30,60,90....I like to go go go, not shift shift shift :biggrin The Carrara was just to expensive.

I think all the Ferrari, Lambo and Porche guys dislike us GT guys. We steal all the thunder at the car shows, and paid less.

As for American Quality, I'm sorry to say that I defend my statement. It's sad to pay an American $35 an hour to do a $12 an hour job that Japanese do better for $2 an hour. :willy

 

[KJD]

The Carerra GT is a helluva car but it's butt ugly too!

 

[SuperB]

The biggest down side to the Carrara GT is that Seinfeld's got one :rofl

 

[LEMANSZ]

Agree...Agree...Agree...I have had Ferrari's and the reason I never attended any events is theirs was big snobssss...I could have been one too, but declined. I had more fun last weekend, rubbing shoulders with the SCCA, Cobra, GT guys, etc, talking shop with enthuisastists and seeing their stuff, then I could ever have with the boys in red. As for the build quality, mine is great, so I have no complaints yet...yes some weird things that I have managed to fix myself..no big deal overrall....LOVE THIS CAR MORE THEN ANY I HAVE OWNED...bottom line.

 

[Neilda]

K-P. good post, I enjoyed that and would have liked to have seen it in person...

I think the flaws here and there can be discussed on this Forum because we all love this car, are enthusiasts and just want to compare notes really.

SuperB, let me know about your paint issue/primer. Go easy in case you're right and I'm wrong!! My Zymol detailer used a cloth and with a hard, but careful, rub, it came off....

 

[RickM]

The drivers door has a significant noise which can't be missed. (the video shows a track they use to check for any noise) My dealer confirmed the noise before they even got out of the parking lot and said no problem to fix.

SuperB,
Would be interested in what the dealer had to do to fix the noise in the driver door and/or the exact source of the noise...

I have a pretty significant vibration (dare I say rattle...It's more of a buzz/vibration) coming from both the driver door, and also from the front console/instrument cluster.

But it doesn't bother me enough to let the dealer try to fix these...I figure they'll have to drive it significantly to pinpoint the source of the problem...and I'm not ready for that...yet.

-RickM
(#2032)

 

[KERRY P]

Exceptional reply KP!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ENZO BTR]

The Ferrari attitude thing always cracks me up. At the SAAC club meet last week there was a moment where some 20-somethings were gawking at the GTs parked on the side of Mulholland. I walked up to get in mine and one of them (wearing a t-shirt with a large Prancing Horse on it) looked at me and immediately got a smug look on his face (funny because two seconds earlier he was gazing at the GT with his jaw hung low).

He says, "Nice license plate. Not really realistic, but nice."

I looked at him said, "But this car already beat Enzo. You know -- 1966? 1967? 1968? 1969?"

Then he got this surprised/sheepish look and said, "Oh...yeah, well I guess if you're refering to that then it makes sense. Oh, that's cool."

I figured it wasn't worth telling him that car's named Enzo don't scare me, either... :biggrin