Very interesting thread going on here. I thought I would put my $.02 in. This is truly my opinion based on how many cars we have worked on and are currently working on.
Remember back in the old days (2005-2010ish) when you could go to the Ford dealer and get a part for your car, well those days are long gone for the Ford GT owners and non-owners now. We could get any part for a car that we were working on with no questions asked. Times were good other than the occasional backorder. Fast forward a few years then we got into backorders and out of stock (2010-2013) issues.
Could it have been?:
- Ford ran out of parts since it was such a low volume car.
-Ford didn’t realize so many of the cars would be crashed/damaged and need replacement parts.
-Suppliers went out of business as the years went on.
-Hoarders buying parts for themselves, resale, or future investments.
My OPINION is all of the above. Now Ford has to spend more money on re-engineering, retooling (as some of the original tools were lost destroyed), inventory, and so on causing part costs to go up. Did I mention this was an extremely low volume car (4038) and not your typical 900,000+ F150’s in 2005.
As of June of 2013 Ford tried to get this under control so they started requesting the VIN for every part ordered for a Ford GT. That didn’t help with this lovely thing called the internet because you can find a VIN anywhere, no proof required.
Now fast forward to September 2015 we need current registration, VIN, owner name, and sometimes pictures of the damaged parts. Yes they have to be current registrations as we have had a few owners that had expired registration and they had to get them renewed just so we can order parts. Also we have a few cars that were not registered and now the owner had to get the car registered just so we can order parts.
One can look at all this as good or bad.
The bad is:
It is difficult, and will continue to be, to get parts as time goes on, especially if you do not own a car.
The good is:
Ford is trying to get a hold on the parts system in order to keep parts on Ford (not private party) shelves for many years to come. This way when someone has an “oops” or whatever the need, the part will be available and you won’t have to search for it. Not saying every part will be available but hopefully many will be.
Short of the story is, it seems like Ford is trying to protect the actual owners of the current 2005-6 GT.