GT...40


dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
TLDR (too long didn't read); Ford GT 0040 was delivered to me today, pics are in post #2.

Primer:

3+ years ago I changed my avatar to this:

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It’s the cover of the album French band Phoenix released in 2013. It was my stealth acknowledgement that Phoenix would shortly become a very important term in Ford GT world, and it lined up nicely because 1) hey, there’s some decent race in France and 2) I listened to it a lot already. Better than an old Charles Barkley jersey.

Right before NAIAS 2015, Phoenix appeared on the floor plan of the show that leaked on the internet. Alongside a GT40 and a Ford GT, it didn’t take much for people to figure out what Phoenix would be.

Yesterday, June 9th, with impeccable timing, I got a notification on my phone that there was new Phoenix available for me, because they released a new album. And I also got a phone call that there was going to be a different new Phoenix available for me this weekend.

***

GT....40

Not that it's a big deal, but I was hoping for a cool VIN. I waffled on changing a few things but decided not to because it might lose the VIN. People were like "so what?" But my VIN is 0040. Get it? GT...40.

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***

Options:

I went a little nuts on the color. I waffled all over the place, mainly because the car really and truly just looks awesome in every color. You could paint this car pink and it would look awesome (someone please do Lamborghini Rosso Targa). The shape of the car is so amazing that I really don't think you can screw it up with paint.

The car looks like a spaceship in white, and I am generally a white car guy. But after spending a lot of time looking at Porsche PTS and Lamborghini Ad Personam, I decided that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use the extended color palette program to paint the car whatever color I wanted. I spent hours and hours looking at PTS GT3 RS cars and Aventador SVs trying to find the right one. My Lamborghini dealer eventually just left me alone with all his paint samples to peruse them. I endlessly annoyed Ford Design Director Chris Svensson and Garen Nicoghosian over the various possibilities.

Ford provided me samples of Porsche Riviera Blue, Ford Stealth Grey, Lamborghini Grigio Telesto, and a large number of paint domes of Ford current and historical colors. I downloaded keyshot, the CAD for the show car, and the Axalta paint catalog and rendered it a bunch of different ways. There was no bad combo.

Tough call; do you go stealth, or tough, or crazy skittle? Do you try to be mature, do you try to be flashy? Ultimately, I really decided that little kids don’t go running after grey cars. The car is ultimately a fun, silly thing you hope will make people’s day when they see it. I always thought Jim Dunham had the right idea painting his first GT grabber, and his second in bright solid orange. So I went skittle, which coincidentally was my very first instinct when I went out and bought an xBox and Forza 6 just to play with the colors. So thanks for that Turn10 Big Boss! In the end it looked just like I had it in the Forza Vista garage. :lol

The color is high chroma, so when it in the right light it practically glows as it gets hit in different areas. It can be very different from top to bottom, especially on a car with so much shape. I'm beyond thrilled with the way it turned out.

I will say Andy Frisella and I were both on the verge of needing a support group during the color selection process of our cars. :lol His Arancio Borealis car turned out amazing.

I chose the base interior because in pursuit of the raciest look possible. I prefer the alcantara dash, steering wheel and seat backs. My only change, were it available, is that I would have preferred an Alcantara seat insert over the cloth. And contrast stitching. These cars make a lot of noise, so there is a giant NVH hush panel located behind the seats. I don’t care about noise, I want to see all of that carbon, so I already took that shit right out. :biggrin Looks sick. Noisier, hotter; do not care. The bit between the seats, and behind the seats as you look through the seat back is visible carbon. Gorgeous.

Part of the reason I picked the color is because I really love the contrast between it and gloss carbon fiber. I’d seen this combo on a couple 918 Spyders and just thought it really exploded. So I ordered the gloss carbon exterior panels and the gloss carbon fiber wheels. I actually prefer the aesthetic of the base wheel in gloss black, but ordered the CF for the cool factor and to complete the effect. I ordered silver calipers because it was really the only option that made sense. I think the contrast between the gloss CF and the paint looks absolutely unreal in the sun. It's almost blinding.

I did also get the harness bars, titanium lug nuts and the indoor car cover. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the Ti lugs looked.

So that's it. PTS Riviera Blue 1 of 1 2017 Ford GT.

***

I would definitely like to thank Ford for the herculean effort they made to get me this car before Le Mans. It looked like it was going to happen, then not happen, then happen, then not happen like 472 times in the last 72 hours. It narrowly missed the truck that shipped the other cars for this week. I was definitely a pain in the ass about it, so I am very, very appreciative they found a way to make it happen. Especially famous Lynsey from the Concierge team who is super nice and I know went to bat for me on it, and Bernardo the product expert. They took time out of their weekends to bring me this thing. And my concierge Shane who I also drove nuts. :lol

Thanks to Kevin Koshkarian at Pat Milliken Ford for selling me this beast and also coming up here on his Saturday!

This is really such a special machine. Moray, Chris, Garen, Craig, Todd, and everyone else involved in the design have truly designed one of the all time greats. We have run 6 through here now. They are all wildly different, and incredibly amazing, because whatever dress it wears, it is a supermodel underneath.

The whole Ford Performance engineering team has also been awesome to be around, because they've hammered out this car under intense pressure in an incredibly short period of time. I drive them all nuts with the texting as much as possible, but only because I love them. :lol You are all going to love the cars Dave Pericak, Jamal Hameedi and the Ford Performance team deliver. That also applies to the genius Larry Holt, who remains my favorite all-time figure in all of the automotive industry, and his team at Multimatic. It's been a real pleasure to be able to see Multimatic Niche Vehicles and the incredible work they are doing under Jeff Tanis and Alan Eggly, both of whom are veterans of the 05/06 GT program.

And of course, I would like to thank Raj. This car absolutely would not have happened without Raj Nair. He is the father of the Ford GT. Its success is his success, on the road and on the track. He championed and actually got a Le Mans-winning homologation special Ford GT built, ensured it was a technological powerhouse, and one of the most beautiful cars ever built, while being both incredibly futuristic and true to its heritage. And now I own one. Incredible!
 
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dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
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It glows....

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Inspiration:

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I held my paint sample up to a Riviera Blue car. It was absolutely dead on.
 
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dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
Phone pics:

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spartan

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 11, 2017
1,216
Bloomfield Hills MI
Congratulations Dave. That looks absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to see it. Nice write up.
 

NJS

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Mar 23, 2017
112
SE Michigan
Absolutely fantastic. Congrats!!
 

Shelby#18

GTX1 Owner/Moderator
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Dec 15, 2006
1,623
Nev./So. Cal./Minn.
Lucky, lucky, man. That combo is just incredible. Can't wait to see it in person!
 

68Rcodeman

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 5, 2008
800
Spring Hill, FL.
Congrat's Dave just Beautiful! Thanks for sharing and keeping us all in the loop with Im sure your busy schedule. Looks Grabber Blue to me but old Ford colors are all I know. All colors look great. Hope to have the issue of picking a color someday.
 
Last edited:

Demolition Man

GT Owner/B.O.D
Mark IV Lifetime
Jan 29, 2006
103
danville, CA
Awesome Dave. Congrats. Looks a bit like Mexico Blue from the Porsche color chart. Love it. Best color combo yet with the cf wheels.







Lucky, lucky, man. That combo is just incredible. Can't wait to see it in person!
 

Awsum GT

GT Owner '18
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 17, 2005
3,985
Carmel & Cntrl Ca
So Awesome... Congrats Dave... thanks for sharing... can't wait to see it in Pebble Beach!
 

Cobrar

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jun 24, 2006
4,017
Metro Detroit
Nicely done and congratulations! Certainly a lot of work to arrive at your final selection, and it looks fantastic in the pictures!

Looking forward to seeing it on return from Le Mans.
 

ENZO BTR

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 11, 2005
1,048
Southern California
It's close to a custom shade I have been thinking about for awhile, and this only makes me think more seriously about going paint-to-match...

Beautiful Dave. Congrats!
 

roketman

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 24, 2005
7,994
ma.
Awesome David .Congratulations! If anyone was going to get 0040 It should be you! No one is more than deserving!
Enjoy in the best of health!
The color looks just beautiful!
 

Sinovac

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 18, 2006
5,832
Largo, Florida
Awesome. Great choice. The VIN is very cool. Please post pics of the NVH panel delete. Did you happen to get a PTS Portofino blue?
 

dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
Time for a spin.

2952eb8e53e265e67dfece25627e8a5d.jpg
 

FrankTheTank

GT Owner
Jul 27, 2016
104
Austin, Texas
35185112516_b58a5584b9_b.jpg


35185113486_369188920d_b.jpg


35185112926_5b5a551f84_b.jpg


35059586612_6a4f35c0bd_b.jpg


It glows....

35185119736_9d51bf9ccf_b.jpg


35184980776_94cef99638_b.jpg


34415956323_01bf0b5b5c_b.jpg


35059432562_760d3d7c53_b.jpg


35095086361_4e5d79fb54_b.jpg


35059638182_176c7eed17_b.jpg


Inspiration:

P1160504-1024x684.jpg


I held my paint sample up to a Riviera Blue car. It was absolutely dead on.
Phone pics:

2c1945f8c2f6d0a24c0ae292ff04e635.jpg


d1e18f63286e02a4b8470a1970f1352d.jpg


Congratulations Super Dave Bannister!

It is truly gorgeous1 can't wait to see it in person!!! Nice job keeping,it on the down low for so long!

Enjoy, Frank the Tank
 

Raj Nair

Ford GT Team Alumni
Mar 10, 2015
45
Congratulations, Dave. It's beautiful!
 

DakotaGT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 9, 2012
1,694
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Looks incredible! Congrats.
 

GTJack

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 1, 2006
1,728
Saddlebrooke, MO
Congrats!! The color looks terrific and double congrats on getting an iconic serial number. I imagine you will find out what it is like to drive at night!
 

ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,769
Scottsdale, Arizona
Gentlemen,

A great post from Il Duce. It's been quite a ride Dave. Le Mans will be a little sweeter knowing that #40 is waiting for you back home. Cheers bro.

Chip
 

CJ428

Farm GT
Mark II Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
May 21, 2008
1,473
NJ
Blue Baby Blue! looks great buddy, very dramatic color :thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup