Question regarding the GT in Ford GT, also my first post.

[nls8520]

Hello,

This will be my first post, I have been lurking and admiring all of your cars, The Ford GT is simply one of my absolute favorite cars of all time.

In regards to the GT name: In Le Mans this would identify the class of the car a production Grand Tourer, however the Ford GT does not strike me as being a Grand Touring car at all. Rather I see the Ford GT as more off an Exotic American super car. I see a grand touring car more like and Aston Martin, front engined very much a luxury car with power. I would like to hear your thoughts on this. I look forward to hearing from you! :cheers

 

[Indy GT]

GT Nomenclature



nls8520-
Actually the "GT" so used on our car appears to be a general description of the type of racing class which existed in the 1962 era. I have inserted and give full credit to the explanation offered by Mr. Roy Lunn of Ford Motor Company in his SAE report #670065 (part of the Ford GT historical/technical development package sold by SAE as PT-113).

It is well known the 1960's GT-40 naming came from the overall height of the car and that Ford was unable to obtain badging rights for the new GT supercar from the "GT-40" nameplate owner for a reasonable price. (So us owners continue to battle with the parts counter guys/girls when trying to buy parts for our car and we get Mustang parts because the rank-n-file all assume reference to a "GT" must be a Mustang.)

Csaba Csere of Ann Arbor, Michigan in the PT-113 Preface appears to favor using the name "Ford GT" when describing the development of the Mark II's and the Mark IV's and I would defer you to scouring these publiciations if you want to dive into the topic. I did a quick scan and did not see any topic development specifically focused on the naming of the car.

I am sure there is a story here and I believe there have been other threads on the naming topic, Ford's attempt to work out reasonable compensation from (Safir?) for the GT-40 naming rights, etc. It is an interesting topic, but however you refer to our car, it is absolutely an amazing machine of the highest technical achievement. And truly a "halo" car for Ford Motor Company.

Congratulations on your first post, and step up and buy one (or two...) of these cars and join in the experience!

 

[SYCO GT]

Welcome Nis, and great question.

I wish current program budget and corporate philosophy had been able to support the third important tenet: "An excellent promotional medium is provided by demonstrating products in open competition"

 

[nls8520]

Indy: Thanks for that information, very interesting.

SYCO: Thanks for the welcome.

I have read articles that refer to the GT as a grand tourer, as in the name sake. That image seems to bring to mind, a large bloated car that is more luxury than power such as an Aston Martin or a Maserati. I do suppose that Indy GT's explanation is more of a class of car that was popular in the early sixties, which seems very reasonable. With that said I personally see the GT recreation as a Supercar, or an American exotic sports car. I would like to hear your feelings, from the owners. Wonderful and friendly website you have here. Thanks for the response's.

 

[Shadowman]

Welcome nis8520

The question was answered and I must say in a wonderful way; Thank you Indy GT

I enjoyed the read

Takes care

Shadowman

 

[nls8520]

Shadowman, thanks for the welcome. Indy truly did gave a wonderful and thoroughly informative response that I enjoyed reading.

 

[Neil Ressler]

The GT in Ford GT

My recollection of this is that we started out with the intention to call the new car GT-40. As has been widely reported, we had some trouble with licensing use of the name GT-40, although these is some disagreement as to exactly what would have been required to acquire such a license. In any event, the issue had become a big headache. I decided to have a look at the original Road and Track article on the car back in the 1960's and discovered that it was called Ford GT. The GT-40 name came later.

We had enough to do in designing and developing the car without spending any more time on the name so we changed our choice on the name to Ford GT and moved on. I don't think anyone on the team spent any time at all trying to figure out what GT meant. We all knew what the car was and would have known whether it was called GT-40 or Ford GT.

 

[PL510*Jeff]

My recollection of this is that we started out with the intention to call the new car GT-40. As has been widely reported, we had some trouble with licensing use of the name GT-40, although these is some disagreement as to exactly what would have been required to acquire such a license. In any event, the issue had become a big headache. I decided to have a look at the original Road and Track article on the car back in the 1960's and discovered that it was called Ford GT. The GT-40 name came later.

We had enough to do in designing and developing the car without spending any more time on the name so we changed our choice on the name to Ford GT and moved on. I don't think anyone on the team spent any time at all trying to figure out what GT meant. We all knew what the car was and would have known whether it was called GT-40 or Ford GT.

"WE" too know and love what you created. Thanks.

 

[fjpikul]

Mr. Ressler, it is a distinct pleasure to have you on this Forum. We met in Detroit at Rally I at the dinner. I hope you will enjoy the group Forum and visit often. Did you ever get your 5 window coupe?

 

[AZSTAD]

Mr. Ressler, it is a distinct pleasure to have you on this Forum.

My apologies, but the name did not strike me. So I "Googled" Neil Ressler and Ford.

First I'll say that the internet is an incredible platform that allows us to interact with the likes of Mr. Ressler. Secondly, it is an honor to have him participate in this forum.

Thanks for helping bring such an incredible automobile to the market, among all of the others you've been involved with over the decades. Very cool!

 

[dbk]

It is good to see Neil finally post! If everything lines up, Neil should be joining us at Rally 5 at V.I.R. :cheers:

 

[nls8520]

Mr. Ressler, thank you for taking the time to reply, I truly enjoyed hearing your perspective. Thanks for building such a special car.