The early-2000s Ford GT is a uncommon machine, however this specific GT is even rarer. That is as a result of it is a prototype, constructed to validate the GT forward of its manufacturing run for the 2005 and 2006 mannequin years. It is now up for grabs on Bring a Trailer.
Formally often called Affirmation Prototype 1 (CP-1), this automobile wears serial quantity 000004. It’s the first operating and driving GT prototype, and was used for emissions testing and road-certification functions, in accordance with the itemizing.
This automobile is identifiable by its distinctive carbon-fiber rear clamshell, uncovered metallic bumper with unfinished exhaust suggestions (wanted for emissions testing, per the itemizing), and aluminum headliner. It additionally has a port simply forward of the passenger-side rear wheel, which was used for testing totally different grades of gas, in accordance with the itemizing.
Beneath the carbon-fiber clamshell sits the identical 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 used within the manufacturing GT. That engine propelled manufacturing fashions to a claimed high velocity of round 200 mph, however CP-1 was electronically restricted by Ford to five mph.
2004 Ford GT Affirmation Prototype 1 (Picture by Carry a Trailer)
The automobile additionally wears the signatures of 13 GT development-team members, together with chief designer Camilo Pardo, chief engineer Fred Goodnow, Ford chairman Invoice Ford Jr., and even the late Carroll Shelby.
The odometer at present reveals 1,212 miles, with 217 working hours on the engine, in accordance with the itemizing. This automobile was bought by a collector immediately from Ford in 2008, who then informed it to the present vendor (a New York dealership) about 5 years in the past, the itemizing mentioned. That was probably when this identical automobile crossed the block at a 2017 Russo and Steele auction in Scottsdale, Arizona.
It is price noting that this automobile is just not street authorized, so you may want a flatbed to point out it off on the native automobiles and low meetup. Nonetheless, it ought to make fairly the dialog piece. Prototypes are not often bought to most people—most are destroyed.
The GT appears to be an exception to that rule, although. One other GT prototype turned up on the market in 2018. This automobile, CP-4, didn’t have a velocity limiter and was apparently road-legal. A 3rd automobile, from a special prototype sequence, was provided on the market in 2014.