I believe he was speaking of the 05 GT.
Hand picked owners
- Thread starter ssssnake
- Start date
I juggled a lot of things, and would have sold another car to get it, but yes, I went to buy a Tungsten car from a relatively local dealer. Deal on the phone went out the window when I showed up with a checkbook. This was a highly emotional and long planned purchase, so it left a bitter taste to me about how much a dealer can misrepresent ford with a vehicle with ADM. When I actually got to the dealer, it was strictly a business transaction, which they butchered.
Actually yes. And it works just like that for many people. Marketing and exposure to a larger audience yields more sales. Not of the GT but other models. If people have a positive impression of the brand they are far more likely to consider their next purchase with that brand.
Guerilla marketing at its finest... Ford knows exactly what they are doing here with the GT. Not that I particularly agree with this type of product marketing though
Failed to deliver?
More weight, less power and they still win Le Mans, which was there goal.
Did ACR do this?
Name 8?
8 of 750 allocated is approximately 1%. Most went to past/multiple GT owners who have heavily involved in the GT scene for the past 12 years.
This is a much better system than the first 1.5 million gets the car...
The GT is extremely labor intensive and time consuming to build. It's also very expensive to produce. Ford isn't Ferrari. Ford isn't known as a supercar company, and they can't just scale up production on a supercar and hope all the inventory sells. I would imagine the profit margin on the GT is pretty thin relative to its MSRP.
Considering every single allocation was pre-sold, there was no point in letting the market dictate. What if they end up with a lot of buyers like the other guy in this thread who was going to buy one, had a bad experience with the dealer and couldn't get it, then went off in a hissy and bought something else from another brand? In other words, a lot of people that shop in that price range are the I-want-what-I-want-when-I-want-it type people. They might not be able to get one today, but can get one in, say, 60 days. Rather than be patient and wait for that next allocation, they just walk and buy the competition. Why should Ford risk the hassle? Like the saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Much like idiots rolling around in a Camry thinking they have a fast race car because Toyota has dumb commercials marketing them as such. People are sheep.
I wanna see the data, where is the data for the regular FGT?
I think they announced it's faster than the 488 and 675LT.
Not sure if the mags will test it with a pro driver.
Not sure if the mags will test it with a pro driver.
I know all the allocations are filled but the number is really small and much less then could be sold. The problem is not I can't have it today or in 60 days. Unless ford changes their mind all the cars are sold. I believe ford also has the ability to buy the car back with a first right of refusal for a couple years. Point is ford could have sold many more of these if they had wanted. I'm familiar With people who buys these types of cars and many would be happy to wait if the had the opportunity to.
I saw on the Ford GT forum that 70% of the original 500 allocations went to previous 05/06 owners. They were, by a wide margin, the biggest priority when it came to allocations.
But I do agree with everyone else here, Ben absolutely should have got one. It really bothers me thinking about John Hennessey getting one but Ben didn't.
Also, Ford almost never never releases performance data. The fact they brought up the 458 and 675 was really unusual. They have a very Apple style marketing plan, never mention the competitors.
But I do agree with everyone else here, Ben absolutely should have got one. It really bothers me thinking about John Hennessey getting one but Ben didn't.
Also, Ford almost never never releases performance data. The fact they brought up the 458 and 675 was really unusual. They have a very Apple style marketing plan, never mention the competitors.
Treynor got his GT350R with no markup, though. So I don't feel bad for him.
I can't stand Hennessy. However he had multiple Ford GT's and was very participatory in the gt forum and rally's the 10 years.
Someone from the forum was not selected first 500 and he had the GT and original owner Shelby mustang and Shelby r's from the 60's. I was shocked he did not get in on the first 500.
Stuff like that is surprising, but maybe he had a boring submission or Ford was concerned he wouldn't really showcase the car.
At the end of the day we will never really know their entire process but from the outside looking in, they seemed to give favor to prior/current owners.
Lol I'm mostly upset because I wanted to see his review and videos of the car.
He'd probably be the one most likely to put it on a track.
Time to dispel some myths. TLDR; most of what you've read is bullshit, it primarily mattered whether you owned an 05/06 and if you really drove it, or you were a big partner with FMC.
Myth - Social media was a big factor in whether or not you received a Ford GT.
This is completely and totally wrong. You can argue it if you like, but you will be wrong. By far, the single biggest group of people that were awarded cars were previous generation Ford GT owners. It was just under 70%. So right off the bat, out of 750 initial allocations, 500+ of them went to people on the basis of their ownership of the 2005/2006 Ford GT.
The vast majority of these people have ZERO social media presence. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. I know this, because I know a very, very large percentage of them personally. Most of them are what you'd expect - guys that are 50-70 years old, that have a Ford GT, many of them were the original buyers of their GT, many of them have multiple Ford GTs, and many more of them have a large amount of Fords in general including the GT, various Mustangs, trucks, whatever. Serious consideration was given to what kind of usage and how many miles you've driven the car during your ownership.
So regardless of what other nonsense you read, the truth of the matter is the single biggest factor for getting allocated a new GT was based on your ownership of the 05/06. You can jumble together these criteria:
Beyond owning a 2005/2006 GT, just under 90% of the 750 cars went to people that own Fords. There is a sprinkling in there of people who had bonkers collections of Mustangs or other Vintage Fords, but moreso they definitely gave allocations to major supplier partners or fleet customers, and a relatively small amount of major dealers. As an example when I say "fleet customer," I've spent quite a bit of time talking to a guy whose company has bought over 100,000 vehicles from Ford. Probably a good idea they sold him one.
For the past two years I've been enlisted by Ford to assist with their 24 Hours of Le Mans hospitality program, which everyone with an allocation was invited to, so I've had more interaction with people getting these cars than anyone outside the literal team that takes their orders.
So if you ran it down, it would be something like:
Do yourself a favor and ask yourself to name a dozen people who got Ford GTs on the basis of social media. It's going to be a challenge.
There was a lot of butthurt over Shmee getting a car, but the UK got virtually no Ford GTs in 2005/2006. There were 101 total European cars officially sold those years, and the UK total was in the 20s I think. It just wasn't the same scenario as the U.S market because the pool was way smaller, so they obviously stretched their criteria out a little. Every time I turned around at Le Mans last year, he was milling about, so I figured then he was a done deal.
As far as the amount produced, I've been to Multimatic Niche Vehicles three times; once to visit, and twice to watch my car get built. I know Larry Holt, the technical brains at Multimatic, and literal ****ing GENIUS, very well. Everyone, and I mean everyone, enlists him to make their good toys work. Red Bull F1, Ford, Aston Martin, Chevrolet, literally half the field at Le Mans...you name it, they do it. Every Ferrari GTE car runs his shit. And you will see details about them building shit far more insane than the GT in the not too distant future.
The GT cannot be produced at a high rate. It's a literal hand built car in the same way a Vulcan is. Every panel is produced by hand, formed in the 10 atmosphere autoclave at MM. The GT is a really impressive car on the exterior, but it is truly astonishing apart. There is nothing else like it. They are knocking out so much billet and CF stuff on this car it's ridiculous. Feels more like a race shop than a production facility.
Myth - Social media was a big factor in whether or not you received a Ford GT.
This is completely and totally wrong. You can argue it if you like, but you will be wrong. By far, the single biggest group of people that were awarded cars were previous generation Ford GT owners. It was just under 70%. So right off the bat, out of 750 initial allocations, 500+ of them went to people on the basis of their ownership of the 2005/2006 Ford GT.
The vast majority of these people have ZERO social media presence. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. I know this, because I know a very, very large percentage of them personally. Most of them are what you'd expect - guys that are 50-70 years old, that have a Ford GT, many of them were the original buyers of their GT, many of them have multiple Ford GTs, and many more of them have a large amount of Fords in general including the GT, various Mustangs, trucks, whatever. Serious consideration was given to what kind of usage and how many miles you've driven the car during your ownership.
So regardless of what other nonsense you read, the truth of the matter is the single biggest factor for getting allocated a new GT was based on your ownership of the 05/06. You can jumble together these criteria:
- Do you own a 2005/2006 Ford GT?
- Were you the original owner?
- If not, how long have you owned it?
- What have you done with it while you owned it?
- How many miles do you have on it?
Beyond owning a 2005/2006 GT, just under 90% of the 750 cars went to people that own Fords. There is a sprinkling in there of people who had bonkers collections of Mustangs or other Vintage Fords, but moreso they definitely gave allocations to major supplier partners or fleet customers, and a relatively small amount of major dealers. As an example when I say "fleet customer," I've spent quite a bit of time talking to a guy whose company has bought over 100,000 vehicles from Ford. Probably a good idea they sold him one.
For the past two years I've been enlisted by Ford to assist with their 24 Hours of Le Mans hospitality program, which everyone with an allocation was invited to, so I've had more interaction with people getting these cars than anyone outside the literal team that takes their orders.
So if you ran it down, it would be something like:
- Ford GT Owners
- Major Fleet Customers
- Suppliers
- Dealers
- Various other important corporate partners
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- Social Media related people
Do yourself a favor and ask yourself to name a dozen people who got Ford GTs on the basis of social media. It's going to be a challenge.
There was a lot of butthurt over Shmee getting a car, but the UK got virtually no Ford GTs in 2005/2006. There were 101 total European cars officially sold those years, and the UK total was in the 20s I think. It just wasn't the same scenario as the U.S market because the pool was way smaller, so they obviously stretched their criteria out a little. Every time I turned around at Le Mans last year, he was milling about, so I figured then he was a done deal.
As far as the amount produced, I've been to Multimatic Niche Vehicles three times; once to visit, and twice to watch my car get built. I know Larry Holt, the technical brains at Multimatic, and literal ****ing GENIUS, very well. Everyone, and I mean everyone, enlists him to make their good toys work. Red Bull F1, Ford, Aston Martin, Chevrolet, literally half the field at Le Mans...you name it, they do it. Every Ferrari GTE car runs his shit. And you will see details about them building shit far more insane than the GT in the not too distant future.
The GT cannot be produced at a high rate. It's a literal hand built car in the same way a Vulcan is. Every panel is produced by hand, formed in the 10 atmosphere autoclave at MM. The GT is a really impressive car on the exterior, but it is truly astonishing apart. There is nothing else like it. They are knocking out so much billet and CF stuff on this car it's ridiculous. Feels more like a race shop than a production facility.
Thanks for clearing up a bunch of stuff!
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