I hope this has not been posted before http://www.mustangweekly.com/2004/march/news/n03-6-3rd.asp "An engineering firm that has been doing development work on a Ford GT, reported that on their chassis dyno, a "well broke in" Ford GT made 565 horsepower to the rear wheels. They went on to say that the car was hazing the tires on the dyno and they believed the real numbers are quite a bit higher."
Will the Ford GT turn out to be a modern day Pantera? Long term Ford will maximize short term profits by making nearly as many as they can sell. Resale values will reflect this. Haven't seen one in person but the looks and numbers look great in print. Ford & Chevy are pretty slow to jump on the retro bandwagon. Hope the train hasn't already left town.
Yeah - I remember someone mentioning it back then but I cant remember who it was . I also seem to remember some guy named Maaco that seemed to argue with this same said person - over these same claimed facts that are apparently turning out to be true..
Personally I hope the retro train has left. JMO It's good to take design cues from previous landmark models. But regurgitating a car (the original was great! btw) and sending it through the same computer program as every 'sporty' ricer on the road, giving it a bunch of power, and selling it relying solely on its visual similarities to the original race car puts it in the same pathetic boat as the Veyron... through with my rant. I'm not saying its not a bang for the buck, its Ford's version of a 'vette on steriods... but there's more to a superb car then that. Which is why we are all on this site to begin with.
I think its great, who cares if they are lying...at least unlike some, they are OVERdoing the HP! I love that car, exudes sexiness and heritage.
i think we shouldn't be jumping to any assumptions here. imo, the magazine reports clearly demonstrate that all sorts of engine tweaking has been going on with the prototype cars. these guys still haven't finalized everything for the production vehicle. everybody is playing with protos still (damn close to real protos, but still protos). i wonder if the bean counters in the warranty department have had their whack at the bunny yet - for all we know they'll detune it to 500 at the flywheel to stick to the marketing materials and reduce major warranty costs. there's just so much yet to be finalized about this beast that it's premature to wonder what the end result might be, imo. certainly intriguing though! doody.
Ok, so now we know that "500 HP measured somewhere" is about 35 feet down the road after the car has passed. Wonder what it will do after the supercharger pulleys are changed............
PWehmer wrote: Will the Ford GT turn out to be a modern day Pantera? Long term Ford will maximize short term profits by making nearly as many as they can sell. Resale values will reflect this. Does anyone believe that future resale value factors into Production volume calculations? The only profit Ford makes is when they sell the car the first time. They will be doing everything they can to maximize income, not worrying about collectors and speculators making money down the road.
for ford, no. absolutely not. which is why imo the speculators will get creamed. as a publicly trade company, it would be fiscally irresponsible for ford to not satisfy demand completely - assuming the car is profitable, which i have to believe it will be. for ferrari, perhaps. clearly they could sell more than they're producing and they're not doubling production. that's not pure "resale values" math in their head, it's marketing math and optimal company sizing (probably). doody.
What you are saying is interesting. I agree w/ Doody on re-sale subject. Like Japanese car makers did, why not Ford create upper-class car brand to handle GT & others. Is it not feasible? If Ferrari created the lower-class brand, would it hurts them? Like Rolex to Tudor of watch makers. This is probably unrealistic for Ferrari as they seems not chasing how much money they can make, and in long term, Ferrari brand may get hurt. I am not well knowledged on auto making industry, so just wondering. Yoshi
They were thinking that with a curb weight of 4760 lbs the SSR will be 50 percent more fun than that skimpy little Ford GT.
I agree. Even thought the Ford GT looks to be a superior car, .from a long term investment standpoint this is just a replay of the Viper and Prowler phenomena. Even though I want one, I will wait to get my Ford. They will get MUCH cheaper after the first wave of enthusiasm wanes.
According to thecarconnection.com the car will be rated at 550hp after recent engine tests. By the way that is a great site to get up to date information.
I saw an SSR the other day on the highway near all the car dealerships in town. I-40 near Wendover for any one who lives in Gboro. It was yellow and quite ugly.
Now wait just a minute. If the economy is so bad like the liberals would have us believe, how can Ford or anybody else possibly sell another expensive exotic luxury TOY like the Ford GT? I'm assuming that the new Ford GT is made overseas in some third world sweat shop assembly line, because according to the news media, there is so much unemployment that there couldn't possibly be any assembly line workers left at any Ford plant to build such a car.
They would say it's because the rich are getting richer and, well, you know the tune. TigerAce: Ferrari has exactly what you are talking about with Maserati. It IS their 'cheaper' brand. It's just that they started with the Lexus and then built the Toyotas. The Maserati line fits the sub-$100k market, and then there's a fair jump to the $150k Ferraris. This is exactly why a Dino line will not be practical now. Their effort has to be in marketing Maserati. They need TV commercials for Maserati, for starters.
I thought Maserati bought out some part of Ferrari, like VW bought out Audi & Porsche. Thanks for the correction! Regarding Ford GT assembly, manufacturers already have 100% of production line, and if the sales of their products dropped due to a bad economy, some portion of the production line will be opened. This is a good timing for the maker to expand/explorer different segment of the market. R&D portion is totally different, and I really don't know how it works. For ex., Toyota had (still has??) a big lab for rotary engine in 80's although they never produced a rotary engine car. Yoshi
Er, where did you hear that?. Ferrari own Maserati. Again where did you hear that?. Porsche are independantly owned I believe (?), but have done deals with many companies and R&D work for most. Pete
Sorry to confuse you people. I thought I read on VW's in Newsweek few years ago...... I heard from FMoDallas salesman last year, but I may misunderstood. I'd better check D&B before posted my previous, sorry. Yoshi
Yoshi, Heh no bad, just I'd never heard that and was questioning your source. Would love to know what is really going on. I do know (er, from a resent mag ) that VW and Ferrari have some sort of relationship ... fnck knows why? ... all after the quick buck, instead of hard work or something? Pete
in an attempt to get this thread back on track..... i just re-read the press release and they prominently quote the C&D 3.3s 0-60 time at the top of it. why haven't THEY done their own tests yet with a near-production vehicle. i'm still skeptical that the production GT will do that 0-60 and 1/4 mile time. doody.