Why Is Nobody Bidding on This First-Gen Ford GT?
Around Ford’s hundredth anniversary, heritage was all the rage. The company had already reintroduced the throwback Thunderbird and the Mustang was returning for the 2005 model year looking as close to the late-1960s units as possible. However, the corner piece of the company’s birthday cake was assuredly the GT40-inspired supercar the Blue Oval had in development.
Getting a little help from Carroll Shelby himself, Ford created the much-hyped car and offered it for sale in 2004 — with the left headlight reading “100” to celebrate the company’s centennial anniversary. Originally priced at $150,000, the first-generation Ford GT can easily go for twice as much on the secondhand market, with superior examples exceeding $500,000 at auction. With prices like that, you probably thought you’d never have an opportunity to own this particular piece of automotive history.
You would also be wrong, because there is a 2005 Ford GT for sale right now that nobody’s bidding on, and it carries an incredibly low reserve.
Spotted by CarBuzz, this lot has been inexplicably ignored by shoppers browsing Copart. Unfortunately, the website specializes in injured vehicles, and this GT is no different. According to its digital health chart, the car has suffered some burn damage that you’ll have to take care of and is missing its keys. Fortunately, the sheet says the transmission is present and accounted for — some of which is visible near the bottom of the pile.
We wish the website had provided additional details, as we don’t know what condition the tires are in or the overall shape of the engine. While Copart provided numerous vanity photographs of the GT’s gorgeous exterior, it would have been nice if they popped the hood and let us take a gander inside. We know it’s anal, but those are the kinds of things you want to check on before purchasing a used car.
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Well, it needs some work, but I've always wanted a GT. I could try to flip it on bringadustpan.com. Did the engine block burn?
What are you going to salvage out of it - one brake rotor? You Americans give me so much humor...