2005 Ford GT - Melding the Past and the Future

The 2005 Ford GT high performance sports car was designed and built in keeping with the heritage of the 1960's LeMans winning GT40 while maintaining the image of the 2002 GT40 concept vehicle. This paper reviews the technical challenges in designing and building a super car in 12 months while meeting customer expectations in performance, styling, quality and regulatory requirements. A team of dedicated and performance inspired engineers and technical specialists from Ford Motor Company Special Vehicle Teams, Research and Advanced Engineering, Mayflower Vehicle Systems, Roush Industries, Lear, and Saleen Special Vehicles was assembled and tasked with designing the production 2005 vehicle in record time. Key to the success of the program was the establishment of co-located cross functional teams from product development and manufacturing organizations from the various companies responsible for the different aspects of the vehicle including body, trim, electrical, chassis, power train, and final assembly.