Ford’s GT90: The Legacy Lives On in this Unproduced Supercar

HistoryArticle

Dec 16

Originally published on December 16, 2024. Written by Andy Wasif.

Following the decision by American automotive companies to quit racing after several high-profile tragedies on race courses worldwide in the 1950s (Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500 among them), Henry Ford II abruptly changed course in the ’60s as sales of Ford’s performance cars lagged behind General Motors. Failing to buy Ferrari, “The Deuce,” as Ford’s CEO was called, decreed that Ford Motors would spare no expense in building the most dominant race car the world had ever seen. It was the result of those efforts–the Ford GT40–that lives on in the minds of every motorsport fan and specifically those fans of grueling endurance races. For it was the GT40 Mark II that not only won Le Mans in 1966, but continued winning for four consecutive seasons. The car remains a legend, one that changed the game–er, race, so to speak–with its ingenuity and advanced engineering.

The memory of it, further glorified in 2019’s classic film Ford v Ferrari, fuels a love affair with the car, keeping it in the minds of consumers and Ford executives themselves. Therefore, it was not entirely unexpected that the ’90s would finally see the creation of a spiritual successor to the GT40: The 1995 GT90, a one-off concept that continues the tradition of state-of-the-art aerodynamic design equipped with unparalleled power. It’s a must-see up close, and luckily the only one in existence is currently on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum as part of the exhibit, Modern Concepts: Future Visions from the Recent Past.

The 1990s were a time not far removed from the building of Vector’s outrageous W8 here in America, and the Bugatti EB110 gaining global notoriety as an unparalleled supercar. Jack Telnak, Ford’s Vice President of Design at the time, conceived of a "new-edge" styling ideal featuring soft aerodynamic shapes mixed with harsh angular planes and distinctive lines. Consider the looks of the Mustang, Explorer, Cougar, and Puma around the turn of the century. It was designer James Hope and his team that set forth to achieve this for Telnak.

Though it was patterned after the GT40, the comparison begins and ends with the fact that it's a mid-engine car with doors extending into the roofline, and 3-pronged wheel center caps. The GT90 is more of a Frankenstein's monster in that it utilized the resources and parts Ford had at its disposal. As Ford owned Jaguar at the time, they took full advantage by using the gearbox, an aluminum monocoque chassis, and suspension from the legendary Jaguar XJ220 supercar. Other parts were scavenged from whatever was around. For example, the fuel pump matched that of a mid-90s Crown Victoria.

To get the engine, they took two 8-cylinder 4.6-liter Ford modular engines, cut the blocks in half, added two cylinders to each bank, and then welded them back together—overhead cams and all—to make a V-12. Four (yes, four!) Garrett turbochargers are there to supplement the engine. The body panels are modeled from carbon fiber and the exhaust system had ceramic plates surrounding it to dissipate the extreme heat generated by the pipes, which could potentially melt the body panels. The shield on the back around the exhaust is the same as used on the space shuttle. Add to that side-view mirrors that were ahead of their time with a blind spot monitoring system. Even the tread on the tires is unique as it spells out "GT90" throughout.

Oh, sure, it looks cool, but what can it do? Hold on tight! The 5.9 L V-12 engine boasts 720 horsepower (100 more horsepower than the McLaren F1 has) and can reach estimated speeds of 254 mph. This beast of a car weighs 3200 pounds, a little heavier than what you’d typically want in a supercar. This was in 1995 so its 0-60 speed of an estimated 3.1 seconds (or 0-60 in around twelve minutes if trying to navigate the construction on Wilshire Boulevard in front of the Petersen) was impressive. In fact, had it been produced, it would have been the fastest production car on the road until the Bugatti Veyron in 2005. It may additionally have inspired another concept, the 2004 Chrysler ME Four-Twelve, which also used a quad-turbo, mid-engine V-12.

Of course, the name itself is iconic as it stands for a Grand Touring car and the original GT40 rises a mere 40 inches off the ground. A road-going GT40 Mk III remains one of the most valued cars in the Petersen Automotive Museum collection and is one of 105 total of the original batch of GT40s. However, with the loss of rights to the name GT40, Ford settled on a moniker honoring the decade in which it was produced. The GT90 was developed and made at a cost of $3 million and though it never made it to production, it serves as the concept for the GT Heritage which came out in 2005 in conjunction with the company's one hundredth anniversary in 2003. A second generation of the heritage was produced between 2017 and 2022.

More than a half century after the original GT40, the model continues to captivate car aficionados looking for speed, marvelous engineering, unique aesthetics, and history. The GT90 is another postscript to the GT40 story and shows how that car remains as peerless today as it was along the Le Mans course in the late 1960s.