The new year marks the end of production for the Ford GT. At the same time, one small company has found the means to build 30 very special GTs that are too wild for public roads. That startup from Pontiac, Michigan is called GT1 and what they create aren’t kit cars, they’re real Ford GTs with a racing pedigree and modern technology.
When the folks at Ford reintroduced the GT as a production car in 2004, they ultimately made 30 extra chassis for spare parts. After more than a decade in storage, Ford sold these supercar skeletons to Fred Calero, the man behind GT1. He then reached out to Matech, a company that built competition versions for endurance racing.
Matech sold Calero carbon fiber body molds. Now, all he needed was a power plant. That came in the form of a Roush Yates RY45, a high-displacement aluminum block engine that can scream to 9,000 rpm. In this application, it does so with the help of two Garrett G35 turbochargers. Total available horsepower is somewhere north of 1,500 (1,118 kW).
More: 2023 Ford GT Mk IV Is A $1.7 Million Track-Only Swang Song With Over 800 Hp
To be clear, Calero didn’t just find the right parts and put all of them together. The GT1 is a bespoke creation, of which they’ll only make 30 examples. The body “went through extensive design, computational fluid dynamics, and physical testing” before the team arrived at its final configuration.
Those differences are most notable just behind the front wheels where a cooling duct is cut into the fender. The front clip in general is different from the street car in a few ways. Small Gurney flaps sit just ahead of the giant hood scoops to help extract heat.
After a few years in development, the GT1 is finally up for reservation. According to FoxNews, the firm will build a total of four cars in 2023. Each one will cost somewhere around $1.2 million. Beginning in 2024, GT1 will build four cars per quarter until it runs out of all 30 chassis. That means that the company should be done by late 2025.
