After five years in production, the Ford GT is entering its last model year. It's a hard car to buy, though, even if you can clear the $500,000 price hurdle. Ford only wants to sell the GT to true enthusiasts that will drive the supercar rather than investment buyers and profit seekers. Last year, Ford launched an even more exclusive version of its now 660-horsepower twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 supercar built to thumb its nose at Ferrari. The Studio Collection option allows buyers to customize the exterior paint and graphics using seven standard colors or a wider range of paint through an "extended palette." Now, the first Studio Collection Ford GT has arrived, and it's a subtle but aggressive-looking piece of kit.
Ford's customer optioned a Shadow Black paint exterior with Competition Orange accents. A single Competition Orange racing stripe runs the length of the car, and then orange highlights run around the side air intakes. It's one of only 40 Studio Collection GT models being made, and the project is a collaboration with Multimatic, Ford's Canadian build partner for the supercar.
The schedule allows for 20 models to be built in each of the 2021 and 2022 model years. That means the Studio Edition cars are second in exclusivity only to the 12 bare carbon-fiber bodied Liquid Carbon Edition models being built each year.
The Studio Collection and Liquid Carbon Edition aren't the only limited-edition Ford GT models being built as this generation GT heads towards its final model year.
A new series of Ford GT Heritage Editions is starting a 50 unit run for the 2021 model year. Previous Heritage Edition models paid tribute to the Le Mans winners of the late 1960s, while the2021 Heritage Edition specifically echoes the GT40 Mk IIKen Miles and Lloyd Ruby drove at the 1966 Daytona 24 Hour Continental race to take the checkered flag and humiliate Ferrari in the process. It features white paint with exposed carbon fiber parts and red-painted accents, a white 98 gumball displayed on top of exposed carbon fiber, and one-piece gold 20-inch forged aluminum wheels housing red Brembo brake calipers.