Ford's marketing team has been on a media blitz lately, taking the fight to Jeep with new clips showing the revived Bronco tackling the Rubicon trail and a whole host of terrain near Moab, Utah. Meanwhile, the Mustang Mach-E looks set for hardcore tire shredding with a 1,400-horsepower version built for Vaughn Gittin Jr and torn up by Ken Block. And now, Ford Performance has released a teaser trailer hinting at a 2021 Heritage Edition of the iconic GT supercar that looks to be in reference to the MkII GT40 that won the very first 24 Hours of Daytona in 1966. The new edition will be officially unveiled as part of the streaming Petersen Car Week event on Sunday, August 16, 2020.
A History Of Winning
As the general public got a glimpse at in the 2019 biopic Ford v Ferrari, the original Ford GT40 was built as a joint project between Carroll Shelby and Ford with the goal of taking down Enzo Ferrari's eponymous racing team at the world's most grueling endurance event. By 1966, Ford won the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright with a 1-2-3 finish by three GT40 racers.
For model year 2005, Ford released what is already known as the GT Heritage, a modern take on the competition racer featuring retro styling and a supercharged V8 mounted amidships.
The New Generation
Then, for the 2017 model year, Ford brought an all-new GT to the market, this time without a hint of 1960s style but with all-new performance potential. Part of the purpose of bringing a new GT to the world was to go back to Le Mans 50 years later and win again—which Ford did outright in 2016. Nowadays, the limited crop of new-gen GT examples in the world are easily worth six figures.
Going forward, all that remains to be seen is how high the values will climb for a new Heritage Edition GT hearkening back to legendary drivers like Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby that will be unveiled as part of the streaming Petersen Car Week event on Sunday, August 16, 2020.
Sources: Youtube, Petersen