The fact of the matter is that the FORD GT-40 was brought back by William Clay Ford, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Company. The FORD GT-40 was designed by Ford to be an endurance racer to beat the European car builders in the 1960's in races like the Le Mans 24 Hour in France, which was dominated by european manufacturers like Ferrari. In fact, Ford had made a bit to buy Ferrari and at a late stage Ferrari pulled out of negotiations. To this end Ford decided to show Ferrari that they could in fact build competitive race cars and out of spite they built the outrageous GT-40. The "40" comes from the fact that the car is 40 inches tall. The car's chassis and body were built in England, but coupled to an American made V-8. Started out as 289's and then grew to 427's in what was called the MK-IV model. The GT-40 won Le Mans in 1967 with an All-American team of Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt. The car won Le Mans again in 1968 driven by the most famous of all Mexican race car drivers, Pedro Rodriguez along with Lucien Bianchi. The GT-40 also won the 1968 SPA-Franchorchamps race in Spa, Belgium with the infamous Jacky Ikx behind the wheel. http://www.me.mtu.edu/~prater/carpics/fords/GT40/gt40_2.jpg The above GT-40 photo is from Le Mans.
Ever wonder who first started "shaking up the bottle of Champaigne" up on the podium in celebration of winning a race? Answer: Dan "The American Eagle" Gurney!
Ford built the 427 to compete with the Chrysler Hemi in 1964. Ever hear of a 1966 427 Ford Fairlane or a 1967 427 Cyclone? Duh. http://www.fordcollection.com/s48002.html
The commercial from the Super Bowl was better than the game. A lot of manufacturers are into this retro styling cue thing, but ford just knocked the ball out of the park. The whole Thunderbird replica exercise was a miss, but the GT-40 was perfect. Thank goodness they didn't put a V-6 in it. Now maybe chrysler will bring back the '68 Dodge Charger.
I agree with you 100%. The commerical was WAY BETTER than the game! I couldn't believe how long the commercial lasted. It was unbelievably well done! Kudos to Ford.