Blue Oval Vs. Ferrari: The Rematch

PERUSE THE 2018 Ford vehicles website, and you’ll see a range of relatively affordable, fairly conventional wheels: Fusion sedan (“from $22,120”), C-Max Energi SE hybrid ($27,120), Explorer SUV ($31,990), F-250 Super Duty pickup ($32,820)—you know, normal stuff. But under the “Performance Vehicles” link, you’ll find a low, lean missile labeled Ford GT. Base price: $453,750.

- Arthur St. Antoine

No, someone on Ford’s web team did not accidentally tack on a digit. The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker really does sell a two-seat supercar that’s more than 10 times the price of almost everything else the company builds.

Way back in the fall of 2003, I had the opportunity to track test a prototype of what would become the 2005 Ford GT street car—a stunning, road-legal homage to the GT40 racing machines that conquered Le Mans (and the might of Ferrari) four times in a row starting in 1966. Despite its artful aluminum bodywork and 550-horsepower supercharged V-8, that original GT was still something of a bargain, starting at “only” $139,995.

For its all-new version, Ford has taken the mid-engine GT formula and cranked it straight to 11. Actually, to 15—right where Ferrari lives. I wish I could’ve been in the Ford product-planning meeting that approved this norms-shattering provocateur.