Rare Pre-Production Ford GT Is Street Legal And You Can Buy It

This prototype avoided the crusher, and now it's headed to auction.

Khodrocar - After the GT40’s racing success in the 1960s, Ford literally spent decades trying to bring a mid-engine supercar into its production ranks. Despite such a lengthy buildup, when the stars finally aligned in the early 2000s to make it happen, development for the new supercar was fast and furious. Numerous companies and suppliers were part of the effort, and of course, there were the test mules and prototypes. The end for such pre-production cars is seldom good; due to legal and safety reasons most are crushed or cannibalized for parts, but occasionally one or two survive. This very special Ford GT is one of them, hence why it’s a 2004 model. Even more awesome is that it’s titled and completely road legal – and it’s for sale.

Specifically, you can place a bid on the pre-production Ford GT through Worldwide Auctioneers when it crosses the block in Auburn, Indiana this Saturday. It’s listed as being prototype number 4, which was tasked with testing and evaluation of vehicle handling, suspension, and oddly enough, climate control systems. It’s also listed as being in original pre-production dress, which in this case means all kinds of little details you won’t find on a production Ford GT.

Things like different cam covers, shift knob, and a powercoated supercharger are neat but not necessarily jaw-dropping. The carbon-fiber lining for the rear clamshell, however, is freaking awesome. It also wears different headlights up front – a visual cue that sets this Ford GT apart from all others. Inside it lacks airbags and is devoid of some sound insulation, and if the original 696 factory number on the back isn’t cool enough, the car also has signatures from all the original Ford GT project engineers.

With the second-generation Ford GT slowly making its way to customers, values on the first-generation cars have been going up. Of course, none of them are a pre-production test car with verified history, so when this supercar takes the auction spotlight, who knows what it might fetch. We’ll go out on a limb and say a lot.