So much for the Ford supercar, Ford GT has problems, im' shocked!!! Options

[darksecret]

The Ford GT was expected to be the cat's pajamas of American cars, an exotic to rival the Ferrari Modena 360. This sensational project to produce a street version of Ford's most famous race car, the Le Mans-winning GT40 from the '60s, began five years ago with Ford's hailing it as "a technological wonder wrapped in the Ford GT40 concept car." It indeed met all its performance expectations, but it also wound up a $150,000 Ford with egg on its face.

The first running preproduction models were shown at Ford's centennial celebration in Dearborn in 2003. They were touted as '03 models, but that was a fiction created by Ford insiders for the benefit of management and the press. By making the GT the centerpiece of the celebration, these insiders were able to raid funds earmarked for the centennial that would instead go toward developing the exotic car.

The real production models are '05s, and when the GT officially went on sale in the summer of '04, the collector/investor crowd swarmed. Listed at $143,345, that number swelled to $157,000-plus with all the options. Dealers then marked them up as high as $220,000, some bypassing the showroom and offering them to the world on eBay, where they could pit one potential buyer against another. The feeding frenzy was fueled by the knowledge that Ford could make just nine GTs a day, or 1500 a year, which meant there weren't enough to give even one each to every Ford dealer in the country. This feeding frenzy happened before a little dark cloud on the horizon mushroomed into a thunderstorm.

At issue were flaws. Although 15 crude mules were built and tested on racetracks across America, using a different chassis, different engine, different gearbox, and different body, and further tests were run on preproduction "'03 models," apparently all these tests failed to sniff out problems cropping up on production models. The shocker now being reported is cracks found in a suspension control arm. The warning letters sent out by Ford were chilling, reportedly telling owners not to drive the car under any circumstances. Almost 400 cars were recalled for replacement arms. New arms cut by Roush from billet stock were a quick fix until new forged aluminum ones could be engineered.

There were other problems: a defective electrical component that caused the battery to drain, a climate-control bug, power-steering and engine-coolant leaks, a steering-column rattle.

But the A-arm glitch was humiliating. Supplied by Citation Corporation in Alabama, the originals used a novel Japanese casting method nicknamed "squish casting" to achieve higher density in the aluminum. Although the same material and method of manufacture are already in use on some foreign cars, including Alfas and Porsches, the arms, as supplied, were inadequate on the Ford GT.

At the point the first cracked A-arm was discovered last December, only 448 GTs had been produced, according to Automotive News. Of those, 289 had been shipped to dealers and just 106 had reached owners' hands. Ford had the cars trucked back to the factory for the fixes.

So Ford had taken a chance on a new-for-Detroit method of manufacturing the A-arms, and now it is paying the price—$5000 per car for the fix on the recalled ones. GTs built since then have new arms. But what will most likely annoy those first buyers even more is that some GTs have now been discovered to have an oil leak caused by an improper finish on the crankshaft. The leak on recalled cars was fixed with a device called a Speedi-Sleeve, a commonly used device in engine rebuilding that enlarges the diameter of a part of the crank so the engine no longer leaks. Cars made since this discovery will get cranks with the correct surface finish.

On the problem cars, Ford's solution will require the dealer to remove the transaxle and install a new rear main seal, retainer, and Speedi-Sleeve on the crankshaft. Ironically, the Speedi-Sleeve is a low-cost item, but the labor involved to get at the crankshaft is a big-ticket item.

But wait a minute—do buyers of those first cars want their 550-hp engines to be running with Speedi-Sleeves? Not to knock a tried and true product, but it sounds like a fix someone might use on an old pickup truck to squeeze another 100,000 miles out of it rather than just buy a rebuilt engine. So owners of those first cars may feel they're getting damaged goods instead of a perfect new car.

Now comes the blame game.

Ford could pummel John Coletti, the former head of the high-performance SVT group, who bulled the GT through all internal opposition from concept to production, but Coletti, who's only in his mid-50s, decided to retire a few months ago, before the problems surfaced.

Next come the suppliers. Ford was fully aware that it would have to outsource work on a 200-mph supercar, just as Chrysler had needed to go to outside suppliers to produce the Dodge Viper. So Ford lined up a raft of suppliers, all of whom had to relocate staff and/or facilities to within 250 miles of Dearborn.

A key choice of suppliers was Steve Saleen, a well-known builder of specialty Mustangs and his own $375,000 superexotic called the S7. Back in 2000, the technical virtuosity of the 200-plus-mph S7 [C/D, July 2003] impressed Ford executives, who reasoned that if Saleen could develop such a fine $375,000 car, building a $150,000 car ought to be duck soup. (In fact, Saleen bid out the principal work to a British firm, RML, which takes full credit on its Web site for designing and developing the S7.) With a Ford contract in hand, Saleen built a plant near Dearborn to assemble the body panels to the chassis (both come from other subcontractors), paint the cars, and perform much of the final assembly.

To be able to say that it builds the GT—and to keep the unions happy—Ford installs the powertrain and finishes the car's final assembly at its Wixom plant, but that move is said by industry observers to have been superfluous. Saleen has the capability to finish the GT at its plant.

When the problems arose, Saleen's operation went through an upheaval. The boss of the project was fired, as were 10 others, although it is not yet clear exactly why.

Observing all this with no small interest is Jack Roush, the enormously successful racer and Detroit-area shop owner who is also a Ford GT subcontractor (developing and testing the Ford GT's engine package). Roush has a history of coming through for Ford on many performance-car programs, although he also may be taking heat for not having detected the oil-leak problem. As we go to press, Saleen still has the Ford GT contract. Ford had previously mentioned Saleen as one of the subcontractors being considered for the follow-up cars to the GT, which could be the Shelby Cobra roadster or Shelby Cobra GR-1 coupe, or both, programs he has already contributed to. But the writing is clearly on the wall. Ford can't afford the embarrassment of any more balls being dropped on the GT, or other suppliers will be interviewed for future limited editions, including Saleen's cross-town rival, Jack Roush.

-Car and Driver