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This Ford GT Has Fewer Miles Than You Walk in a Day — And a Huge Price

This Ford GT Has Fewer Miles Than You Walk in a Day — And a Huge Price

The question is a simple one. If a decade back you had the ducats to pony up for a ferociously reimagined 2006 Ford GT, could you resist driving it? Megan Boyd is pretty sure she knows what most people would say.

“I would have had an extremely hard time never driving a car that fun, so I guess you could call this particular auction item a case of extreme automotive restraint,” says Boyd, car specialist at Auctions America, whose Fort Lauderdale auction runs from March 27-29. “It’s got to be the lowest mileage Ford GT ever sold. Or even just out there.”

How low? Just 2.7 miles show on the odometer of this special Heritage Edition GT, a Canadian-spec machine that clearly went nowhere without its transporter after leaving its Michigan birthplace.

2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition
2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition

There were only 343 Heritage Edition models made (of some 4,000 total GT examples), all of which are modern-day tributes to Ford’s winning racing past as interpreted by fabled auto designer J. Mays. Each special-order machine features the famous Ferrari-killing GT livery from the ‘60s, John Wyer/Gulf’s light blue and orange, which adorned not only Carroll Shelby’s Fords but later Porsche’s dominant 917s.

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The rest of the vehicle is standard issue Ford GT savagery, from the car’s 550-hp V8 mated to a fittingly old-school Ricardo six-speed manual transmission, Brembo brakes and a weight-saving aluminum chassis.

Apparently, folks who ordered the Heritage Edition weren’t inclined to put miles on their machines. A very similar GT — with 5.8 miles on the odo — was auctioned off by Mecum in Monterey two summers ago for $415,000. Auctions America is aiming for between $450,000 and $500,000 for this Canadian factory-floor model. That’s decent appreciation for a car that cost $150,000 new.

“It’s actually very rare to find these cars with such low, or really no, mileage,” says Boyd. “The enthusiasts who bought these GTs tended to drive them a bit. They’re tremendous track cars, too.”

This isn’t the only Ford GT that will cross the block in Florida this weekend at an event that, when compared to Auctions America’s parent company RM/Sotheby’s, could be seen as comparatively downmarket. There will be some 500 cars up for sale, many without reserve, and the average Auctions America sale runs around $65,000.

2005 Ford GT
2005 Ford GT

The second Ford GT to roll off the assembly line also is up for grabs (at between $450,000 and $550,000), a black beauty that belonged to Ford board member Michael Dingman. (It’s believed that Ford GT No. 1 is in the hands of FoMoCo itself.)

Dingman clearly admired the car mostly from afar, as it only has 100 miles on the clock. Unlike the Canadian GT for sale, this U.S. version came with the standard McIntosh Audiophile Sound System, but I’m not sure why. If you’ve ever spent any time driving a Ford GT, listening to anything beyond your heartbeat and its engine is a near impossibility.

Ford GT 40 Mk IIB
Ford GT 40 Mk IIB

Yet another Ford GT available to collectors this weekend is a red mid-’80s Ford GT Mk IIB, a car that, amusingly, is described in the auction catalog as “a sleek, 14-foot man-guided missile that is the height of a tall dog and capable of running 100 miles per hour in reverse and twice that when pointed in the right direction.”

OK, what is this thing, really? Interestingly, the car was born as a project of one Bryan Wingfield, who for 34 years was a chassis development engineer at Ford of England. This car was built from GT 40 parts sourced over the years. It’s powered by an original Ford 427 pumping out 600 hp harnessed to a Kar Kraft four-speed box. Wingfield set to work on it at the behest of a collector who owned an original 1966 Le Mans-winning GT 40, but who didn’t want to vintage race that priceless piece of history

In the ensuing decades the car has been restored to Le Mans-era specs, and is expected to go for between $650,000 and $750,000.

Other Fords of note at this auction is one more GT — a 1992 Mark V Spyder by Safir ($500,000 to $550,000), an English engineering firm that was hired to build GT 40 "continuations" using some original tooling — and a rare 2008 Shelby GT 500 Super Snake Prototype Convertible ($225,000 to $275,000) in Grabber Orange with a black stripe down the middle.

“We’re expecting a lot of interest in these Fords due to the new buzz over the new Ford GT,” which was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January. That scissor-doored brute is expected to challenge a Ferrari 458 in performance and likely also price at north of $250,000.

Speaking of price, given that Auctions America prides itself on holding events that mere mortals might not just attend but also find themselves bidding at, here are a few fun cars that caught my eye:

1989 Renault 5 Turbo ($50,000 to $70,000): For a brief window in time - the strange hair-band ‘80s - this car was actually considered cool, boasting a nimble, short wheelbase and a turbo, which most folks could only get in a pricey Porsche 911. This car hails from about as strange a collection as they come, the Cayman Motor Museum, as in the Cayman Islands (not many long roads down there).

1955 Chevy Nomad Station Wagon ($70,000 to $80,000): From its huge airplane-motif hood ornament to its expansive glass treatment, this Bel Air Nomad wagon purports to have just 9,100 original miles on the odometer and of some 800,000 Bel Airs built it is just one of 6,000 two-door wagons.

1965 Sunbeam Tiger Mk I Roadster ($60,000 to $80,000): If you’re a diehard Shelby fan but can’t afford a Ford GT or Cobra, the Sunbeam Tiger is your answer. This fully restored Mk I drop-top stuffs a crackling V8 under its small bonnet and is guaranteed to catch most modern cars sleeping at the stoplight.