Ford GT, old or new, beautiful in any form …

Even before the recent Ford vs. Ferrari publicity machine rolled through our collective conscience car guys and gals knew all about the original Ford GT40, and at least a bit about its more modern Ford GT spinoff.

While the first was a butt-kicking racer that ruled Le Mans for four years, the latter is a beautiful street-legal remake that only the wealthy can afford. Now Autoart does something about that with its 1/18 scale rendering of the 2017 Ford GT in various paint schemes. Our review car was a snazzy black number with orange racing stripes and interior trim (my high school colors). Cool!

This car is modeled after the GT racer that Ford took back to Le Mans in 2016 to win its GTE Pro class on the 50^th anniversary of its 1966 premier GT40 win.

The History

Ford brought the 2017 model out after that 2016 Le Mans win, but it had started its retro-design street racer back in 2005 and 2006 when an earlier version looking much like the original racer was designed and sold. Ford made more than 4,000 of those models.

But for 2017’s second gen GT the body styling is more representative of the latest racer’s look with its flying buttress-style roof extension that bleeds into the rear fender, allowing air to travel through that gap and aid in rear-end downforce.

The street-legal racer features a carbon-fiber monocoque chassis with aluminum front and rear subframes and carries Ford’s EcoBoost 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 amidships. That mill packs 647 horsepower and 550 lb.-ft. of torque. The tranny is a Ricardo 6-speed semi-automatic with paddle shifters. Brakes are Brembo calipers with large vented discs in back.

A special plant in Ontario makes the Ford GT at the pace of one a day, which is to continue well into 2020, so order yours early! Or, consider one of Autoart’s fine replicas, which will not only cost less, but not drive your insurance rates through the roof

The Model

Autoart’s composite-body model delivers excellent body shape and contouring, plus detail including an engine cover and small front hood that open, a rear wing that pops up with the touch of a release under the rear diffuser, along with scissor-like doors. All have real hinges or working tube-in struts to support them.

The car’s low profile is accentuated by its black paint scheme and the orange racing stripes emphasize the GT’s length. Orange Brembo-labeled brake calipers match the orange racing stripes to brighten the wheels, while you can still see the gargantuan drilled discs behind the racy five open-spoke wheels in gunmetal gray.

The nose features carbon-fiber look lower trim with black mesh grille work and matching mesh inside the large air vents that wrap around the hood. Flip that open and there are three white fluid reservoirs beneath the hood.

Lights are exquisite, if only they also worked. The shape and tiny bulbs under the large outer lens look realistic, as if they should light.

Along the car’s lower sides are carbon-fiber look skirts that also are part of the lower door. Up top are two large sculpted racing mirrors on either side atop long, thin arms to help see around those flying-buttress style wings that blend into the roof and rear fenders.

In back there’s more black mesh next to the engine bay and two massive exhaust outlets paired up smack dab in the middle under the poseable wing. The big round taillights look great too and there’s more black mesh just above the rear diffuser.

The Ford GT’s powerful engine is sufficiently presented with silver trim atop the block between the headers, which includes a Powered by Ford label atop the header cover.

More noteworthy from a visual standpoint is the black and orange-topped dash along with orange-trimmed seat backs that brighten the interior. Seats look like leather and suede and seatbelts are impossible to see, although it looks like they may be alongside the seats attached to the cockpit shell. But then again, if you can’t tell, it may not matter if they are there, or not.

The steering wheel is a racing model with flat top and bottom, a GT on its hub and buttons around that. There’s a GT marking on the kickplates too and the dash includes controls and gauges, but they are near impossible to see in the black interior. The Ford’s console is thin with buttons and mid-dash is a screen with glass-look cover.

If you’re a big Ford blue oval fan you may be disappointed in that there is but one Ford logo on the GT hood’s front lip.

Nice that everything opens here, but those scissor doors feel delicate. I say put this on the shelf, but leave everything closed. That’s the best way to take in its sexy sculpted lines. Pop a door up if you want to impress folks with their scissor-action.

Vital Stats: 2017 Ford GT (Shadow black, orange stripes)

Maker: Autoart
Scale: 1/18
Stock No.: 72945
MSRP: $230

Link: Autoartmodels.com