JUST TO MENTION ONE HUGE FACT FIRST ! After reviewing all the other on-line sellers "hawking" the same item, it is obvious to myself that none of them know the importance or relevance of this item, rather, they all say they want to make you part of their home page to purchase more items from them or they say "If you have questions just ask". That's so not right since if you are seeking information on the item you are buying the seller should have supplied as much info as possible and I see it nowhere elsewhere until this offering.
Printed very clearly on the reverse of this 2-page, medium stock, full color fold-out is the publication date of 2002. By itself that doesn't mean a lot to other sellers apparently, however, that was 2 years prior to the introduction of the actual car in 2004. That being said, most "concept" brochures will offer an image or two of a pre-production vehicle that may or may not be the same as the final, production vehicle. Take a good look at the images included. You are not looking at a "concept", rather you are looking at the "real-deal" just 2 years prior to the sale date. No concept here....just timing.
WHAT'S EVEN MOST INTERRESTING is the vehicle's name; GT40 ! What many people don't know is that after the late 1960's when Ford beat Ferrari (1- 2 - 3) at Le Mans, Ford granted an Ohio company (Safir) the ability to continue building the car and parts with no restrictions and using the name GT40 unencumbered. As far as Ford was concerned, the GT40 (40" from ground to tip of the windshield) was designed to do one thing and that was to beat Ferrari which it finally did embarrassingly in France in 1967. Ford had no reason to think or even believe that there would be the market there was eventually to produce more than just a few cars to win a race and one of the reasons Safir took the opportunity. It is akin to the old racing adage "Win on Sunday - Sell on Monday". Safir thought that after the beating Ferrari took at Le Mans, there would be, even a few, prospects who they could turn into customers. And that's all they needed was a few at a high price.
Move ahead 40+ years (around 2003 - 2004) and now Ford is not only considering making the car, they already have. ONE BIG PROBLEM THOUGH. Ford never copyrighted, trademarked, patented or secured the rights to the name GT40. They gave that to Safir when upper management of Ford agreed to allow Safir continue with production and, to this day, Safir continues to produce the GT40.
So, here is a brochure printed in 2002 and proclaiming it to be the GT40 until Ford got a little closer to the car's release date and then realized what a blunder they had made. There were many, many attempts to get Safir to allow Ford the use of the name, however, between what Safir wanted in return for the use and sales of the proposed cars and what Ford would make on the sales of the limited run of the vehicles, no agreement was ever reached. Instead, Ford changed the name to Ford GT and that IS NOT what is shown on this brochure. Like finding a $1 dollar bill on the front with a $5 dollar bill printed on the reverse.
Now there is the complete story and I hope it is enough for you to see the importance of this marketing error and collect a piece of automotive history. Unlike most all the current internet similar items being offered are "Pre-Owned", this one is absolutely new and collected by myself while working for a Ford dealer group for over 30 years. No bends, tears, rips, discolorations, folds, creases, print bleeds from other material.....NOTHING BUT BRAND NEW ! Actual folded size 7' x 11".
