Pure Ford

Ford conspired with Carroll Shelby to build a whole new chassis under the AC Ace body and shove in the outrageous 427-cubic-inch (7.0-liter) “side-oiler” V-8. With between 425 and 485 horsepower, it has set a high bar for the performance cars that followed.

The first of two reborn GT supercars would be produced for two short model years, but it announced to the world that the company was still capable of audacious designs and daring engineering. The styling was sort of a 13/10ths-scale version of the GT40, while a 550-hp supercharged 5.4-liter 32-valve V-8 sat in the GT’s midsection feeding a six-speed manual transaxle. The retro-flavored GT featured here is already a 21st-century legend—a status the Le Mans–winning third-gen GT is already well on its way to achieving.