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The SHELBY AMERICAN
Burgy’S
Ford GT Corner
The Latest News That’s 44-inches High
We’re on the Legendary Motorcar
Company’s email list, so when we re-
ceived a notice advising us that they
had a low mileage (2.7 miles) Ford GT
for sale, it got us thinking: is this the
lowest mileage of any Ford GT? Who
better to ask than our in-house Ford
GT guru, Jeff Burgy. We were wonder-
ing how many miles a GT could be ex-
pected to have if it was “never driven.”
Cars get driven off the assembly line
(or rolled around); does each one get
test-driven? Are they driven onto and
off of a transporter? Our question was,
is it possible for a GT to legitimately
have 2.7 miles–if there was no specific
attempt to keep the mileage low, such
as disconnecting the odometer at the
end of the assembly line?
My database on this car shows:
1FAFP90S26Y400783. Painted Her-
itage Blue with Epic Orange roof
stripes. Offered for sale on e-Bay 12/14
for $600,000 with 2.7 miles on it and
advertised as brand new/never titled/
never driven. Sold at Auctions Amer-
ica at Ft. Lauderdale, FL 3/15 with 2.7
miles on it for $451,000. Offered for
sale by Legendary Motorcar Company
9/15 for $495,000 with 2.7 miles on it.
Although this car shows very low
mileage, it is not the lowest mileage
GT I have in my database. I have two
others with 2.7 miles; one with 1.8; one
with 1.6 and, the winner is: one with
1.3 miles. That doesn’t really cover the
bases, though, because it is not always
customary to advertise the mileage on
a “new” car, especially when they are
brand-new. Mileage probably only
comes in to play once the cars have
gotten old enough to be deemed col-
lectible.
THEN
super low mileage be-
comes a desirable feature and a
bargaining tool.
The cars were driven through the
plant, driven through a water spray
booth (to check for leaks), driven over
a cobblestone test bed (to test for
squeaks) and onto the car hauler. I
would guess that the 2.7 mile number
is probably the “typical” mileage for a
new GT that did not get any addi-
tional testing at the plant or the deal-
ership.
There used to be a process at Ford
Assembly Plants called an “M-10 Re-
view” – it was a management review
where a new vehicle was selected from
production and driven by an executive
from the assembly Plant. The car
might be driven around the area, on
the test track, or even driven home
overnight. The executive who drove
the car was to evaluate the vehicle for
any kind of problems or potential cus-
tomer concerns.
Usually, this was done for special
high-value customers. It was, however,
possible for employees to request an
M-10 evaluation for a new car that
they had ordered. A typical M-10 eval-
At the end of the assembly process cars were through the water test where they were
hit with high pressure blasts of water to check for leaks.
uation might add ten or twenty miles
to the odometer of a new car, and I’m
pretty sure that Ford sent a letter to
the new owner explaining why their
new car had that many miles on it.
With the right connections, even a low-
level new hire like me was able to get
an M-10 evaluation scheduled for my
very first new car order – a ‘78 T-Roof
Thunderbird. As I recall, there was no
specific mention of the items tested,
only a form letter saying the car had
been evaluated, how many miles it
was driven, and that it “passed inspec-
tion” (it must not have rained during
the test, as my T-Roof T’Bird leaked
like a sieve in the rain – and when I
took it back to the dealer for repair
they didn’t really fix it properly).
Fall 2015 257