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Canadian crash requirements, the
nose is made of denser foam, and the
optional Macintosh stereo is not avail-
able on Canadian cars. The price was
$287,500, which was about market
price for a U.S built car. But the mar-
ket seems to value Canadian cars
about 15% less than U.S. cars. Still, it
was a 3000-mile car in perfect condi-
tion with all the documentation. It still
had the window sticker and assembly
line stickers on the car! So I thought I
would move forward with the pur-
chase. Then I found out that the air
bag recall requires additional docu-
mentation from the manufacturer in
order to be imported. That was more
work than I wanted to do, so I decided
to pass on this car and move on. After
all, there were a lot of cars to choose
from.
The next reply from the Ford GT
forum was from a car with the same
price as the Canadian car, also in the
hands of the original owner, and lo-
cated on the east coast. It was a 2000-
mile car with many of the modifica-
tions (shifter, pulley, tune, exhaust)
that I intended to do to my GT. It also
had the very cool bumper delete, and
all of the take-off parts were included.
However, it didn’t have much docu-
mentation like the window sticker or
owner’s manual. And one key was
missing. I wrote a purchase agreement
that held back some funds until the
owner obtained the missing items,
which are readily available. Unfortu-
nately, the owner did not agree to that
stipulation, and after he drove it for
the inspection and registration, he
pulled it off the market. I received an
email that he fell back in love with the
car, which he rarely drove, and decided
not to sell. On to the next one!
There are three high volume Ford
GT dealers in the United States. I was
in contact with all three with the spec-
ifications of the car I was searching
for. I missed a 10,000-mile car at Elite
Auto in Arkansas for $250K. That was
a higher mileage car, but at least I
wouldn’t have to worry about putting
miles on it. Before I realized the mar-
ket was moving up, I missed another
Elite Auto car with 900 miles at
$310K. American Supercars had a
four-option white car arriving. How-
ever, it ended up being the same car on
the east coast that the owner decided
to keep. Automotive Consulting Com-
pany from Houston had a 400-mile,
white, four-option, red caliper car. It
was perfect, and the price reflected it
at $340K. Although they came down in
price on the car, it was still more than
I wanted to spend and it was a car that
belonged in a collection and not driven
on the street.
The third and last Ford GT forum
reply was from a four-option white car
with a $295K price with relatively low
miles. Speaking with the owner, I
thought this could be the one so I got
on a plane to take a look. The sale was
dependent on a professional inspection
by someone of my choosing, which was
the GT Guy, Rich Brooks. Rich is the
guru on Ford GTs. His shop outputs
superb quality, and he communicates
every step of the way, including pic-
tures. I was confident that this car
would pass inspection, so I shipped it
to Rich in Detroit. Unfortunately, the
car did not pass my very stringent in-
spection requirements. So the deal
was undone and I moved on to the
next one.
The other car I decided to liqui-
date from my collection was a black
2013 Boss 302 Laguna Seca. It was a
900-mile car that my son Kyle and I
purchased new when he was eight
years old. He went through the entire
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Fall 2016 50