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The SHELBY AMERICAN
Spring 2016 8
The Latest News That’s 44-inches High
Burgy’S
Ford GT Corner
The new 2016 Ford GT will make
use of Gorilla Glass – the same stuff
used to make smart phones and other
consumer electronics virtually un-
breakable. It’s also lighter than stan-
dard automobile safety glass. The
result is that Ford’s supercar is lighter
and, therefore faster and it handles
better. Gorilla Glass is 30 percent
lighter – the Ford GT’s glass weighs
only 46 pounds, a 12 pound saving
over standard safety class. The new
glass, used on the front and rear win-
dows is stronger, clearer and more
durable.
To develop the new glass Ford
worked with Corning Glass in Corn-
ing, New York, a stone’s throw from
Watkins Glen. Those with a good re-
call of history will recall that Corning
produced the windshields for the 1967
GT40 MK IVs. When those wind-
shields began cracking during LeMans
practice, Ford put in a super-rush
order for Corning Glass to make eight
replacement windshields that were
stronger. One for each of the four en-
tries and a spare for each car. They
were made overnight and as soon as
they were finished they were put on a
jetliner — each one occupying a First
Class seat — to Paris.
A truck was waiting at Orly air-
port in Paris and as soon as the new
windshields were carried off the plane
they were taken directly to the Ford’s
paddock at the track and they were in-
stalled in the four waiting MK IVs.
None of the new windshields experi-
enced any cracks during the 24-hour
race.
Gorilla Glass is so strong that it
will not easily shatter in a crash but
emergency responders are still able to
free crash victims using power extrac-
tion tools. The Ford GT will be the first
car to use this glass on windshields
but it’s pretty much of a sure thing
that before long Gorilla Glass will be
standard on all production cars.
Ford sent out a press release and a photo and it was picked up by a number of newspa-
pers. Ted Warren spotted it in the “Shreveport Times” on January 2nd.
It didn’t take long for the first Ford GT
plastic model kit to appear. Thank
Revell for making a 14-piece snap-fit
model which Ford gave away at the
Detroit Auto Show back in January. A
more detailed 28-piece kit is available
for $14.95 in retail stores. The kit
takes 10-15 minutes to assemble. Pre-
vious auto show give-aways are a
Mustang and a Raptor pick-up.
Times Square is called the Crossroads of the World, so what better place to put
up a huge billboard showing the 2016 Ford GT? So many SAAC members sent
pictures to us that we lost count.