The Shelby American (Summer 2022)

The SHELBY AMERICAN Summer 2022 13 Jeff Burgy ‘ s Ford GT Corner Ford is well aware that part of what makes their new Ford GT so sought- after is the almost limitless variety they can be turned out in. Aside from color combinations which are virtually unlimited, they also produce Heritage editions based on the more historical cars that were raced back in the ‘60s. The wizards at Ford have come up with yet another Heritage model, this time based on the Alan Mann GT40 lightweights. SAAC member Rex Myers the owner of AM GT-1 and it was restored to perfection as the re- sult of a long term project that began as seriously bent and totally disassem- bled project car. Once completed, the car was no stranger to the show cir- cuit. It was displayed at every note- worthy event you can name, winning awards at Pebble Beach, Amelia Is- land, the Muscle Car and Corvette Na- tionals and SAAC-46, among others. Myers decided that maybe after 40 years he had owned the car long enough. It was time to unburden him- self of the responsibility of ownership and pass it along to a new owner. For fifteen years the car had been in the shop of noted GT40 expert Bob Ash, undergoing a detailed restoration. Once completed, it won top awards at nearly every noteworthy show, and honestly, there was nowhere for Myers to go with it. The value had appreci- ated to the point where it was hard for Myers, not a big-bucks guy, to ration- alize keeping it. He put the car in the Gooding and Co. auction at Pebble Beach in August, 2021. It was bid up to $5.1M but that didn’t meet the re- serve, so it was a “no sale.” The next thing we heard, in Febru- ary 2022, was that Ford was planning to create an Alan Mann Heritage model based on the red, gold and white livery of AM GT-1. When we heard about it, we asked Rex Myers to fill us in on how this came about. We were sure it didn’t happen by coincidence. As it turns out, it’s an interesting story. It began back in early December of 2021 when Myers got a call from Michael Severson with the Ford GT program. He said Ford was currently building an Alan Mann Heritage Ford GT. They had gotten the idea after see- ing Myers’ car at Pebble Beach in Au- gust of 2019. Myers was invited by Ford to show his car at the Chicago Auto Show in February, 2022 because they didn’t know if they would have a completed version ready in time. When Ford had a completed Alan Mann car, they asked Myers if he could make his car available for a photo shoot. He was excited to do so, feeling that it would be the high point of his ownership and his experience showing the car. Being part of a Ford campaign would be the highlight for the car since the LeMans test days of 1966. AM GT-1 would spend two weeks in Dearborn being pho- tographed by Ford and would then be prepared for the Chicago show. In mid-December of 2021, Myers received an email asking him if the car was still available for sale. He consid- ered it for a day and then responded that he still owned the car and was willing to sell it. There was some back- and-forth and ten days later an agree- ment was reached and the car was sold. Part of the agreement was that the car would still go to Chicago as part of the Ford display. Myers says the deal could have been better but could have been worse; with the present political situation un- clear and the threat of impending tax increases, he didn’t feel he would be able to keep the car much longer. The sale was completed and the car was loaded and ready to go to Chicago. After the automobile show it would go to the new owner. Rex Myers did apply to purchase a new Ford GT Alan Mann Heritage edi- tion, and it would be hard to believe that Ford would not deem him a de- serving GT owner. We’ll keep you posted.