Photo: Paul Piliste via Instagram
If you think about it, it's perfectly understandable why Ford took so long to come up with a successor for the wonderful GT40 model. After all, that was a car that could take on Ferraris and beat them, so replicating that feat in the coming years was a very big ask for Ford.
In the early 2000s, the American company mustered the courage to do it, and the GT was born. It bore a design that was a very obvious tribute to the classic Le Mans-winning race car, making it an instant hit with anyone old enough to remember those moments. However, anyone with at least one functioning eye could appreciate it just as well because, above all, it was just a really beautiful machine.
Then, Ford once again took a hiatus, waiting until 2017 to launch the next-gen GT and, even though it looks sleek and offers plenty of performance, you can't help but feel a little bit disappointed with the new iteration. If you ask us, that's because you can feel its departure from the original; without that history, the Ford GT is just one more super sports car out there with very little to set it apart from the rest.
The design proposed by Paul Piliste, an independent car designer, remedies that by infusing just the right amount of modernism into the classic Ford GT40 shape. The most emblematic elements - the overall shape, the low-slung silhouette, the big vent in the hood, the side scoops, the rectangular headlights - are all there, but, in almost every case, there is a twist.
Admittedly, the front end looks like a combination between the Porsche Mission E Concept and the cross-eyed Bugatti EB110, but that's not to say it's not original. Like any self-respecting Ford GT, it wears the colors of the classic Gulf livery and, since it's a Ken Miles tribute, uses the #1 insignia.
The author doesn't talk about the concept's powertrain, but just because it's make-believe, we like to imagine it reverts to the use of a V8 engine, and with the 5.2-liter supercharged unit in the Mustang Shelby GT500 being all the rage right now, we couldn't think of a better alternative.
Considering the design of the current GT, anything resembling Paul's take on the iconic model would probably be considered a step back. However, we like to look at it more as a sidestep into an alternate universe where things went in a different direction. Not better, not worse, just different.
Then, Ford once again took a hiatus, waiting until 2017 to launch the next-gen GT and, even though it looks sleek and offers plenty of performance, you can't help but feel a little bit disappointed with the new iteration. If you ask us, that's because you can feel its departure from the original; without that history, the Ford GT is just one more super sports car out there with very little to set it apart from the rest.
The design proposed by Paul Piliste, an independent car designer, remedies that by infusing just the right amount of modernism into the classic Ford GT40 shape. The most emblematic elements - the overall shape, the low-slung silhouette, the big vent in the hood, the side scoops, the rectangular headlights - are all there, but, in almost every case, there is a twist.
Admittedly, the front end looks like a combination between the Porsche Mission E Concept and the cross-eyed Bugatti EB110, but that's not to say it's not original. Like any self-respecting Ford GT, it wears the colors of the classic Gulf livery and, since it's a Ken Miles tribute, uses the #1 insignia.
The author doesn't talk about the concept's powertrain, but just because it's make-believe, we like to imagine it reverts to the use of a V8 engine, and with the 5.2-liter supercharged unit in the Mustang Shelby GT500 being all the rage right now, we couldn't think of a better alternative.
Considering the design of the current GT, anything resembling Paul's take on the iconic model would probably be considered a step back. However, we like to look at it more as a sidestep into an alternate universe where things went in a different direction. Not better, not worse, just different.
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