Sometimes your wallet won’t stretch to purchasing your dream motor. But don’t worry too much, there are some cars that even the biggest bank balances can’t buy, the dream cars that will forever remain a dream. These are the concept cars that never go into production.
Ford GT90
When this concept was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in 1995, it was labelled as the ‘world’s mightiest supercar’. The GT90 certainly had impressive credentials, including space-age technology borrowed from the Space Shuttle.
The GT90 could reach a top speed of 253mph, achieved through a quad-turbocharged DOHC V12 engine, and all that power created enough heat to melt conventional body panels, so its designers incorporated ceramic tiles as panels, similar technology that NASA used on their rocket launches, to prevent the car from melting.
Seen as the natural successor to the Ford GT40, this supercar was one of the first to be designed using the company’s ‘New Edge’ design philosophy, which demanded ‘surface tension by adding creases to soft aerodynamic shapes’. The most popular exponent of ‘New Edge’ design was the first generation Ford Ka, though the Ka and the GT90 are a million miles aprt in every other sense.
Built in secret by a small team of engineers, in just six months, Ford were fortunate enough to borrow heavily from the tech and design of Jaguar, who were owned by Ford at the time. There are many similarities between the transmission and chassis of the Jaguar XJ220.
Though the GT90 was never seriously considered as a production model for Ford, it still got the opportunity to be put through its paces by the critics, Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear even said ‘Heaven is a place on earth’ after being allowed to sit behind the wheel.
Many more of us would get the opportunity to drive a digital version of the GT90, it was the star of many video games in the 1990s, including Need for Speed II, Gran Turismo 2 and Project Gotham Racing.
Ford have produced all sorts of different cars since the GT90 concept and CarSupermarket.com has over 300 to choose from.