2021 Ford GT Heritage Edition inspired by the GT40 MK II’s 1966 Daytona 24 Hour Continental race victory

The News for August 21st, 2020

Welcome to the Hooniverse News! As always, this is a weekly recap of the biggest stories in the automotive industry without the fluff or bull. This week: Ford celebrates an underrated victory with a heritage edition GT, Ford also adds more ways to spec your GT with Studio Collection, Mercedes-AMG shows off their Project ONE undergoing track testing, Aston Martin does the 007 thing again, BMW unleashes the M4’s face unto the world because 2020 wasn’t bad enough yet, Jeep teases a new Wagoneer ahead of its September debut, RAM does the Hellcat thing, plus your news for the week.

2021 Ford GT Heritage Edition

2021 Ford GT Heritage Edition inspired by the GT40 MK II’s 1966 Daytona 24 Hour Continental race victory

One would think Ford’s run of Heritage Edition GTs would have ended last year when the fourth and final 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning design debuted. However, Ford’s hand built supercar is extending into the 2022 model year and those four Le Mans victories weren’t the only accomplishments of the original GT40. So for 2021, an easily forgotten and often uncelebrated victory gets its own Heritage Edition.

The 2021 Ford GT Heritage Edition celebrates the GT40’s first 24 hour endurance win which came at the 1966 Daytona 24 Hour Continental race. Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby led almost every lap of the race and brought two other GT40 MkIIs with them for a podium sweep. It was the first time Ferrari’s sports car dominance was threatened, and they’d do it again at Sebring and of course Le Mans that same year. The livery on that number 98 GT40 was simple but beautiful, and it gets recreated with a slightly modern twist 55 years later (by the time the car comes out).

2021 Ford GT Heritage Edition inspired by the GT40 MK II’s 1966 Daytona 24 Hour Continental race victory

Ford recreates that livery with Frozen White paint with an exposed carbon fiber hood. Asymmetrical Race Red accents on the front fascia and roof edge, driver’s side door, and underneath the rear wing add contrast and mimic the original livery with a few small changes. The 98 roundel graphic is created with exposed carbon fiber. Capping off the look is a set of one-piece Heritage Gold 20-inch forged-aluminum wheels paired with red lacquered Brembo monoblock brake calipers. The interior features loads of black Alcantara while the sports seats and paddle shifters are a contrasting red. Buyers can also get a ghosted number 98 on the interior door panel.

2021 Ford GT Heritage Edition inspired by the GT40 MK II’s 1966 Daytona 24 Hour Continental race victory

Of the now five Heritage Edition GTs Ford has produced, I think this one is easily the prettiest so far. It’s also great to see this significant victory finally get some recognition from Ford themselves. It was featured prominently in Ford v Ferrari at least, but seeing Ford themselves do this is great. Too bad they’ll only ever be seen at Barrett-Jackson auctions.

[Source: Ford]

Ford GT Studio Collection

2021 Ford GT Studio Collection graphics package

In addition to the Heritage Edition, Ford is introducing another limited edition thing for rich people to spend their money on. Only 40 of the remaining 2021-2022 GTs will be a “Studio Collection” GT, which as far as I can tell is a color and graphics package. Ford offers some additional colors, like Minecraft streamer green (pictured), but I suppose the main draw is the additional graphics you can get on them.

One set features stripes that appear to mimic the Heritage Edition race cars Ford raced last year to commemorate their four Le Mans wins (shown on the right) and the other is something totally new and very pretty. Ford and Multimatic, the ones manufacturing the GT, collaborated on this Studio Edition GT and will offer a wide range of customization to the 40 people who buy in to the program.

[Source: Ford]

Mercedes-AMG Project ONE shown testing

Not much has been heard about Mercedes-AMG’s extremely ambitious hypercar lately, the Project ONE. The last I remember hearing about it was that they were having troubles meeting emissions requirements with what was essentially the engine out of their dominant F1 car that was being tuned for street use. But after a long period of silence, we’ve been given a glimpse into where they’re currently at with it.

According to the video, the final powertrain is in the car and running at its full four-digit power output – and it surprisingly sounds great, better than the current F1 cars I’d say. They’ve also got the active aero elements fully functional as well. They’re spending a lot of time on track with multiple cars to get some additional fine tuning in and probably some endurance testing too. A stop at the Nürburgring is also in its near future. They have a few months to go before the track closes for the winter, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a new record before winter.

[Source: TheWheelNetwork via Jalopnik]

Aston Martin does the 007 thing again

Aston Martin milking 007 again

This may some as a surprise, but Aston Martin is working with the 007 film franchise again. The 25th Bond film, No Time to Die, is due in theaters whenever we can go to those again and will apparently feature some Aston Martins in the film I guess. Ugh, I hate blatant product placement in films.

It being a milestone Bond film though means Aston Martin wasn’t happy with just one edition – they’ve got two. The first is the Aston Martin V8 Vantage which pays homage to the Aston Martin V8 from The Living Daylights (1987), but will still play a role in the new film. The V8 is painted in authentic Cumberland Grey and is winterised with optional limited edition skis and a rack to go with it. This one is limited to 100 units globally.

Meanwhile the breathtakingly beautiful DBS Superleggera will also be immortalized in the movie and thus gets a special edition too. Restricted to 25 units globally, it too is done to the exact specification that we’ll see in the movie. It wears special Ceramic Grey exterior paint with the roof, mirror caps, splitter, diffuser, and rear Aeroblade featured in black tinted carbon fibre. It rolls on Gloss Black diamond-turned Y-Spoke 21” wheels. This special edition also features a 007 fender badge, finished in chrome with a black enamel infill and Stainless Steel Silver 007 foil applied to the rear spoiler blade.

Interestingly though, Aston Martin claims the two cars above aren’t the only new cars to make an appearance in the movie. They say the Valhalla, their upcoming mid-engine hypercar, will also be in the movie. So that’ll be cool. That also means we’re gonna get some kind of 007 Edition Valhalla in the future.

[Source: Aston Martin]

The BMW M4 is going to look just as bad as we thought

BMW M4 GT3

Weeks after BMW’s first teaser of the M4 GT3 confirmed they were doing on-track testing with a functional prototype, they’ve given us another look at their progress while also confirming what we were all expecting. The BMW M4 GT3 and by extension the M4 street car as well will be ugly as shit.

While testing at the Red Bull Ring, BMW brought out the road car prototype to play with the race car as well. While it’s very cool to see road and race cars testing side-by-side on the same track, which BMW also did with the M8 and the M8 GTE, what isn’t cool is the nose. They first showed an awful attempt at doing a modern take on the classic tall and narrow grilles from BMW history on the 4 Series. Then leaked photos showed an even worse version on the M3 and M4. Now it’s been confirmed from BMW themselves. Unless BMW has a change of heart, they’re about to dominate GT3 because none of the other competitors will want that thing filling up their mirrors.

[Source: BMW]

Jeep teases new Wagoneer

JEEP WAGONEER

THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Jeep has dropped a few teasers this week of what is presumably the 2022 Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer. Or it’ll be a new dog-friendly model called the Wag. All we know is it’s coming September 3rd. And I’m kind of excited even though rumors indicate it’ll be a more luxury-oriented SUV and thus be prohibitively expensive. But we’ll see what happens on September 3rd.

[Source: Jeep via Motor1]

RAM does the Hellcat thing

ram heckcat

The MOPAR solution of just putting big ass engines in everything has once again made its way into the RAM, but this time it’s the most powerful one yet. The 2021 RAm 1500 TRX is a literal Hellcat-powered pickup with an offroad focus. It looks like a good time even if it looks a bit out of place in today’s automotive landscape. You can read up on it here if you haven’t already.

What’s your automotive news?

hooniverse

That’s all I’ve got for you this week, so now it’s your turn. If you saw anything, fixed something, broke everything, or otherwise did anything even remotely car related that you want to share with your fellow hoon, sound off in the comments.

Have a good weekend.

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35 responses to “The News for August 21st, 2020”

  1. onrails Avatar
    onrails

    My youngest and I got back Monday from a road trip of reasonable social distancing epicishness. Beat my one day personal record on miles/day with an 18 hour run from home to Rocky Mountain National Park – 1293 miles. Couple days of hiking in beautiful scenery and then another (though broken up this time into slightly less silly distances) long drive home. Our only people interactions were at gas stations and hotels which were handled with masks and wipes/hand sanitizer. The rest was just watching the world go by through the windows and enjoying being on the move.

    I hesitated bringing the SS just from a cost/mile standpoint but very glad I took the plunge anyway. It just eats up the miles in quiet, fast comfort and made the trip way more enjoyable. LS3 was definitely starved for air at altitude though.

    Still – a few days away from the usual 4 walls was incredibly nice. Cars really are the best way to escape in the days of the virus!
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a25dd6276c994394c6844028586df09fc06f4890ba7b978bc9415ac1ea333e4.jpg

    1. Smaglik Avatar
      Smaglik

      My semester ends just before Thanksgiving this year, and I’m already starting to plan my next road trip….can’t wait! I have 6 weeks until classes start again.

      My bf and I visited rcnp in early July. Second time I’ve been there. Absolutely love it. Estes Park is a fun town as well, even in pandemic mode.

    2. MattC Avatar
      MattC

      That looks incredible.

  2. danleym Avatar
    danleym

    Been a while, but I made more progress on the Spirit. Drivers side floorpan is done, passenger side is underway. I got the shape on this patch much better than the first, so I think it will turn out better. Just need to weld it up now. 4 more small patches left to do on the passenger side… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/94c2758022f2a8f08687064e232c11da9a37ab25cb009f54ea947c851f753c40.jpg

  3. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    Except for the Aston Martin (and I suppose there isn’t enough detail on the Jeep or the Ram to determine), those are some hideous cars pictured this week.

    1. Zentropy Avatar
      Zentropy

      Agreed. The red grille on that M4 GT3 looks like a baboon’s ass.

  4. Wayne Moyer Avatar
    Wayne Moyer

    For the first time in my adult life there are multiple titles in my position for my families fleet of cars. It is an odd feeling to have more titles than loans. They are not all mine either. Of the five cars that the four drivers in my house have we have three titles. My son has one for this PT Cruiser. I just got the title for my daughters Saturn Ion and she is going to be handing me to the money soon to do the title transfer for that. So my 19 and 20 year old will own their vehicles with their own work cash. The last title is for the Corvair.
    I know this sounds like humble bragging but it really isn’t. I have spent most of my life in debt to a bank for my vehicles. As I do for my daily drivers which aren’t totally new either. One’s a ’15 and the other a ’16. I’m just posting this because it’s a good feeling and one that I am teaching them early.

    1. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      Congrats on the title thing, but I’m more impressed that your kids paid for their own transportation.

      1. Wayne Moyer Avatar
        Wayne Moyer

        It started with finding out that my son was sick of driving my van because it was mine. I found out by way of my mother. He wouldn’t tell me. So i approached him and we discussed him buying his own car. He had money in the bank since he was working in fast food then he was considered essential and hadn’t spent anything. So he was up for buying something. We talked about a lot of cars but I told him that I wanted him to get something that he would go out in the morning and smile at. Not something boring. So he got his list down to the New Bug and the PT Cruiser.
        My daughter is going to school to be an accountant and also doesn’t want her brother to win at anything. So since he owns a vehicle. She wants to buy out the car that my wife and I bought for the two of them when they got their licenses. I offered to sell it to her for the current NADA/KBB value and not some arbitrary value.
        I also told them both that they should frame their titles and put them on the walls in their rooms because kids their ages don’t usually own their own cars.

        1. 0A5599 Avatar
          0A5599

          Hopefully she tried to point out all the car’s flaws and negotiate down from the lowest listed value.

          If the van and the other vehicle still have loans, you should start calling them Countess Van and the Duke of [whatever] so that they will have titles, too.

    2. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      I remember it wasn’t too long ago when your son set his sights on the PT Cruiser. I think I had a loan from my parents for one of my early cars, and I bank financed the Laverda in 1988, but everything else has been bought outright. Bear in mind I’ve never needed to own something reliable, other than my bicycle, so my car ownership experience is sort of as a hobby.

      1. Wayne Moyer Avatar
        Wayne Moyer

        I made a mistake with the PT Cruiser he picked. I didn’t get a mechanic to look at it when he bought it. So he got a 2009 with 116k on the clock for $3000. I got him to get the timing belt and water pump done because I didn’t want the belt to break and the previous owner didn’t know if it had been done by their son. Now the car fax was really full of maintenance items including a motor mount. While they were doing the timing belt they found that the radiator was leaking and that the air conditier was frozen. So he paid for the radiator. He chose not to do the second. Choosing to just open the windows when he drove. I haven’t told him yet but I’m going to pay for the second because I feel guilty that I didn’t have a mechanic look the car over. Otherwise it’s been a good car and he really likes it.
        As for myself. I paid $300 for two of my first cars and then $1500 to my mother for my first car that i bought of of her. She had a user ’89 Grand Prix that I got from her for $1500.

        1. 0A5599 Avatar
          0A5599

          If you are going to pay for the a/c and he has money in the bank, you should strongly suggest he put at least an equal amount into a Roth IRA. Your accountant daughter will back you up, and in 40 or 50 years he’ll thank you.

      1. Wayne Moyer Avatar
        Wayne Moyer

        The exterior looks like someone really missed their seventies van.
        The interior is designed to melt your eyes.

        1. Smaglik Avatar
          Smaglik

          Cool and sometimes weird things come out of Prescott…lots of aging boomers there. Not sure who owns this, but usually entertainment is to be had on that CL.

          1. Wayne Moyer Avatar
            Wayne Moyer

            One mans really expensive hot rod is another mans really cheap find in an auction.

          2. Smaglik Avatar
            Smaglik

            Agreed. I’d be curious to see what the Halloween PT goes for.

      2. salguod Avatar

        So, I heard that you like fire…

        Custom PT Cruisers are a whole automotive sub-culture in and of themselves. Our local Arthritis Foundation car show brings in everything from full classics to modified Supras and they have a class just for PT Cruisers.

  5. Smaglik Avatar
    Smaglik

    The 17 year old dash pixels on the M5 started fading a couple weeks back, so I pulled the cluster and sent it a state away for repair. That marks one more required repair in e39 ownership, including Navi display, headlight adjusters, and seat cables to name a few. On the wagon, I replaced the power steering reservoir / filter and fluid. Pretty sure it was original. Chf 11s is a nice mint green when it goes in. This came out looking like processed baby food…that was the last maintenance item to do from when I bought it, so now it’s just waiting for things to break! Spoiler alert, there are already two other things to do… Lol.

  6. salguod Avatar

    The replacement fuel pump and filter for the BMW arrived Wednesday and I installed it on Thursday. It still wouldn’t start. I checked the rh/LH fuel levels again and it now said zero fuel on the RH (pump) side. So I went and bought 5 gallons of premium and once I got it actually in the tank* it started right up.

    So it seems like perhaps the pump was OK and I was just out of fuel. But, that does mean that the level sensor was not working properly and at 18 years old and 175K miles, that pump was on borrowed time. The filter was full of very black fuel and there’s no record in all the Carfax noted dealership service for the car of it being replaced. So probably money well spent.

    *The spout my stupid new safety gas can decided come apart and the first try resulted in fuel everywhere but in the tank.

  7. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    The Forestry service says you need to have a copy of the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) to travel off-highway in the National Forests. These print out at 35″ x 23″, so in a very Jack Kerouac* moment I loaded a 42-inch roll of butcher’s wrap into the ol’ Epson and reeled off six for the Mendocino Nat’l Forest (even though it’s on fire; again.) I just don’t see how I’m going to carry the 13-foot stepladder on the motorcycle.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/900def711ff13c7cad8147662bc96e721ad4ebdaacc22551886c569dc7f74f63.jpg

    *See, it’s funny because Kerouac typed “On The Road” on a 120 foot long roll but these maps are for driving “Off The Road” which is a podcast associated with this website. See? Clever. Funny. Mania.

    1. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      You don’t need the ladder, just a slightly larger version of Denis Jenkinson’s scroll https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8d65aed8b5b078d0e2f12f5fed104bf1cf717ebaf14b8a9893fbb040d94b1ed0.jpg

      1. Batshitbox Avatar
        Batshitbox

        There’s so much to unpack in that picture. I understand the importance of having an air intake that bypasses the windscreen, but what tartan is that? Which way do I turn when I get to M. Pamier Ltd in the village of Foot’s Note?

        1. outback_ute Avatar
          outback_ute

          Foots Cray actually (there’s a suburb of Melbourne called Footscray); I suspect we may never know. Kind of like a Free Beer Tomorrow sign at a pub.

    2. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      Are you traveling solo, or with a companion?

      https://i.redd.it/gr3nxg13q4331.jpg

  8. Fuhrman16 Avatar
    Fuhrman16

    For Buick project car news, it’s had a small but persistent coolant leak from one of the frost plugs, but I wasn’t expecting them to be /this/ bad.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bf4c68351b43f659c6c046a41dcaa52a9e765288ebe48fbd691531e1823b0f53.jpg

    So, needless to say they got replaced. And this process has really reminded me why I once swore off GM cars. What should have been a fairly straight forward repair was made quite difficult due to just how little space there was to work in, infuriating for a fairly large car with a small (for the times) engine. There is like a six or seven inch gap between the exhaust and a chassis brace, neither that could easily be removed (the exhaust clamps were clocked facing the frame rail, making it impossible to get anything bigger than an open end wrench on them, and the brace has inaccessible nuts on the back side). It also required removing the massive starter to see them. But I eventually got the job done.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f72d3c90fe5baa3d34c530ad54ea6d836fbfe0be7b12b7a6209977f93e01ae26.jpg

    Next issue is the brakes. The fronts must have been replaced at one time, since the hoses and calipers look in great shape, even the pads have plenty of material. So flushing out the old fluid and bleeding them was all they needed. The rear brakes are a different story. The lines must be clogged or something, seeing that no fluid whatsoever came out of them even with the brake lines disconnected. And good lord, have I forgotten how much I despise drum brakes. The driver’s side drum is rusted solid to the axle and two days of heat, hammers, prying, and penetrating oil hasn’t moved it. The passenger side wasn’t as stuck and required only a little fighting to remove. I started to put the new components back together when I noticed something odd. There’s no hole to adjust the star wheel with. Either GM, in an effort to save money, or due to wore out tooling, only dimpled the areas where the hole is supposed to be on the backing plate. So out came the cut off wheel. Thanks GM!

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2b4d095825c416fde4ad4121d5a8e9c03c9cd052aa16fc63ff0337ab01468fef.jpg

    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      Freeze plugs, I imagine, are at the bottom of the list of things the designers need to provide access to. Not a consumable item.

      But not allowing access to the star wheel? Heads must roll!

    2. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      What does a star wheel do?

      1. Fuhrman16 Avatar
        Fuhrman16

        It’s what adjusts the brake shoes to keep them the correct distance from the drum. It’s usually designed so it adjusts them automatically when the car is reversed, but when you take drum brakes apart you need to do it manually to get them close enough. Sometimes on really worn out brakes you need to loosen the star wheel to get the drum off.

        1. Sjalabais Avatar
          Sjalabais

          Nice, thank you! So I guess the star wheel itself can get stuck from grime and dust and oxydation, too?

          1. mdharrell Avatar

            Yes, if by “can get stuck” you mean “absolutely will either (a) get stuck completely, typically not noticed until one has reassembled the brake, thereby requiring immediate re-disassembly, or (b) get stuck just enough that adjustment is a complete pain, causing one to question but ultimately reject whether it wouldn’t be better simply to re-disassemble everything anyway, followed by total seizure just as the adjustment is almost, but not quite, complete.”

            Maybe that’s just my experience. Every single time.

          2. Fuhrman16 Avatar
            Fuhrman16

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7ad1a7a080950711f47d35fd23349be56dd77f891f4196248a7a43c59e50e03a.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f184133890a0dade6551318b1be081a4e160332e523233734130d631f4445462.jpg Yeah, drum brakes are really a stupid design when you think of it, at least from an assembly respective. You have like two dozen components all held together with nothing but spring tension, which causes the bits to shift and float around. The springs tend to be stiff and hard to stretch to position (not to mention dangerous when you fail to get them on the studs and they fly across the garage). They’re a royal headache to work on, even if you have the correct tools. Disc brakes are way superior in that regard.

          3. mdharrell Avatar

            Brake spring pliers serve as an illustrative case of the truly nice versions being worlds better than the merely nice-ish versions, but even so the job can be far more of a struggle than seems possible if the brake design itself defies maintenance. Of course it doesn’t help that I haven’t seen my truly nice pliers in about five years…

    3. Fuhrman16 Avatar
      Fuhrman16

      Well, an update on this, I managed to get the driver’s side drum off. Required heating it up with an oxyacetylene torch until near red hot to brake it loose. Now new bits can go back on the car.