The Grand Tour

Jeremy Clarkson: Clarkson’s Farm Presenter’s Ford GT Is For Sale… Again

The 2003 Ford GT’s influence on the motoring world is a complicated one. Supercars were hardly a niche that Ford had looked into much before this, which mainly consisted of the RS200 – if you could even call it that. And let’s face it, even the Mustang wasn’t looking so good in this era. The original GT40? Well, that was a piece of Ford’s successful history that had, at this point, become faded.

As a result, while the GT was designed to commemorate Ford’s centennial, with its pick-up engine and extremely short development time, expectations weren’t particularly high. The car’s significance was not overlooked by the manufacturer, which proceeded to purchase a Ferrari 360 Modena to use as the high bar the GT would compete against.

Being American, the GT of course had to be much more powerful than the Italian supercar. On top of this, it handled just as well as its legendary rival- in fact, no one expected it to drive as well. Ford got damn close to what people loved about the GT40.

Only 101 cars were available to purchase, and with fans of the car biting at its heels, it didn’t take long for all of them to be sold. One of these 100-odd cars was bought by The Grand Tour presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

His was one of just 28 Ford GTs given the green light for UK sales, making it a highly rare specimen. Obviously, if you’ve watched any episode of Top Gear, you’ll know that his ownership experience wasn’t the best, of which he used to tell viewers… a lot.

“The most miserable month’s motoring it is possible to imagine,” Clarkson wrote about it in 2005. Although this wasn’t actually down to the car itself, more the aftermarket security system that was put on it. “it’s a great, great car that was ruined by a useless ape who fitted a crummy aftermarket alarm system.” It was bought by someone else who has loved it up until now, meaning the car is back on sale.

The is owner put the majority of the 24,454 miles on the odometer, and are also responsible for the upgraded KW suspension and Accufab exhaust system. The original Alpine audio system is still there, and while the car sits a little lower than usual, it still looks as good and as original as the day it was built – minus a few stone chips.

Now, with a new MOT on its history and some fresh rubber, it’s ready to be driven hard yet again. And for £269,000, it’s not a bad price for this level of ownership experience and celebrity history.

Fancy it?

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