Amazingly, the design team was able to build the GR-1 off of the original sketch, which showed three separate perspectives.
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| "George produced this completely resolved sketch - the best I've seen in 10 years," commented J. Mays, head of Ford design. (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
"George nailed it in one crack," added Mays. "This is a designer so masterful at visualizing every aspect of the car and its story that it literally flowed out of his pen. And because the design is so pure, we really believe this show car will be a hit."
Ford's press release talks about vertical taillights which sound wonderful, but no matter how long I searched I couldn't find a rear end shot of this car. Ford might want to consider posting one on their press site, as it's a pretty significant aspect of the design.
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| The GR-1 boasts a thoroughly modern design language with subtle classic cues thrown into the mix. (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
The rest of the coupe's lines are reminiscent of the extremely rare Le Mans winner as well, but the Daytona Coupe inspiration is not anywhere near as retrospective as Ford's new GT. Compared to a car that looks for the most part like a GT40 replicar, the GR-1 boasts thoroughly modern design language. Classic cues, yes, but current angular shapes and hard cut edges give the coupe a bold, chiseled look. I particularly like the trapezoidal headlight clusters, featuring HISS (high intensity solid state) and LED technology by the way. The side glass is nice too, reminding me a bit of the mid-'60s Toyota 2000GT coupe and early '70s Datsun 240Z. The doors are butterfly-hinged, according to Ford, but once again there are no photos showing them open.