Tungsten Silver GT Helps Celebrate Historic Wins at LeMans

To commemorate the anniversary of the 1966 win, Ford will introduce a Tungsten Silver paint option for the 2006 Ford GT. For more information on the Ford GT, visit fordvehicles.com.

After that convincing win, the Ford GT would go on to win Le Mans for the next three years in a row.

To commemorate the anniversary of the 1966 win, Ford will introduce a Tungsten Silver paint option for the 2006 Ford GT. (Tungsten Silver replaces Quick Silver on the Ford GT's color palette. A Quick Silver racing stripe can be added to the Tungsten Silver package.)

Tungsten Silver was developed for the 2004 North American International Auto Show Ford "trilogy" of show cars: the Ford GT, the Shelby Cobra roadster concept and the Mustang GT. Customer demand was so overwhelming that the color was added to the production palette.

"We've had two GTs come through our showroom. They're amazing," said Grant Guzowski, sales representative at Capistrano Ford in San Diego. "You can't say enough about the GT. To have a car that competes with Porsche and Ferrari at a fraction of the price is amazing. The new color almost looks like chrome. Anyone who buys a GT buys a piece of history. I think this vehicle will be a nice collector item."

Phil Martens, group vice president, Product Creation, North America, said that June 19, 1966 was probably the second most important day in Ford Motor Company history. The first, according to Martens, was October 10, 1901 when Henry Ford won his first and only automobile race helping launch Ford Motor Company.

"Six decades later sweeping Le Mans proved to the world that Ford Motor Company could beat the most prestigious manufacturers in the world," said Martens. "Those two events helped establish a culture of performance at Ford Motor Company that to this day benefits our products, engineering expertise, and brand loyalty. Today, that culture is embodied in the Ford GT, aptly titled the pace car for the entire company."

"In Tungsten Silver, the Ford GT is really dressy, like a fine suit," said Pardo. "This dark silver color also brings out all the design features and the subtleties of the car. In fact, people who've seen it thought we'd added a feature line around the side of the car. It's always been there, but you may not notice it in the car's other colors. Tungsten Silver really brings it out."

Pardo notes that in the design studio, clay models are covered with "Dynoc" material that is a similar hue to Tungsten silver. The color is specifically designed to enhance the vehicle design details for evaluation.

"We use silver to evaluate our designs throughout the whole process," Pardo said. "It brings out the subtleties, the returns and the negatives, the differences between horizontal and vertical surfaces."

Inspiring the 2006 Tungsten Silver GT, Ford's complete list of victories at Le Mans are:

1966
First Place: Ford Mk II driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon
Second Place: Ford Mk II driven by Ken Miles and Denis Hulme
Third Place: Ford Mk II driven by Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson

1967
First Place: Ford Mk IV driven by Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt Jr.
Fourth Place: Ford Mk IV driven by Bruce McLaren and Mark Donohue

1968
First Place: Ford GT40 driven by Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi

1969
First Place: Ford GT40 driven by Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver
Third Place: Ford GT40 driven by David Hobbs and Mike Hailwood