When supercar dealer Carl Hartley posted the listing on Instagram, Jeremy Clarkson scrolled past it, read it, and left exactly one comment: "I hope they've fixed the alarm!!!"Three exclamation marks. That tells you everything you need to know about the relationship between this man and this car. Read More A 1994 Bugatti EB110 GT With 425 Miles Has Just Appeared for Sale in Dubai The 2006 Ford GT now being offered for sale by Tom Hartley Cars is one of the most storied examples of the model in existence, not because of its specification, though that is excellent, but because of what it put its first owner through. Clarkson had been obsessed with the Ford GT for years before he ever owned one. As a man too tall to fit inside the original GT40, the reborn GT represented his only realistic chance to experience what Ford built to beat Ferrari at Le Mans in the 1960s. He waited two years on the order list. He talked about it on Top Gear. He genuinely, deeply wanted this car. It arrived. Then, the following day, it wouldn't start. A faulty immobiliser had effectively locked him out of his own dream car, so instead of driving home in a 550 hp American supercar with white racing stripes over midnight blue paint, he climbed into a taxi. Ford took the GT back to fix the immobiliser. When they returned it, the alarm went off repeatedly through the night. The tracking system reported the car stolen five times in a single day. Clarkson, presumably running out of patience, expected that Ford might at least provide a suitable replacement while they sorted things out. Perhaps an Aston Martin DB9. Perhaps a Range Rover. Ford gave him a diesel Focus Estate. He eventually returned the car and got his money back. Then, in a move that says everything about what the Ford GT means to people who really understand it, he bought it back. He eventually moved on to a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, and the GT passed through subsequent ownership, accumulating the 28,000 miles it now shows on the odometer. It has been serviced throughout its life by GT101, the Essex-based specialists who focus exclusively on the Ford GT and Mustang, and the service history is described as comprehensive. The car remains in its original specification, blue with white racing stripes, black leather interior, BBS alloy wheels, and is presented in beautiful condition. Read More Bugatti Built a One-Off Mistral Inspired by The Little Prince and the Details Are Extraordinary Under the hood sits the supercharged 5.4-litre V8 producing 550 hp and 500 lb-ft of torque, driving the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox. Zero to 62 mph takes 3.3 seconds. Top speed is 205 mph. Only 4,038 first-generation Ford GTs were ever built, and just 101 of those were allocated to EU markets, making this example genuinely rare on this side of the Atlantic. No asking price has been disclosed. For reference, a 2006 Ford GT Heritage Edition sold for $660,000 at auction earlier this year. This one has something the Heritage Edition does not, a story that most Ford GT owners can only dream of. And an alarm that, one hopes, has finally been fixed.
