Hi guys,
Got this from a friend who is way, way deep inside Ford (not Roush).
Interesting stuff.....
Mike
Mike, thanks for the nice report and pictures from the Woodward dream
cruise.
Those two mid-engined prototypes you saw at Roush are two survivors from ourGN34 program, which was going to be Ford's answer to the Corvette. Those two examples don't just have a few Pantera parts on them - they are actually Pantera bodies that were grafted onto fabricated chassis.
Take a close look at the doors, roof, and windshield. I saw them take a brand new 1985 gray market Pantera GT5, chop it completely up, and use the body as a basis for a workhorse (I'm not sure if one of the vehicles in the museum is what's left of the '85 as there were more than two built). Later, the person who did the body work on my car sold them several older Pantera bodies, including a '71, for them to use, instead of throwing away 85% of a brand new car. I think I'm the one that put them in touch with this person, saved Ford a lot of money, and never even got a "thank-you".
I think I still have two brown armrests from the '85 they chopped up. Most of the GN34s were powered by a Yamaha designed SHO V6 engine with a ZF 5 speed (integral bellhousing, perhaps from the BMW M-1?). There were 3.0, 3.2, 3.4, and I think 3.6 liter versions as the car kept getting heavier. This was the late 80s so some people wanted to make a luxo-cruiser as the Vette was becoming, while the die-hard
enthusiasts wanted pure performance with no frills at all. Chissaun (sp?) in France was going to build the production bodies. There were also Ford EXPs used as earlier prototypes - some were 4 wheel drive with a center diff and everything! I remember they had IMSA style fender flares, and you could see the engine through the EXP's bubble hatch glass. (They were just mules)
I've heard rumors that one 4wd EXP version survived but I've never seen it. There was also a show car, called the Miah, done by Ital design, that was purchased, and was also considered for the GN34. The Miah was like a Lotus Europa, only way sexier, and was featured on the cover of a hard-bound book on one-off show cars. I saw this car too get taken apart and it was also sadly scrapped. Just a few weeks ago I was talking to someone at our Arizona Proving grounds who had done all of the wiring on the Miah. The reason the GN34 was cancelled wasn't that it was overly ambitious – it came down that there was only enough development money at that time for one of two programs - either the GN34, or a "four-door Bronco" as it was called. As much as I like performance cars, our company would probably be out of business right now if we had chosen to continue with the GN34 instead of a "four-door Bronco". As you know, demand for sports cars in the early 90s plummeted, while demand for "four door Broncos" sky-rocketed. Our "four door Bronco" was introduced as the Explorer.
Regards,
Brian J Fedoroff
j/k
