The Ford
GN34 is the supercar that never was. In the 1980s, American consumers had money to burn, and luxury and sports models looked like the ticket for success to many automakers. But much like today, the Ford of 40 years ago was not a sportscar or luxury brand. The culture at Ford was constructed around producing mass-market cars for everyday consumers, but would leaving the supercar segment untapped just be leaving money on the table? Some engineers and product planners at Ford thought so, and began to compile a team to tackle it.
Thus came the GN34, a sleek, high-performance supercar that would be the fastest Ford since the GT40. Ford was aiming for a Ferrari-style car at a Corvette
price point, but the tumultuous economic conditions of the 1980s dashed their dreams almost as quickly as they were realized. While the GN34 never made it to a dealership lot, it left an unexpected legacy and paved the way for an even more surprising successor: the Ford Explorer
. What was the Ford GN34?
According to an article in Hagerty
, the team behind the unlikely supercar from Ford was spearheaded by Mike Kranefuss, Ford’s competitions manager at the time who had a history with racecars. In order to compete with Ferrari, the GN34 needed two things: a high-perforamnce motor and a stylish, lightweight body design.
Finding the right engine proved challenging, but the team eventually settled on what at the time was one of the most advanced V6 engines available, a sophisticated 3-liter engine that had been designed in collaboration with Yamaha for the Ford Taurus SHO
model. When it came to styling, Ford partnered with Italian design and engineering company Italdesign to create the sporty exterior. Just as it felt like everything was coming together, however, executives at Ford began to question the profitability of a product that required so many external suppliers.
In spite of cost concerns, the engineering team was given the green flag to proceed and several prototypes went into production. Market research among owners of Ferraris, Corvettes and Porches proved promising, but in July of 1986, everything changed.
The Ford Explorer saves the day
A car that once seemed profitable now was in question when from the first quarter of 1985 throught the third quarter of 1986, the American dollar fell more than 20% against a trade-weighted array of currencies. The supercar, which was only projected to sell in the tens of thousands, was deemed too risky of a departure for Ford.
Ford abandoned plans for the GN34, and instead turned back to doing what they did best—developing a mass-marketable product that could sell in the millions. It was then that the idea of a four-door Bronco that would later become the Ford Explorer was proposed.
While dreams were dashed with the shelving of the GN34, the Ford Explorer became one of Ford’s best-selling cars to date. The American car brand may never have realized its goal of rivaling Ferrari, but the Explorer welcomed in a boom of profitability that carried the brand through the 1990s.
The first-generation Explorer even outsold the Jeep
Grand Cherokee and the Chevy S-10 Blazer by a wide margin. MORE: The Fastest Ford Cars Ever
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