The Ford GT40 spawned an impressive lineage of sports cars since its 1964 debut, including racking up a staggering 1-2-3 finish in the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race and thoroughly trouncing its Ferrari rivals. The revived Ford GT of the 21st century came in two different flavors, one of which may as well have been a shot-for-shot remake of the champion 1966 model, while the second-gen 2017 was a much more modern beast, with a twin-turbocharged V6 making it the black sheep of the family. But what if there were a car that split the difference? That could be what Cape Advanced Vehicles (CAV) is going for with its latest project, teased before its debut next month.
Base Trim Engine
3.8L Twin-Turbo V6 Gas
Base Trim Transmission
6-Speed Sequential
Base Trim Drivetrain
Rear-Wheel Drive
Base Trim Horsepower
800 hp
Fuel Economy
TBC
Segment
Supercar
A 1960s Car Of The Future
CAV, which is most famous as a South Africa–based purveyor of continuation-quality GT40s, has been working on its imaginatively named “Special Project” since at least November 2024, since then taking shape as a mid-engined supercar with a V8 engine and at least one interestingly retro design feature, the quartet of vertical tail lamps mounted to a CNC-machined aluminum cantilever. Their swept-back appearance and placement echo the quad brake lights of the original 1960s GT40, giving us our first clue that CAV would be building a vintage racing homage.
Cape Advanced Vehicles ‘Special Project’ Ford GT40 HomageCape Advanced Vehicles
Those lighting elements aren’t the only detail we can make of CAV’s rear three-quarter teaser image. Also visible – although only just – are two bulbous intake housings on the rear deck, a motif borrowed from the 1966 Mk II model that won Le Mans. The vehicle’s silhouette doesn’t quite match the crisply styled GT40, instead favoring rounder fenders, but the personality of a Ford racing car is plainly evident. That could be because the teaser vehicle is wearing a distinct shade of light blue paint with a gold “1” racing number, the same livery as one of the three 1966 French podium finishers.
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Another livery, this time the black “2” car, can be seen on the Special Project’s carbon fiber and aluminum monocoque chassis. The roof and pillars are fully integrated into the passenger cell, and the front and rear ends live on extruded structural subframes. The sports car is clearly mid-engined, and it seems like it’ll be powered by a naturally aspirated or forced-induction V8, with CAV targeting 500 horsepower for the former and 800 for the latter.
Debuting On A Very Special Anniversary
Cape Advanced Vehicles ‘Special Project’ Ford GT40 HomageCape Advanced Vehicles
Adding fuel to our suspicion that this is a modern redux of the motorsports icon, the CAV Special Project will make its official debut on June 18, the 60th anniversary of the race that put the Ford GT on the map.
Given the company’s reputation for high-quality GT40 replicas built on robust aluminum space frames, we’d expect the Special Project’s quality to be up there with many of the best boutique sports cars out there. We hope it nails the blend of vintage flair and modern performance, giving us the third-generation GT we always wanted but never received.
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Source: Cape Advanced Vehicles
