Excellent news, I was holding out for either a Mach 1 option or T-tops, screw it of GM won'd build anything RWD that is affordable, then at least I'll keep it American.

Marc

 

Am I the only one that scrolled straight to Chevrolet? lol

 

No doubt, Chrome383Z & Hoodshaker, that Ford went to extraordinary lengths to speed the GT along, but I feel alot of that was balenced out at GM by using so many existing parts on the Solstice.

Alot more testing and effort went into certifying the GT's new from the ground up drivetrain could withstand 600 horsepower and torque than went into the essentially parts bin and already tested drivetrain the 200 horse (maybe even 250) Solstice had. The Solstice also had an existing chassis (the Corvette) as a jump off point. Ford's GT was all new.

Solstice was a car that chapperoned by the chairman of product. It had the use of the most advanced engineering team and computer programs in the world. By right, the car should have been done in 24 months. 30 absolute tops. But 3 1/2 years? Come on!

 

I do see what your saying. But there is a difference when you only have to produce 3-4 cars per day versus 130 cars per day (thats usings 1,500 GT and 50k Solstice).

I imagine their holdup was getting assembly lines ready for that kind of production. 3-4 a day that could done in a small warehouse, 130 per day you need a full manufacturing line.

 

It does not take 45 months to re-tool a factory.

Heck, I'll bet a factory could be built and tooled in 45 months.

During wartime in the world war 2 stuff happened way quicker than that.

 

I'll bet it is less than 45 months to launch a space shuttle, and have that same shuttle launch again.

Course, those are already pre-made and can use parts bin parts.

guionM, I'm with you on the amount of parts bin stuff negating the special nature of the GT.

 

I'll agree GM needs to get products to market faster and that the Solstice being on the "fast track" is less than impressive in turn around. But comparisons to the Ford GT and its production timeline seem offbase. A limited production supercar with a dedicated team (SVT) which experienced production difficulties (which a brand new higher volume car cannot afford to have for many reasons) has little to compare to Pontiac putting a new roadster in showrooms.

BTW, I think the 1500 for Ford GT was the total over the entire production run, not per year.

 

They might have had to do that? I don't know. New line, new building, new "UNION" contracts - I honestly don't know that answer to that one...

 

I think you are right about that number of GTs being over the length of production.

I think you may have it reversed as far as the importance of getting it right. The pressure was most certainly on the GT (at $130,000 per copy, big name buyers on the list, and the fact that this was going to be the standard bearer for the whole Ford Motor Company) that Ford was going to get the GT right and without problems.

On the flip side, the emphasis on Solstice was to cut as much cost as possible out of the thing. Even thinking that the Solstice should be given a pass because GM (as a whole) was worried about quality isn't realistic. Two words: Convertible top.

Solstice had a greater number of people and resources involved than the Ford's GT (You'd be stunned at how small SVT actually is ).

The GT-Solstice comparison is off base only as far asthe cars themselves, not the abilities of Ford and GM to get them to market.

In this area, with top backing in both companies, Ford ran completely over GM despite a fraction of staff, & miniscule resources.

Even comparing "supercar" to "supercar", GM comes up short. Cien anyone?

Cadillac was pretty serious about the car.

Again, GM's problem is in it's approval process, and petty squabbles. A problem I suspect GM's CEO was looking to solve when he took over day to day operations for GM North America, meaning even he's aware of the problem.

 

Ford rushed the GT to production, and now they are paying for it. But at the time it was much more important to get that halo car out.

I just got a info packet in the mail a couple of days ago from GM on the Solstice highlighting standard features and options, colors, etc. and I didn't even send for it. Hopefully with the extra time spent on the Solstice it will have a trouble free launch this summer. I want to see one the color "Aggressive" (red) with chrome wheels. I hate all the pics. showing it in dark gray.

 

Texas debut for the new trucks?

Awesome.. Wonder if they'll have a certain SS when they do.

 

Didn't the Monte Carlo debut there some years ago?

 

No!

 

They are going to call the Chevy Coupe concept a Camero. Will throw everyone off.