(engine revs)
- Would you spend $100,000 on a paint job for your car?
The Ford GT is one of the best looking cars ever built,
and this one in particular is even more special.
In fact, it's one of a kind,
and the thing that makes it one of a kind
can't be reproduced on any other Ford GT
because it's the law.
It's time to go bumper to bumper.
Front splitter to flying buttresses
on this Ford Mystichrome GT.
(upbeat music)
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This car is a tribute.
The original Ford GT40 from the 1960s
was, at the time, the pinnacle of engineering.
We've done, like, 16 episodes on this channel
about this car.
This is the brand new Ford GT and the latest tribute
to the original GT40.
But it's also a tribute to the owner's uncle.
I'm going to be real with you.
This Ford GT is basically stock.
There's only one modification done, and for good reason.
It's almost perfect from the factory.
So, how do you make a car that's perfect better?
Well, if you're Justin Choi,
you add $100,000 paint coat onto it.
A color so unique that legally this is the only car
that can have this paint.
Let me explain.
It's called Mystichrome, and it all started
with the Ford Mustang Cobra.
You ever heard of it?
That's a terrifying animal combo.
Can you imagine?
Just like hooves and fangs and a big old hood
and spraying venom in your face?
(hisses)
Kentucky Cobra.
In 1996 Ford released a limited amount of SVT Cobras
with a Mystic paint job.
Depending on the angle, it would appear
emerald green, violet, blue, magenta, gold,
even brown.
The most exciting color, in my opinion.
It was able to achieve that morphing effect
with small transparent prism-like flakes
mixed in with the paint that break up white light
into various component colors.
In 2004, SVT debuted another Cobra with an updated version
of the Mystic paint that shifted from bright teal
to a deep blue to purple, then finally to black.
Even the seats were color shifting.
This color was developed by Ford's color and trim director,
Alan Eggley, who dubbed it Mystichrome,
because it reminded him of chromed exhaust headers
that change color due to the heat.
Now that Mystichrome color was the basis for the paint
on this Ford GT beside me
owned by tech entrepreneur, Justin Choi.
Justin chose a Ford to honor his late uncle,
Bill Joe Pierce, a man who sold Fords for most of his life.
He adopted Justin and his brother
when they came over from Korea as young kids,
so when it came time to pick the spec and trim of the car,
Justin spared no expense.
He wanted it to be unlike any Ford GT ever.
Let's take a closer look.
Back in 2004, the Mystichrome paint was a $3,500 option
on the Cobra.
It was so special that if one of these ever got scratched
and the paint was messed up and needed to be repainted,
A Ford employee had to hand deliver the Mystichrome paint
to the shop that was repairing the car.
Then, seal the can up after it was done
and hand deliver the unused paint back to Ford.
They're treating the freaking paint
like it's the Declaration of Independence.
- I'm going to steal it.
- Ford SVT Mystichrome paint.
Buying a Ford GT is a task in and of itself.
There's an intense application process,
and Ford doesn't sell GTs to just anyone.
They want to make sure that you're going to drive the thing
and not just hide it away like some museum piece.
No, they want you to use it.
When Justin got the call that he had been approved
to buy a GT, he was so excited that he said, "Whee!"
I don't know for a fact, but I like to think that he did.
I think that's what I would do.
He wanted a special color for his special car
that would set it apart from all the other GTs
at the Cars and Coffee.
That's when his friend Brad told him
about the Mystichrome Cobra.
Justin fell in love with the color
and had some mock ups sent to Ford.
They didn't respond for a while, which made him nervous,
but then they finally got back to him.
Phew, what a relief.
Turns out, they weren't ghosting.
They loved the idea of painting a GT in Mystichrome,
but they couldn't find it in the system,
and they were trying to figure out how to catalog it.
What I mean by cataloging?
Well.
When you buy a GT,
you get access to four levels of color.
Level one starts at about 30 grand,
and let's say that's like the eight pack of Crayolas.
Level four is at 60K, and that's more like the 64 pack.
Justin's color was so unique that Ford didn't even know
how to invoice him for it.
They needed to invent a whole new color level for it.
Level five.
(booms)
This would ensure that not only would Justin
get his specific Mystichrome color,
but it would also lock that color
so no one else could use it, and also,
it pushed the painting of the car to over $100,000.
That's more than the price
of two brand new Mystichrome Cobras.
For the paint!
This car's smaller than a Mystichrome Cobra.
Now, for you and me, that's a ton of money
to spend on a paint job, but without that extra option,
the color would be available to everyone,
and then it wouldn't be one of a kind.
That exact problem happened to another GT owner
who designed a color called Riviera Blue,
but didn't get the extra level five color option.
Bad move, muchacho.
As soon as people saw it, there were just a ton
of other GTs in that exact same color.
It started off being cool and rare,
then became oversaturated, and the guy probably
is too embarrassed to even drive the darn thing any more.
And Justin made sure that that wouldn't happen to him.
This car's got a really cute face,
but I think the thing that makes it special is the booty.
Let's go check it out.
So yes, this paint is amazing.
The color is absurd.
Just walking from the front of the car back here,
it changed like 15 times.
Over there I was looking at a green car.
Back here, I'm looking at a purple one.
To fully understand why this car is so special,
not just the paint, we need to understand
why the Ford GT is so special.
The GT is only 43.7 inches tall at its highest point,
which makes it one of the sleekest production cars
that exists.
When you put it in the track mode,
the suspension lowers the car a further two inches,
making it 41 inches high.
Another thing that happens in track mode
is the wing pops up, and it stays up.
In any other mode, the wing will go up at a certain speed
and comes back down during braking.
But not in track mode, baby.
This is freaking Transformers stuff.
- Sam Witwicky, you must find the AllSpark
and put it in my butt.
- Speaking of butts, the dual exhaust is in the center
which brings me to the one performance modification
that sets this car apart from other GTs:
the Heffner exhaust system.
I cannot wait to start this thing up
and hear that hand built titanium exhaust,
that was only available on 45 production GTs
that came in a race only package.
But Justin got one special for his street car.
Apparently, it sounds really, really cool.
I can't wait to hear it.
Don't worry, I'm going to fire it up.
Just wait, we're just not at that part of the video yet.
So stick around for that.
To match the exhaust, there's vents in the tail lights
that help vent air away from the turbos.
All in all, it's a very cohesive package.
From this angle, you can also really understand
the teardrop shape the designers were going for.
Aerodynamics were a big priority with the original GT40,
and you can see that same philosophy carried over
into this design.
Now one reason they didn't use a V8
in a car that historically had a V8 in it
is because all of the space they lost using this shape.
This is all the room that they had to fit an engine in.
Look, these are just open, so without this stuff,
this looks iike an open-wheel car.
It looks like an Indy car.
There's not a lot of room to fit
a big old honking stinking V8 or V10 or a V12.
A lot of people were complaining that this car
had a V6 in it when it came out,
but it's a pretty special V6.
It makes perfect sense, and I think is really
one of the more futuristic things about this car.
Ford chose a twin turbo charged 3.5 liter Ecoboost V6
over a V8 not only out of necessity,
but to showcase the capabilities of the Ecoboost line,
this is a halo car.
It's used to show off all the stuff that the company makes.
And it's a pretty good engine.
It makes 647 buff hrsprs, 550 torques.
Some people think it's the engine from the F-150,
and they're not completely wrong.
It's very similar, but this one
has way more aluminum and bigger turbos.
(groans)
That's a lot of power baby!
Especially in a car that weighs
just a little bit over 3,000 pounds.
Now the engineers over at Ford were able
to keep the weight down
by using lots and lots of carbon fiber.
The chassis is a carbon fiber monocoque
with lightweight aluminum subframes on the front and rear
which are covered in carbon fiber panels.
The windows and windscreen are even special.
They're made out of gorilla glass,
which is thinner and stronger than traditional auto glass.
Fun fact, it's named after my dad.
Now, there are a few things that really stand out
about the design of this car.
The biggest is probably
(screams)
the flying buttresses.
Where normally there would be, you know, more car,
there's nothing.
These things strengthen the chassis.
They double as a way to funnel air into the engine bay.
There's ducts inside of them, and they,
no, not ducks, ducts, inside of them,
that transfer air from the side vent straight through
to the engine bay.
Which is good, cause you got
two big old honking turbos under there.
Two spinny boys, getting all hot.
The cabin ends right here.
Now, I've been in a lot of small cars on this show.
I am not sure I am going to fit inside of this one.
Let's find out.
(sighs)
I did it.
This thing is so small.
This is actually not the first time
I've sat in one of these, but when these cars came out
I was like yes, that is it, that is my dream car.
Let's build an automotive media empire,
and I will buy one of those.
And then I sat in it, and my dreams were crushed.
Oh well, there's plenty of cars.
This one is very cool though.
Now when he bought the car, Justin took a tour
of the Multimatic plant in Canada
where they were making his GT and found out
that the man in charge of finishing operations
was none other than Alan Eggley, the same guy
who pioneered the Mystichrome paint
for the original Cobra.
That's cosmic, dudes!
I believe that things are connected, all right?
We're all just star dust.
This is a little bit more proof of that.
There is no Mystichrome paint on the interior of the car.
The only reason I'm in here is so we can start it up.
(motor runs)
(engine revs)
It sounds pretty good.
That's a pretty good sounding V6.
Okay? (chuckles)
So, at the end of the day, it's a $100,000 paint job
on a $500,000 car.
That's absurd, but people do absurd things
in the supercar scene all the time,
and this one's pretty cool, pretty good.
Very good job.
I like it a lot.
Big thanks to OVC Mustangs for hosting us today.
These dudes have a cool garage
where they're building 36 GT350 cars.
Follow them on Instagram at OVC Mustangs
or online at ovcmustangs.com.
Carroll Shelby's signature is on a wall
that I can see right now.
He's my favorite dude in cars.
It's really crazy to be here.
You gus should follow him on Instagram.
Also, thanks to Justin for loaning us this car for the day.
To see more of this car, follow him on Instagram
at J-C-H-W-A.
Jchwa.
And follow me on Instagram at Jamespumphrey.
I love you.
How do I get out?
Oh God, I can't get it up there.
(upbeat music)