The GT supercar project bore the “Phoenix” codename while it was being developed by Ford. The car was apparently concealed in a basement and only a handful of employees had access.

Automotive News reports that they didn’t even use electronic keycards, but real old-fashioned keys instead. The entire project was shrouded in secrecy up to the point where those involved were not allowed to talk about it with their families at all.

“A lot of people probably knew something was going on, but no one actually knew what the project was”, Moray Callum, Ford’s global design chief, told the news site. “This was probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get to do a vehicle like this. I’m still pinching myself that we’re actually doing it.”

This kept the hype high and leaked information to a minimum and GT made quite the impression when it was revealed in Detroit last month, especially since we really didn’t know what to expect; it definitely stole some of the Acura NSX’s shine at the motor show. The GT was actually unveiled a few hours before the Japanese car and that counted too.

Work on the car began in late 2013, and according to Moray Callum,”Usually, we like to encourage, especially on important programs, wide input from around the world, but on this one, we sort of realized both in terms of time and the element of keeping it quiet that we probably had to change the process here, so we picked a small group of designers.”

We can’t wait to see it out and about!

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