Ford built just 343 Heritage Edition GTs in 2006, and now there’s one less on the road due to poor practice with three pedals.
It’s a sad sight to see a smashed supercar, but that’s exactly what Floridians saw by the side of the road in Boca Raton right before the weekend on Friday, April 29th. The victim was a Ford GT in Heritage Gulf livery, which spun out and hit a tree.
The supercar was purchased at Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach auction, which was held less than a month ago on April 7-9. The hammer price was $704,000, which is typical for one of these rare beasts.
According to the police report, the driver 50-year-old Robert J. Guarini crashed because he was “unfamiliar with how to drive stick shift,” and lost control of the car during a downshift into second gear.
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There is some conflicting information between what Guarini told the police and what he told Road & Track. On the phone to the publication, Guarini says that the accident happened during an upshift from first to second gear, not a downshift.
“I don’t want people to think I was racing at 90 mph,” Guarini says. “I was going 35 mph.”
In addition to the manual massacre, Guarani also said that the car was on old tires, was freshly detailed, and that the road was muddy.
Whatever really happened, the result is the same – a supercar with a huge repair bill. The damage is extensive, but not unrepairable.
Right behind the driver is a supercharged 5.4-liter V8, which produces 550 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a 6-speed manual transmission, which requires a little more care and attention than a two-pedal car. This particular example was also upgraded with Penske Racing suspension and CORSA Performance exhaust.
No injuries were reported other than some bruised egos, but to add insult to destruction, the police also issued Guarini a citation for driving with a suspended license and operating an unregistered vehicle. Guarini said the car was covered under an umbrella policy and that his license was suspended because of a DMV clerical error.