Ford to axe SVT

[05MGT]

Read about it on the home page right under the Shelby article. April 1, 2006 will mark the death of SVT. I salute you SVT.



.....I hope this is juat a really bad April Fool's joke.

 

[Mickey21]

Me predicts stupid joke... We'll see...

 

[timeless2]

If it's a joke, then you had better let Ford know who took over SVT. Here is the team that once was:

• John Coletti, the bulldog engineer who was the heart and soul of SVT, retired at the end of 2004.
• Tom Scarpello, Coletti's counterpart on the marketing side, moved to Jaguar.
• Chris Theodore, a Ford vice president who spearheaded the Ford GT, is gone.
• Hau Thai-Tang is left to run SVT. Essentially, he is a captain without a ship.

Coletti was a very smart man and had a great connection with SVT fans.

Here's a quote from him (referring to how some parties required payment to be excited about newly released cars) and it perfectly reflects his attitude and connection with the auto enthusiast world:

"...wouldn't it be better to just build cars that you didn't have to pay someone to be excited about?"

 

[stanmckinney]

I had heard this months ago. And I was told that's why the new cobra is a Shelby and that SVT will not appear anywhere on it.

 

[351CJ]

Unless the real production GT500s are different, the prototypes & show cars have "SVT" on their wheel center caps.

It is a shame that Coletti was essentually forced out of FoMoCo. John chose retirement rather than the humiliation of having SVT taken away from him. He was the heart and sole of SVT.