By Dean Larson

Photos by Copart.com

It’s clear some of the folks over at Copart have a sense of humor, as evidenced by the pile of charred remains and ash up for auction on their site titled “2005 Ford GT.” Should we all sit back and have a laugh, or is there an opportunity hiding in the dust?

We can only guess at the fate that befell this quarter-million-dollar supercar as there’s very little information provided on the Copart auction site. It’s clear that a rather intense fire got ahold of the GT, as all the car’s aluminum bits have been consumed, leaving only ash and charred steel parts. Presumably, the whole heap was loaded into some sort of dump rig and ditched at the insurance company where a man named Bob carefully deemed the car a total loss. What is provided is a VIN, and that detail nearly ensures that this Ford GT will see the street again in some fashion.

Not convinced? See only a pile of worthless ash or crusty exhaust pipe conversation piece? Well consider this. Current values on the Ford GT are sky-high, ranging from $250,000 to $550,000. And while we’re all fans of the new second-generation GT, it’s wholly modern and not quite the throwback that the first-generation Ford GT was. If we were placing bets, I’d guess the first-generation GT market will hold strong for the foreseeable future.

The Ford GT on your screen now might initially look like a big pile of ash and debris swept together by some poor underpaid soul at the insurance company. But look a bit closer, and you might see something different, that being one more missing car from the GT’s 4,038-car production run.

“But that’s not a car,” you might say to yourself. “That’s an insignificant pile of dust and you couldn’t pay me to haul it away.”

True, there appears to be no salvageable parts left from the original GT, but that heap of garbage is the truest thing in existence to the original Ford stamped with the VIN 1FAFP90S15Y******. While the reincarnation of this forsaken Ford might have nothing more than a number in common with the original car, it will be the buyer of this junk heap that holds the future, and future value, of this orphaned VIN.

Now before anyone begins a comment frenzy, it’s important to address a couple titling concerns. This heap (understandably) carries a Tennessee Non-Repairable Certificate, which will be a slight speed bump for future titling. I’m no 50-state DMV wiz, but I’d imagine there’s a route for making this VIN road-legal again once the car’s value exceeds the cost to rebuild it.

So all said, your entry into the Ford GT market might not be exactly what you had in mind, but it would be entirely foolish to write this pile of GT40 remains off as a pile of worthless ash.

See the listing for this fried Ford GT here on www.copart.com.