Money can buy you just about everything in this life – but not the latest Ford GT supercar

MONEY can buy pretty much anything you desire.

A wife. Several wives if you like. The Premier League. A yacht the size of Jersey. It can buy all sorts of lovely things.

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But it can’t buy you this Ford. No, no. You could be a gazillionaire but Ford won’t sell its new GT supercar to just anyone. You have to be approved.

It costs £450,000 by the way. Yep, four hundred and fifty thousand English pounds. For. A. Ford. From the same people who flog Fiestas and Transits.

I’ll come back to the price in a bit but first, the rules.

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You have to apply online and be deemed worthy.

Priority will be given to current Ford GT owners.You have to promise to actually use it — rather than store it to protect its future value.

You have to keep it for at least two years. That’s to stop it being flipped for a profit. And then I’m told you have to give Ford first refusal on buying it back.

After that, other members of the Ford family (suppliers and other Ford collectors) will be considered and then “people of influence” (celebrities, big-name YouTubers).

And, of course, you still have to be seriously minted.

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Ford is building 1,000 cars (250 a year for four years) and could have sold them all six times over, such is the clamour for this 216mph supercar.

So, what are the lucky few buying?

An instant icon. Only the third Ford GT in 50 years. A race car for the road. And a car that is, O-M-G, look at it, bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful.

Quick history lesson. Ford was close to buying Ferrari in 1963 but Enzo Ferrari pulled out and Henry Ford II wasn’t best pleased. So Ford hit back by shipping the original GT40 to Le Mans in 1966 and scoring a 1-2-3 finish, trouncing Ferrari. Ford went on to win it four years in a row. GT40 road cars are worth £4million today. Race cars £10million.

The GT40 was followed by the 2005 GT. Ford built 4,038 costing £130,000 and Jeremy Clarkson sent his back. They have since doubled in value.

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And now we have the third GT — the “grandson”. Ford returned to Le Mans last year and won its category again, beating Ferrari again — exactly 50 years to the day after that famous 1-2-3. Hollywood couldn’t have scripted it better.

So, here we are with the GT road car developed in parallel with the race car — except the road car has 150 more horses and better brakes. Now for the obvious question. Does it drive as good as it looks? Yes. It’s mega.

It has all the ingredients of the new breed of supercars — mid-engined, rear-drive, trick aero, all-carbon fibre tub and body, active rear wing/air brake, seven-speed paddle shift, carbon brakes . . . and a monster 647 horses.

The seats are fixed to the floor and the pedal box moves towards you by pulling a strap. There are five drive modes — Normal, Wet, Sport, Track and V-Max.

Select “Track” and the car drops two inches to hug the tarmac, the spring rate doubles, and the rear wing pops up for maximum downforce. It’s raw and mechanical and noisy and brilliant. Go back to “Normal” and the car shoots up again like Buckaroo.

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I should also say that all that power comes from a 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo petrol. Some will argue that it has six cylinders missing and that is doesn’t sound super aggressive like a V12. That is true.

But, boy, this thing still howls like a race car when you nail it up to the red line at 7,000rpm — egged on by the change-up lights on the square steering wheel. You also get a lovely crackling over-run between changes.

Is it fast? Yes. Very. 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds and you’ll travel two postcodes before you know it. But for me, the real magic of this car is the chassis and those killer air ducts.

It is so well balanced, so crazy smooth even when trail braking, that it almost fills you with too much confidence. And when the back end does step out exiting a corner, it is so easy to walk it right out.

Other observations. Those extraordinary buttresses that feed the engine with cool air look mint, right? Trust me, they look even better in your wing mirrors.

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And those round rear lights are beautiful and functional. They extract hot air from the transmission and engine oil coolers.

Finally, the price. Is it really worth £450,000 before options?

Now that’s a mental maze because the answer is Yes and No. On the one hand, you could buy a Ferrari 488 and a McLaren 720S and still have change for a runaround.

But on the other hand, a Ford GT is something that is extremely rare and magical and wrapped in all the history and passion of Le Mans.

The others will lose money. This won’t.

And you just know people will like you more if you drive a Ford than if you drive a Ferrari.