But can you really drive it? Jeff Larson reportedly owns the highest-mileage Ford GT: nearly 150,000 miles to date.

While many owners choose to bubble-wrap this high-flying asset, a few enthusiasts drive the wheels off theirs. Longtime Ford/Shelby expert and GT registrar Jeff Burgy has recorded the particulars of every example built. (SAAC’s “World Registry of Cobras and GT40s” includes the 2005-’06 GT.) He regularly attends GT reunions, knows many owners and put us in touch with the recognized high-mileage king of GTs.

Jeff Larson, who resides in Renton, Washington, and Palm Springs, California, has logged an astounding 148,890.2 miles (not a typo) on his 2006. “I bought this car to drive,” he says. “Week one of ownership, I drove it 1000 miles.” He hasn’t slowed since, driving his GT through 48 states and seven Canadian provinces. “I don’t have a favorite destination,” he says, “but it seems as though Chevron stations have been where I stopped the most times.”

His road trips include all the GT rallies but one. He visits friends and relatives and commutes between his homes (only 1235 miles). He admits he’s experienced a few tight squeezes getting in and out (those pesky doors) and sometimes parks it in the porticos of hotels so night clerks can keep an eye on it. In 2013, at the GT reunion in Dearborn, he received a special award from GT engineers: His was the first production GT to reach 100,000 miles, and it recorded this milestone on Ford’s famed test track.

Jeff is an active member of the GT community, including the forum. “It’s made up of some really great folks,” he says. “Most definitely not your average car club, and in my travels, I try to visit other owners.” He describes annual rallies as “reunions, just like a family that bought these special cars,” although this family met on the internet.

Jeff raves about his GT: “It’s one of the very best in the supercar arena. It was designed and built by men and women who succeeded building the best modern supercar in honor of the original Ford GT40s,” he says. “I am very proud to own one.” And yet he treats it as an (almost) daily driver.

During his travels, this roving ambassador cheerfully answers questions, encourages people to sit in his GT for pictures, gives them rides, and says he has allowed about 100 people to actually drive the thing. “I always tell them, ‘Don’t do anything serious with the gas pedal unless you have both hands on the wheel and the GT is pointed straight.’” Oh my. This man must have nerves of steel.... or an understanding with his insurance company and keeps his mouth shut.

Perhaps he does. He’s driven his GT at speed at a dozen race tracks around the country, including Laguna Seca, COTA, Indy, Mid-Ohio and Daytona, and braved a close call while running the Texas Mile. As he passed the three-quarters marker at 186 mph (reached in 23 seconds), he says, “Something felt funny.”

He immediately got off the gas and coasted through the trap. After he rolled back to the staging area, he discovered that the right-rear tire was flat. He had apparently picked up a screw that dislodged at speed, pulling some of the wires with it. He credits his racing experience for sensing the trouble. “The car remained stable even though I had a tire going down at extremely high speed,” he notes. He’s confident that without this mishap, he would have topped 200 mph.

Through all this heavy use, this supercar has been as dependable as a Honda. “In fact I sell my used motor oil to the jerks who drive Hondas, telling them that my used oil will give them another 50 horse power. My GT has been trouble-free, no mechanical issues whatsoever,” he says. He’s had it serviced by the schedule at Bowen Scarff Ford in Kent, Washington, and by Rich Brooks at his GT Garage in Rockwood, Michigan. Normal wear items include tires (three times as many rears as fronts), oil and filters, brake pads, rotors, spark plugs, hoses and batteries.

Why is Jeff so generous with this rare and valuable beast? He puts it this way: “Ninety-five percent of the people have never seen a GT in person, so taking a bit of my time gives them a wow moment. They feel good that someone let them photograph and sit in a GT. I feel good doing it, too.”

And what does he tell other GT owners? “I’m looking forward to the next 150,000 miles. It’s a masterpiece vehicle. Drive it often and far.”
Kevin O’Hara put a deposit on a new Ford GT. Then the dealer found someone willing to pay more for the car. Eventually, though, Kevin got his GT.

Rich Brooks, aka the GT Whisperer, says more than half of the GTs built have passed through his shop. “I know of four or five in the 100,000-to-120,000-mile range, but Jeff’s is the highest-mileage GT I’ve seen,” he says. “On the other end of the spectrum, a few years ago I had an original-owner, 3-mile car in the shop, and last year I had a 5-mile GT in for service.”

It will come as no surprise to enthusiasts that the service needs of a long-dormant GT depend on how it’s been stored, including the temperature, humidity and start-ups. “We tell owners to start their GT every month or so and move it,” Rich says. “They don’t have to drive it far. The ones that have been sitting for five years without moving always need a lot more work. We can always tell the cars that have been started and driven.”

Rich tells us that frequently driven GTs experience fewer problems than cars that sit. Small gauge failure happens more often with long-dormant GTs, along with leaks from batteries, oil pumps, and a/c and power steering systems, generally caused by dried and hardened seals.

He estimates that 20 to 30% of owners change their oil and perform other maintenance, while others depend on Ford’s service. “Owners always tell me that the last thing they want to hear from a service manager is, ‘I’ve been waiting for years to work on one of these,’” he says. Oh crap

As the GT approaches its 20th birthday, about 4000 (an undetermined number have been written off) owners face this growing dilemma: Drive or not? Several years ago, a GT Forum poster who had driven his more than 30,000 miles lobbied for putting them on the road: “The reason you should drive the 2005-2006 Ford GT as much as possible is because you can drive them as much as possible. They have a truck engine, a stout transmission and an extremely well-engineered chassis.”

There you have it. A world-class exotic that drives like, well, a Ford. An exceptionally pricy Ford.