It's Alive! Ford execs show a running prototype of the Ford GT, five months after the car gets its corporate green light.

Byline: DUTCH MANDEL

Ford executives have built a business plan around the GT supercar that focuses attention on the people, the process and the manufacturing production, which is one way to justify building the 200-mph joy ride.

The Ford GT program is a technology proving ground and a place for some 35 handpicked members of a ``dream team'' of engineers to prove their worth, says Chris Theodore, vice president of North American product development. Since May, those engineers have put in long hours to see that the first three cars get built in time for the centennial celebration in June 2003. Customer Ford GTs will not be available until 2004; the company plans to build just 4500 total.

Developing the Ford GT has been as design and engineering intensive as building a race car, says Neil Ressler, who not long ago was Ford vp of technology and whose responsibility included overseeing the Jaguar Formula One race effort. Ressler, who retired in January, is a consultant on the GT project.

On Nov. 12 the team finished building its first of nine running pre-production development prototypes, based entirely on computer designs-a first for the company. On Dec. 3 Ford freezes GT development for the next phase of vehicles for crash and emissions tests.

The production car gets an aluminum body with alloy spaceframe and machined attachment points. British-based Mayflower will do the body pieces in a process akin to super-plastic forming: Aluminum sheets will be heated to a point before melting and then fit into a one-sided metal die to build a body part. The Ford GT's hood is ...