How I Bought A Ford GT For $0

What's up you guys, it's Graham here.

So, a year ago, Kevin O'Leary reviewed my investment portfolio and told me that I should diversify, and I took that advice to heart. So, I bought a 2005 Ford GT. Now I get it, I know what you're thinking, but let's rewind a little bit, and it's all going to start to make some sense.

See, even though most of you know me as a frugal financial minimalist who stretches the value of a dollar as far as it'll go, deep down, I'm a car enthusiast. The first car that caught my attention was the Lotus Elise, and sure enough, when I was 19 years old, I made the financially irresponsible decision to spend my entire first commission on a 2006 Lotus Elise. I gotta say that was the best financial mistake I could have made.

I spent almost every weekend morning at car clubs. I've met some of my best friends at those events, and driving for me has become this therapeutic way for me just to relax. But two years later, I decided to put that enjoyment aside for the sake of investing, and so I sold the car for the same price I paid for it, and I used that money to go and buy a triplex. Although deep down, I absolutely missed it, I then did the same thing a few years later with a 2008 Lotus Exige S240 that was in the background of a lot of my older videos.

But history tends to repeat itself. When another good investment opportunity came up, I sold the car for again the same price I paid for it. So, for a while now, I've wanted to get back into the car hobby, but I've consistently just put it off because the financially responsible thing to do is to save and invest, right?

Well, when it comes to myself, I want to make a distinction. I don't mind spending money on things that I enjoy as long as I know I'm getting a good deal or buying something that's going to be holding its value, much like both of the Lotuses that I bought and sold for the same price I paid for them. But the moment something is overpriced, it doesn't matter how much it is, whether it's 50 cents or 500,000, I won't do it because that's a bad deal.

That is how I could justify spending $11,000 on a first edition pack of Pokémon cards from Logan Paul, but I refuse to spend 10 cents on an extra ketchup packet from McDonald's. One of those is going to hold its value; the other is going to end up as a stain on my t-shirt.

But there is a problem that most automotive enthusiasts will tell you, and that is cars could be absurdly expensive. That was until I started going down the rabbit hole of research, and I realized that it was not only possible to own one of my all-time favorite cars ever built, but I could also get the opportunity to own and drive one completely for free without costing me any money out of pocket.

Now, if that sounds like I've gone crazy or fallen victim to some internet related scam, just listen and smash the like button for the YouTube algorithm because here's how this works. But first, here's the car in question: it's a 2005 Ford GT with a market value of about $300,000. I was 15 years old when this car began production, and when I first saw one of these on the road, my jaw dropped to the floor.

The story behind this car is also rather unbelievable. It was built to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original Ford GT40 winning the 24-hour Le Mans race against Ferrari. See, back in the early 1960s, Henry Ford was in negotiations with Enzo Ferrari to purchase 90% of his company for $18 million. Ford felt like this collaboration would help bolster sales and elevate the entire brand as a manufacturer with racing credibility.

But last minute, Ferrari backed out of the deal, and that infuriated Henry Ford to the point where he felt the personal vengeance to beat Ferrari at all costs. So, he came up with just one order: design a car that would beat Ferrari at the 24-hour Le Mans race.

Now, for those not aware, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is an endurance race dating back to 1923, in which cars drove around an 8.4-mile course over and over again with the goal of covering the most distance in a 24-hour period. From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, Ferrari dominated the event, winning seven out of the eight races between 1958 and 1965, with some fine in 1966.

The Ford GT40 not only beat Ferrari, but their cars were so good that they won both first, second, and third place. Then, 40 years later, Ford does this: from 2005 to 2006, Ford built 4038 of these to celebrate their 100th anniversary of the Ford brand. Even here in the front headlights, it secretly says 100.

Back when these cars first came out, they were only offered with four options: you had racing stripes, painted calipers, a Macintosh sound system, and forged wheels. Even though this car was built to compete on the streets with Ferrari, it's still very much designed from its racing heritage with a 550 horsepower V8 that's capable of doing 0-60 in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 205 miles an hour.

Although I'll leave the car reviews to Doug DeMuro, who just does a way better job than I do, we got something different to talk about today, and that would be how this car costs you absolutely nothing to own. Certain cars defy the gravity of depreciation, and just like owning real estate or stock in a successful company, cars can and very much do go up in value the longer you own them.

In fact, when I started digging deeper, I found certain cars have actually outperformed the stock market and made their owners quite a lot of money. In 2016, it was reported that classic cars increased in value by 40% in 2014 and by nearly 400% since 2005. That was when 18 Hagerty analysts proposed their top 10 bullish investment grade cars that were likely to continue going up in value, and on that list was this very 2005 Ford GT.

Their reasoning was that it was a limited production car based on Le Mans racing history, and best of all, it's serviceable at any Ford dealership. They didn't make this car with expensive Italian parts. In fact, the key, the window switches, the mirror switch, and the turn signal came right from a Ford Focus, and all the parts you need are right here on Ford's website for an extremely reasonable price.

At auction, they also noticed an interesting phenomenon: the more these cars sold, the higher the prices they got. From 2005 to 2013, the most GT sold in a year was six, with a value of about $200,000. But from 2014 to present, an average of 24 cars have sold for a median price of above $300,000 for all seven years, and that's really created a perfect market for this car to continue appreciating.

So, a few weeks ago, I started casually looking for a Ford GT, but right off the bat, it was very difficult to find one that I felt would be a good deal. I just had the mindset that I would treat this car the same way as I would real estate. I wanted to buy something with some upside that I could buy just below market value; that way, should something happen, I'd at least have some built-in profit from the very beginning.

Well, I'm not sure if it was just lucky timing or the right place at the right time, but within weeks of me starting my car search, a Ford GT came up on auction, and in the exact color combination I wanted. But there was one problem with the whole thing in that I had to win the auction first.

On auction day, I set a limit of what I was willing to pay, and I told myself if it goes a dollar above that limit, I would walk away. And if you're curious what happened that day, here you go:

"Did I win?"

"You're the bidding winner! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Well, you gotta let me know if this is a stupid thing to get or not."

"Okay, I will. I just want your honest opinion, honestly."

"Okay, I will. Is that the car? What do you think?"

"Whoa, are you kidding me? Whoa, yes! It's low. Is it a bit of a drop? This is amazing! So when do we go for a ride?"

But for me, as I started researching the car, the more I realized that this is a car that I could buy, own, and drive and enjoy entirely for free without losing any value. I also liked this car in particular because it was being sold private party, and here in the state of Nevada, private party car purchases are not subject to sales tax. So I don't need to pay anything extra to register the car.

Now speaking of registration, Nevada bases their calculation on the original MSRP of the car when it was brand new while also factoring in depreciation over that time. Meaning that even though this car has actually gone up in value and is now selling for over double MSRP, the registration process actually values this car as though it costs $22,500. Yes, you heard me correctly; the registration on this car is the exact same as if it were a 2019 Honda Civic.

If I also use the car that sits as a backdrop for business use, I might also be able to write off the depreciation of this car's value over five years. Meaning at $300,000, I would be able to depreciate $60,000 a year from this, thereby saving more money on taxes.

Now, as far as the financials of the car that I'm sure you want me to talk about: the final sales price was $306,000, registration was $500, and insurance was $1,500. Then, assuming I drive the car a thousand miles a year at an average of 15 miles per gallon, that's another $200 a year in gas. Then barring any unexpected maintenance that comes up, the total out-of-pocket cost to own this car should be about $183 a month.

But with tax depreciation, however, that could lead to a $22,000 savings, which would completely cover the out-of-pocket cost to own the car. And best of all, this is not the only type of car you could do this with. The Honda S2000 is another perfect example of a manual transmission car which has been going up in value a lot over the recent few years, meaning you could buy it, drive it for pretty much free, and sell it for the same price, if not more than what you paid for it.

Same also applies with the original Acura NSX, older Porsche Turbos, the SLS AMG Mercedes, and the original Tesla Roadster, which is another car that I was seriously considering, but this car came first. Of course, just like with anything, there is a risk that this investment will end up going down in value, but when done right, cars like this don't have to be a money pit to own.

It's completely possible to buy and drive one of these with completely zero dollars out of pocket by the time you buy and eventually sell it. That was the complete intention of this car from the very beginning. From the way I see it, this car is really the perfect combination of a driving experience with history as a good investment without losing any value.

So, with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate it. As always, make sure to destroy the like button, subscribe button, and notification bell. Also, feel free to add me on Instagram; posts are pretty much daily. So, if you want to be a part of it there, feel free to add me there, as on my second channel, The Graham Stephan Show, I post there every single day I'm not posting here. So, if you want to see a brand new video from me every single day, make sure to add yourself to that.

And lastly, if you guys want two free stocks, use the link down below in the description, and Weeble is going to be giving you two free stocks when you deposit $100 on the platform. Those stocks are potentially worth all the way up to $1,850. So, if you haven't done that yet, you may as well get them down below! Let me know which free stocks you get.

Thank you so much for watching, and until next time!