This 800-HP GT40 Restomod Hides A Secret Under The Body, And It Isn't Even A FordA car that looks like one of the most legendary Fords ever built just rolled out with a secret that is going to divide purists right down the middle. From a distance it has the unmistakable low, wide stance of the Ford GT40, the same car that humbled Ferrari at Le Mans three times in a row. Open the doors, though, and lift the hood, and the story falls apart in the best possible way. This thing is not a GT40 underneath. It is not even a Ford.Check out: 10 Gifts for Car People That Don't Suck (and Don't Cost a Fortune)The car is called the GT MkII, and it comes from a South African tuner called Cape Advanced Vehicles, better known as CAV. They built it to mark the 60th anniversary of Ford's famous 1966 Le Mans victory, the one where the blue oval swept the podium in a 1-2-3 finish that still gives enthusiasts goosebumps. Only 40 of these will ever be made, which puts it in genuinely rare territory and instantly turns it into something collectors will fight over.AdvertisementAdvertisementIt Looks Like A GT40, But Look CloserFrom the right angle, the proportions are spot on. CAV kept the classic GT40 silhouette, that impossibly low roofline and the squat, planted look that made the original such a menace on track. The difference is what it is made of. Instead of the steel and aluminum of the 1960s, this body is a modern carbon-fiber composite, which is lighter, stiffer, and far better suited to the kind of speed this car is capable of.Here is the part that matters. If you know your cars and you study the A-pillars and the roofline, you might catch the trick. The donor platform underneath all that retro bodywork is an Audi R8. That is the big reveal, and it changes how you look at the entire project. CAV did not restore an old Ford. They took a modern German supercar and reshaped it into a tribute to a Le Mans icon.No Electric Nonsense HereAdvertisementAdvertisementThis is where a lot of restomod fans are going to breathe a sigh of relief. So many builds these days rip out the engine and stuff in a battery pack, chasing the electric trend whether buyers want it or not. CAV went the other way. The GT MkII keeps a combustion heart, and not just any engine.It uses a heavily reworked version of the 4.2-liter V8 that came in the R8. In this application, the numbers jump way up. We are talking 800 hp and 649 lb-ft of torque, which is a serious leap over anything the donor car ever made in stock form. That kind of power in a body this light makes for a car that should feel genuinely violent when you put your foot down.The performance figures back that up. CAV claims a 0 to 62 mph sprint of just 3 seconds and a top speed of 205 mph. Those are supercar numbers by any honest measure, and they put this 60th-anniversary tribute right in the conversation with serious modern exotics rather than leaving it as a pretty showpiece.Check out: The 10 Best Outdoor Knives of 2026: Top-Rated Picks for Hunting, Camping, and SurvivalAdvertisementAdvertisementBuilt To Be DrivenThat detail matters, because plenty of limited-run cars look fast and drive like museum pieces. This one was clearly built with intent. It is an all-wheel-drive setup, which should make all that power easier to manage when the road gets messy or the corners tighten up.Buyers also get a rare bit of choice when it comes to how they want to row through the gears. CAV offers it with a 6-speed single-clutch semi-automatic, a dual-clutch gearbox, or even a proper manual. In an era where the manual transmission is slowly being strangled out of existence, the fact that an enthusiast can option a clutch pedal in a car like this feels like a small act of defiance worth celebrating.The weight figure seals the deal. Thanks to its aluminum and carbon-fiber structure, the GT MkII tips the scales at just 1,350 kg. For a modern car packing 800 hp, that is impressively light, and it explains how the performance numbers come together so convincingly.AdvertisementAdvertisementWhat It Costs And Why It MattersThe price is the one piece that stays a little murky. CAV does not list a figure on its website, but the number floating around is somewhere near $300,000. For a 40-unit run that blends the look of a Le Mans legend with the bones of a modern Audi and a screaming naturally aspirated V8, that is not hard to justify for the kind of buyer who chases this stuff.What makes the GT MkII interesting goes beyond the spec sheet. It is a reminder that the restomod world does not have to follow the electric crowd to feel modern. CAV proved you can honor a 1966 icon, keep a combustion engine wailing, offer a manual, and still hit numbers that embarrass cars costing far more. The question now is whether GT40 purists see this as a clever tribute or a borrowed badge, because the only thing this car is missing is the very thing it is pretending to be.SourceImages Via: Cape Advanced Vehicles