FEATURE - 1966 Ford GT40 MkI

Words: Mike Ryan

Photos: Mecum Auctions

Ford’s Le Mans-winning GT40 race car from the 1960s is so revered that it was re-invented not once, but twice in the new millennium. The original GT40 remains one of the best-known racing Fords of all time, but did you know that a handful of road-legal versions were built, too? The car presented here is one of them.

Thanks to Ford v Ferrari, the movie from 2019 starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, a lot of car people are familiar with the story of the GT40 and how it was created after Enzo Ferrari snubbed Ford’s attempt to buy the famous Italian marque. Fictionalised elements aside, the GT40’s development from a Lola GT car is portrayed reasonably accurately in the film and shows how the iconic car wasn’t an all-American effort – at least, not initially.

From Eric to Carroll

Determined to beat Ferrari at Le Mans, but aware that they had little home-grown experience in developing cars for endurance racing, Ford turned to Eric Broadley’s Lola Cars operation in the UK. Lola seemed to have a ready-made contender in their Mk6; a GT car that had performed well at Le Mans in 1963. The Mk6 featured an aluminium monocoque, fibreglass body and, more importantly for Ford, a mid-mounted Ford 256ci V8.

Ford Advanced Vehicles (FAV) in the UK brought Broadley in and handled the early development of what would be called the GT40, but an unsuccessful Le Mans campaign in 1964 (mainly due to failures with the Colotti transaxle) saw Ford HQ in the USA hand the project over to Carroll Shelby, although FAV still played an important role.

The GT40 MkII of 1965 was defined by an engine upgrade to the 427ci V8 available in the Ford Galaxie. This made the car incredibly fast, but head gaskets proved to be the Achilles Heel this time around. Another unsuccessful Le Mans campaign in ’65 saw FAV and Shelby go back to the drawing board to make the engine stronger and more fuel efficient. At the same time, the fragile Colotti gearbox was replaced with a ZF five-speed, brakes were improved and other changes made. The cars were still being built by FAV, but Holman & Moody, a successful Ford NASCAR team, were now part of the programme, too.

The improved GT40 MkII appeared to have the right combination of power and reliability, as proven by wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring in 1966. That gave Ford great confidence of finally being able to break Ferrari’s winning streak at Le Mans, which stood at six coming into the 1966 event. Nevertheless, a ‘weight of numbers’ approach saw Ford submit no less than 15 GT40 entries that year, although only eight were accepted.

It's automotive folklore now, but GT40s led at the start, with Ferraris ahead during the night before the Fords got on top again in the morning. Running 1-2-3 (the other five entries had all retired with various issues) in the late morning, the three remaining Fords crossed the finish line in the same order that afternoon, with the “engineered” win going to Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon in the #2 car, second to the Ken Miles and Denny Hulme #1 car, and third to Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson’s #5 car.

Just as well-known as that 1966 win is that the GT40 went on to take victory at Le Mans in 1967, 1968 and 1969, too.

Race to Road

While the history of the GT40 race cars is well documented, the background to the road cars is more opaque. While it’s generally agreed that only seven true GT40 road cars were built – referred to as the MkIII – in 1967 and ’68, there’s no consensus on the “road specification” cars that came before, with anywhere from 30 to 35 claimed across MkI and MkII variants, depending on the source.

The MkIII was identified by its modified, four-headlight front end and centre-lock wire wheels as standard, but the road specification cars were much closer to the race car in terms of appearance and performance, with specification varying from car to car.

Most GT40 road cars were fitted with the 289ci V8 from the MkI (also found in the Mustang GT and other Fords of the period), which was detuned from the racing version and fitted with a quieter, road-friendly exhaust. A five-speed ZF transaxle was bolted to the V8, with the shifter in the centre for the MkIII, but road specification cars retained the gearstick on the driver’s right, even in RHD examples, as per the racing versions. Brakes were carried over from the race car with little change, but the suspension (independent all round) was softened, making the car more compliant for road use.

Seats were given better padding and plusher upholstery, with things like doorcards and ventilation added, too. There were also a pair of heat-proof storage compartments available for the engine bay.   

While it’s highly revered and a multi-million dollar car now, the road-spec GT40 proved to be a tough sell in the late 1960s. Even with the compromises made for road legality, the GT40 was still a very raw car and almost impossible to use as a daily driver. It was expensive, too; around the same as a new Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow in 1966 and ten times more expensive than a Ford Cortina. As such, clientele was limited.

The Italian (and German) Job

The GT40 road car featured, a 1966 MkI, was completed by FAV in late 1966. Finished in Metallic Dark Blue with Borrani wire wheels and a black interior, it was delivered to Italy with a spare wheel and tyre, optional high-pressure oil pump and full race exhaust system (in addition to the road exhaust), so the buyer clearly intended to race it.

In a somewhat ironic touch, the second owner was Ferrari works driver, Umberto Maglioli, who had co-driven a GT40 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1965 and fell in love with the car. That love wasn’t strong enough for him to keep it, though, and he soon sold the car to another Italian who held onto it for 15 years.

In the 1980s, this GT40 went to West Germany. The next owner, also located in Germany, sought to have the car restored, so he turned to RUF Automobiles in Pfaffenhausen. Founded in 1939 by Alois Ruf Snr, but transformed by Ruf Jnr into the Porsche specialist tuner that most people associate the name with today, RUF was an odd choice to take on this project. However, it’s reported that the GT40’s owner was a regular customer and Ruf Jnr found the project interesting.

The car had accumulated less than 13,500 miles by this stage (perhaps reflecting how hard a GT40 is to live with on a day-to-day basis), with no accident damage either, making the restoration somewhat easier. Still, the job took years to complete. The result was a concours-quality example of one of the rarest competition-based road cars from the 1960s.

Auction Attraction

This past January, the GT40 MkI shown here was consigned with Mecum Auctions for their Kissimmee sale. One of the high-profile lots in this massive auction and part of the ‘Apex Collection’ that included genuine 1965 and 1966 Shelby GT350s, early Camaros, a rare 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle, a Porsche 959 and Jaguar XJ220, the GT40 was expected to make as much as US$7 million.

Hammering for US$6.3 million, buyer’s premium took the final price to US$6.93 million (AU$10.36 million approx.), which may be a record for a GT40 road car. The outright record for a GT40 is US$11 million, which one of the race cars (with a connection to Steve McQueen) achieved in 2012. More recently, the third-placed Bucknum/Hutcherson car from the 1966 Le Mans sold for US$9.79 million at an RM Sothebys auction.   

For details on this car, the Apex Collection and Mecum’s Kissimmee auction, go to: mecum.com