The Ford GT40 is one of the most iconic cars of the 1960s. The American sports car was initially conceived with only one goal in mind: to design, build, and race a car that could beat Ferrari in his own game. Now one of these historical racing cars is being offered for sale.
The ambitions of Henry Ford II were clear, he wanted to win with his cars at Le Mans. In those days Ferrari was very successful, the Prancing Horse has won at the famous endurance race six times in a row from 1960 to 1965. It appeared Enzo Ferrari was interested in selling his company to Ford. So negations started about integrating the Italian carmaker into the American giant.
Ford reportedly spent several million dollars during the negotiations when suddenly Ferrari changed his mind. He wanted to remain in charge of his company’s motor sports division and broke off the talks. Henry Ford II was furious about Enzo’s move and wanted revenge. He ordered Ford to create a car that would beat Ferrari. The result was the GT40 and Ford succeeded in his ambitions by winning Le Mans four successive times from 1966 to 1969.
The specific model (GT40 P/1003) which is being offered for sale ran under the banner of Ford France and was raced by Guy Ligier ‒ who later founded his own Formula 1 team ‒ in the 1965 International Championship for GT Manufacturers. It became the first GT40 to score a victory in Europe at Magny-Cours. More victories followed that season and the succeeding year the car become first in its class and fifth overall at the 1000 km of the Nürburgring.
The Ford was handed over to Jean-Michel Giorgi, who won the notorious Targa Florio in his class (and 5th overall). He also became the first in his class (7th overall) at the Nürburgring and a few other races. The last race this GT40 ran was the 1000 km of Paris at Montlhery. The car was sold to a British man, who kept the car in his collection for over 30 years ‒ making it one of the most original and important GT40s in the world.
This unique and wonderful car is being offered by Fiskens. For more information visit their website.
[Via Motorsportretro.com]
Here’s the cars ‘ Official’ race history . Notice no win at the Targa Florio as Fiskens is claiming etc ;
http://gt40.net/gt40-chassis-numbers/gt40-p1003/
I thought something didn’t seem quite right about the info Fiskens has on their site
@ GuitarSlinger: Thanks for your comment and additional information. I have updated the article.