Henry Ford II was on a racing romp in the ‘60s! After being
rejected by Enzo Ferrari in a buy out offer, Henry was livid and vowed to win
the World Manufacturing Sports Car Championship. Probably no one is really sure
of how much Ford spent on racing in the ‘60s, but it was A LOT! . They were into
all kinds of racing with many cars for over ten years!
The GT40 was an
all-out assault of Ferrari’s dominance in sports car racing. Using the full mite
of Ford’s engineering team, a platform for a raced was built that served the
cause for over half a decade. The original GT40 cars were powered by a variety
of small-block Ford engines. Later, the big 427 engines were used as things
began to get really tough with the big-block Chaparrals and others.
When
the car was finally retired after the end of the ‘69 season, many were converted
into street cars, Not only was it a daunting mechanical task, it must have been
a challenge just driving a car like that on normal roads. Then, over 30 years
later, rumors began floating around that Ford was thinking about making GT40
cars again. Not a “new version” of the old racing classic, but the actual car,
built the way it was in the beginning, plus whatever upgrades are needed for
legal road worthiness. Before you know it, Chevy will start building and selling
1963 Grand Sport Corvettes, finally!
Original GT40 cars still surface at
car shows and historic sports car races, which are a blast to see if you ever
can. Drivers soon forget that they’re driving 30 to 50 year old racers, some of
which are worth millions. Some of the kit versions are very faithful to the
original design. A few GT40 cars are obviously old war horses - beaten, patched,
fixed, and rebuilt... but still the loud, fast, and
beautiful.
