As far as American race cars go, it doesn’t get much bigger than the Ford GT40. While it took a few tries and a case of Carroll Shelby engineering, the legendary GT40 put the Blue Oval firmly at the pinnacle of racing performance, and on the world stage – Le Mans. The year was 1966, and this was the car.
As the race wore on, Ford needed to make a crucial decision: race its two front-running GT40s to the end or pick one to get the victory. The team gave a decree, drive for the tie. The #2 car of Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon – since it started further back in the pack – was given the win. Here’s a touch of that story and a sneak peak of the incredible car.
A few weeks back we announced that our friends over at RK Motors had acquired the car and were planning a full restoration for it. That didn’t gel too well with some readers, prompting calls to “keep it all original” and “leave it as it raced.” We couldn’t agree more, and so does RK.
This winning #2 GT40 underwent a restoration a number of years ago and some of the parts didn’t fully match or weren’t tooled in the same way as the Ford Advanced Vehicles engineers would have done.
This new 20-month restoration will bring the iconic racer back to its exact racing specifications when it crossed the finish line at la Sarthe, down to the last nut and bolt. They’re even making use of original Ford tools and molds.
The legend will reemerge at the 2016 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, just in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its remarkable win.
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