When did you first fall in love with Ford GT40s?


KennethClay

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 15, 2012
860
New York
Found this in my period-correct Hot Wheels Rally Case! Missing a rear clam and one wheel, but circa 1970 and still beloved!
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Kayvan

GT Owner
Jul 13, 2006
4,782
Scarsdale Library Cubicle

Age 10

Road & Track 1980s article about ordering GT40s at Ford Dealers

Promised I would do that if they ever offered them again.

18 wheeler made delivery of GT 25yrs later in parking lot of library.

Priceless.
 

THamonGT

GT
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
When Carroll Shelby sent a GT 40 to our Dealership for display and Ford forgot Where it was sent. We were able to display it for 3 months then it was sent back to Detroit a sold to Edsel Ford and now its in the UK where a great gentleman races it. He will be the proud owner of the New GT next year. Check these pictures of that Great GT40.
 

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ByeEnzo

GT
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Dec 10, 2005
2,283
Fort Worth, TX
1968. Family had just immigrated to USA. Collected cereal box tops and got a Gulf GT40 die cast car. Later on, my favorite Aurora slot car was a GT40.
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,268
Kalama, Free part of WA State
1969. Had to have a Hot Wheels version of it. Wish I still had it, but my mother "cleaned out old stuff." :facepalm:
 

Flatrod

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jan 29, 2008
153
Anchorage, Alaska
In 65 and then when Ford won at Le mans
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
When I was a little kid and played with slot cars, one of which was a Ford GT40.
 

KennethClay

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 15, 2012
860
New York
Check these pictures of that Great GT40.

That car is breathtaking! Love the blue and white livery

Kenneth
 

vyprgt2

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Sep 9, 2005
609
CA
When Carroll Shelby sent a GT 40 to our Dealership for display and Ford forgot Where it was sent. We were able to display it for 3 months then it was sent back to Detroit a sold to Edsel Ford and now its in the UK where a great gentleman races it. He will be the proud owner of the New GT next year. Check these pictures of that Great GT40.[/QUOTE




Um...wow.

These are awesome pictures. The black and white dealership are from the 1960s?
 

viva gt

GT Owner
Sep 15, 2010
419
toronto canada
every single day i walk into the mancave...lol
 

ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,770
Scottsdale, Arizona
Gentlemen,

In the mid 1960’s my father Bud Beck was the General Manager of Chase Morsey’s Paradise Ford in Scottsdale Arizona. Mr. Morsey was an ex Ford factory executive who loved racing and he ordered and sold quite a few Shelby Mustangs and Cobras. One day my dad took a brand new Cobra off the showroom floor and took me for a ride. For an 8 year old boy that was quite a thrill. He brought it home that night and it looked great in our driveway. I couldn’t have dreamed that car would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars someday. I loved the Shelby Mustangs too and had no idea that they were rare and special. They were just other new cars out on the lot. But one Saturday in 1967 or 68 there was a really cool new car in the showroom. Oh my gosh dad what is that?!? He told me it was a Ford GT-40. It was the most beautiful car I’d ever seen. I sat in it but my dad didn’t take me out for a ride. I just looked at it for a long time. I don’t know if it was for sale or just for display. Again I thought it was just another Ford and had no idea it was one of only 134 original GT-40’s built. It had lines more beautiful than any car built before or after UNTIL Ford recreated it in 2005. I fell in love with the Ford GT while staring at and sitting in a new or nearly new one in the mid 60’s. Now half a century later there are two Ford GT’s in my garage. I wonder where that original is today.

Chip
 

Flatrod

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jan 29, 2008
153
Anchorage, Alaska
Chip,
Apparently Ford sent a GT40 to all their dealers. Even here in Alaska! I used to have a picture of one sitting here in front of John Stepp's Friendly Ford. My Gt350 was sold new at John Stepp's.
 

GT0987

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Jun 11, 2013
76
Tulsa, Oklahoma
As a 17 year old on track at Willow Springs running with one. We ran with the Cobra owners club and that car stole the show. Can't remember how many times I was warned to stay out of it's way. When I'd see it coming in the mirror it was easy to want to just watch it go by, it was beautiful.
 

ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,770
Scottsdale, Arizona
There were only 30 some odd Mark 1 street GT’s, and about 7 of those ugly Mark 3’s. Some of the race GT’s were displayed at dealerships for a week or so as well. So there is probably a hundred dealers that displayed a GT-40 for each dealer who actually ordered and sold one.

Chip
 

THamonGT

GT
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
The Dealership displays was part of a 5-6 GT display all over the three regions of the US and Canada. Each GT came with a 1/2 ton pick up and trailer and traveled to different Ford Dealerships to be displayed for 30 days then another dealership picked it up for their display and so on all the different Regions. Ford lost track of some of them and no one ever called or came to pick ours up therefore we had it for 3 months. These GT’s were detuned and could be driven on the streets. My Father and I had a blast for the three months we had #4. It did attract the girls just like today! I have the whole history of this GT and many of you saw the Video of Edsel and I discussing its history at Our Rally in Detroit.
 

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GTMD

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jan 4, 2011
957
NorCal
As a Generation "X"er I got a late start on my love affair. I didn't necessarily grow up around performance cars so I had limited exposure. I think I first saw a replica at a car show in Pleasanton, CA in the late 90s. Although the looks certainly grabbed my attention, it was when I first heard the angry sounding small block under the clamshell that it all came together. How could a car look as pretty as that and yet also sound so raw? It was the perfect blend of a sexy road/GT car with a muscle car engine. I was in love. I had finally seen the first car that made my heart race!
 

Apollo

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Aug 5, 2006
2,499
Pahrump, NV
I was fascinated with cars as a young kid and do not know why exactly I became all things Ford, but I think it was a slot car set that Dad got my brother and I. It had two Indy cars. My older brother picked his and I got the one that had Ford stickers. Over the years I started following Ford Racing in Indy, Formula one, stock cars, Trans Am. When Ford won Le Mans in 66. I was happy for another Ford win. But it was learning that some of my racng heros, (A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti) were racing the 67 race I focused on Le Mans.
When I first saw the 67 GT40, I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. That was when I really fell in love with the GT40.
Like Kenneth, I still have my 67 GT40 Hot Wheels car. I raced against it all of my buddies in the neighborhood circuit. Of all my Hot Wheels cars, it never lost a race. Most of the Hot Wheels, Matchbox and Johnny Lightning cars I had from back then have long since disappeared, except the very special few Fords I keep with my treasured items. :biggrinFord10.jpg
 
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twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
Had to be in 68 or so just in high school and we were talking about the cars that had won for 3 years in a row.
 

digman1

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 8, 2007
391
Dallas Texas
When I was a little kid and played with slot cars, one of which was a Ford GT40.

Me too ! I was going to the local slot car tracks with my 1:32 GT, and my 1:24 Cox Chapparral. Also threw in pics of my Manta Ray, and my Cheetah.

Was also devouring every car magazine I could get my hand on at that time.
 

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PHXGT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Sep 11, 2005
369
Phoenix, AZ
Either 1968 or 1969 watching recap of #1075 winning Le Mans on Wild World of Sports as a 10 year old. Best looking car I had ever seen. Still think so.