How many GT40s did Shelby sell in the Sixties?

[bitzman]

I saw a picture taken back in the Sixties showing Carroll Shelby and an unidentified man standing by as someone test drives a GT40, rhd, wire wheels, probably one of the 1965 Sports 50 cars, of which it is said 31 were sold for road use. I think Car & Driver tested one and wrote a nasty report about all its failings as a car for regular road use (or was that a Mk. III?) Anyway does anyone have a clue how many road going GT40s Shelby American imported and sold from their LAX facility?

I also saw a white GT40 being driven on the street in 1965 by a woman. This was before there were replicas.

But memory fogs after 40 plus years....

 

[AZGT]

I also saw a white GT40 being driven on the street in 1965 by a woman. This was before there were replicas.

In hindsight we are fortunate to have seen the originals since so few were made.

I also not only saw one in a dealership, but there was one that used to drive around where I lived as a kid - even saw where he parked it in his CARPORT. :eek

Bet he wouldn't do that anymore :thumbsup

Probably kicks himself that he sold it.

 

[SteveA]

The white GT40 in my Avatar is probably the car you saw in the 60's. It was purchased by my father for his partner in late 67'. The car was a MK1 #P1060 red in color with #6 on on it. It was brokered by Caroll Shelby for Ford when Ford stopped racing the GT40's in 67'. The 68' & 69' wins were not officially backed by Ford.
The Lady driving the car would have been the partners wife. She put over 30,000 miles on the car all in the So Cal area from 67' to 74'.
The car was painted white to help out at the DMV. It was rejected 7 times before my dad got smart and got in line at 4:55 on a Friday night. The clerk took one look at the paper work, then the clock and said "Mark1? Is that like a Mach1"? Then without even going outside or waiting for an answer issued the taggs.

 

[Fast Freddy]

1088 gt-40's were made

 

[mardyn]

1088?? that number sounds waaaay too high to me...

I think it's more like only 127 or so.. original GT40s

I'll see if I can run down the info when I get back from dinner.

mardyn :biggrin

 

[SteveA]

The numbering started at 1000. The first test cars started at 100 I think, only a few test cars were made. I do know car 103 or the 3rd test car just sold at auction.

 

[bitzman]

Never say never

The amazing thing is that GT40s are being made up to almost current times, I remember being amazed a few years ago when Ford sent three unfinished tubs to a shop in England to be finished out. And I heard even more recently some unbuilt tubs were finished so it's not a history you can nail down and say how many were made as long as there's a tub somewhere uncompleted.

 

[mardyn]

The SAAC registry shows a grand total of 195 which includes some MKVs, Lee Holman cars, and various uncompleted chassis'... pg 318

but it looks like the total of 127 "originals" is pretty close.

mardyn

 

[PHXGT]

I don't think Shelby sold any. I think they were all sold by Ford. I think is was just a couple of hundred.

 

[50 BMG]

but it looks like the total of 127 "originals" is pretty close.

mardyn

Correct, it's somewhere right around 130 depending on what you count.

 

[flyingsniffer]

The amazing thing is that GT40s are being made up to almost current times, I remember being amazed a few years ago when Ford sent three unfinished tubs to a shop in England to be finished out. And I heard even more recently some unbuilt tubs were finished so it's not a history you can nail down and say how many were made as long as there's a tub somewhere uncompleted.

here's a link to Bryan Wingfield's site which (even though it's a rubbish website - the picture is in exactly the wrong place!) describes the story of the 'last three' cars. I know Bryan vaguely: he looked after all of Ford's driven heritage cars in the late 90's

http://www.bryanwingfield.com/Forsale/GT40text.htm

Over here in Britain, Ford sometimes 'borrowed' Janet Willment's car (through Bryan): I had the pleaseure of being taken for a track drive in it. Awesome car that fueled my passion for the GT.

 

[bitzman]

In one of the British magazines

like Thoroughbred &
Classic Car they recently featured a very late GT40 they said was the last car built out of spares. It must be remembered that teams that owned GT40s also had spares in case they smashed a car up and that when they did smash one up they switched the labels (SN number) of the old car to the new chassis so as to avoid paying duties, new registration taxes if it was sometimes a road car, etc.

Also there's the muddle caused by the Swiss Sbarro who would build you a tub identical to your original if you could give him a real serial number. I doubt if there are as many counterfeit GT40s as there are counterfeit Cobras but there are at least half a dozen out there. I remember poor Ronnie Spain, dutifuly listing the fakes in his first book on GT40, only to be sued by owners who had bought fakes but didn't appreciate their mistake being unmasked.

 

[B O N Y]

like Thoroughbred &
Classic Car they recently featured a very late GT40 they said was the last car built out of spares. It must be remembered that teams that owned GT40s also had spares in case they smashed a car up and that when they did smash one up they switched the labels (SN number) of the old car to the new chassis so as to avoid paying duties, new registration taxes if it was sometimes a road car, etc.

Also there's the muddle caused by the Swiss Sbarro who would build you a tub identical to your original if you could give him a real serial number. I doubt if there are as many counterfeit GT40s as there are counterfeit Cobras but there are at least half a dozen out there. I remember poor Ronnie Spain, dutifuly listing the fakes in his first book on GT40, only to be sued by owners who had bought fakes but didn't appreciate their mistake being unmasked.

the waters get muddy real fast when tracing race car's pedigrees. The typical team has back up tubs, dozens of wheels, uprights, noses, tails.
Just think about a Nascar team with speedway, short track, road racing, display cars for super market appearances and roll forward twenty five years or more and dial for detective cousteau

 

[Cobraman]

Being of unsound memory, I consulted one of the GT40 books on my shelf, Ronnie Spain's "GT40, An Individual History and Race Record". According to Mr. Spain, there were 133 original GT40's. This included 12 Prototypes, 87 production cars, 3 Mirages, 7 Mark III's, 7 post-production cars (the P/1108 -1114 cars), 2 Alan Mann cars, 3 Alan Mann XGT cars, and 12 "J" chassis cars. Probably more than anyone wanted to know. :biggrin

 

[Fast Freddy]

Being of unsound memory, I consulted one of the GT40 books on my shelf, Ronnie Spain's "GT40, An Individual History and Race Record". According to Mr. Spain, there were 133 original GT40's. This included 12 Prototypes, 87 production cars, 3 Mirages, 7 Mark III's, 7 post-production cars (the P/1108 -1114 cars), 2 Alan Mann cars, 3 Alan Mann XGT cars, and 12 "J" chassis cars. Probably more than anyone wanted to know. :biggrin

actually this is very useful info to me. for like the past 20 years i was under the impression that over 1,000 gt-40's were made. apparently i have been wrong. with the realization that only 133 were made i now have a better understanding why the resale value of these cars are so high. the one that i used to race wheel to wheel with at my local road course cost the owner 1 million $$$ back in the early 90's. my bother got a ride in it one time while we were racing at the track and they blew by me goin down the main straight at 150 mph. :bow

 

[AZGT]

actually this is very useful info to me. for like the past 20 years i was under the impression that over 1,000 gt-40's were made.

I don't know that much about the GT-40 production either, just stuff from childhood memory.

From recall I think that Ford had to produce 100 of the cars to make it "legal" for the races - a production car not just a one off.

Does that sound correct?

 

[Cobraman]

I could actually give a further breakdown of the Ronnie Spain information as highlighted in my older edition of the Shelby Registry. The good news is that Spain and the Registry both agree on the 133 number. As I recall from memory, prototype racers in the 60's didn't have the minimum numbers for racing as we see since then. Few Mark I's were sold as "road cars", and we know they sold few Mark III's for the road. I don't believe I've seen the real number of how many were sold by Shelby, but I recall that it was very few. The cost of originals has always been high, but I know that some have been bought and sold for less than a mill. Some, of course, have been sold for much more, depending on the car's history. When I have the chance, I'll provide the actual 133 breakdown unless someone wants to provide that info sooner.

 

[B O N Y]

I could actually give a further breakdown of the Ronnie Spain information as highlighted in my older edition of the Shelby Registry. The good news is that Spain and the Registry both agree on the 133 number. As I recall from memory, prototype racers in the 60's didn't have the minimum numbers for racing as we see since then. Few Mark I's were sold as "road cars", and we know they sold few Mark III's for the road. I don't believe I've seen the real number of how many were sold by Shelby, but I recall that it was very few. The cost of originals has always been high, but I know that some have been bought and sold for less than a mill. Some, of course, have been sold for much more, depending on the car's history. When I have the chance, I'll provide the actual 133 breakdown unless someone wants to provide that info sooner.

GT's with great race history are million dollar cars, a search of recent auction results will show that average cars can be had for $300k. Remember most of these cars now require a 100% restoration of the tub, which leads to a full restoration which is way of $100k.

 

[mardyn]

Hmmm... I wonder how many of those 12 J car chassis' are actually real cars...

I think a few of those are starting to be replicated as well.

mardyn

 

[ChipBeck]

$300,000 GT40's

GT's with great race history are million dollar cars, a search of recent auction results will show that average cars can be had for $300k. Remember most of these cars now require a 100% restoration of the tub, which leads to a full restoration which is way of $100k.

Auction results are misleading as Mark V (Safire) GT40's are listed as 1966 cars although they were built much later. A Safire GT40 was sold at Barrett Jackson a few months ago for about $400,000 and the auction result listed it as a 1966 car. No original GT40 (I'm talking about the 134 original cars) can be had for anywhere near $300,000. The black car that won LeMans in '66 last sold for $6,000,000.00 two years ago. The gold GT40 that came in 3rd sold for $2,000,000.00 years ago. The 68-69 winner #1075 (last bought and sold by Harley Cluxton right here in Scottsdale) is valued in excess of $10,000,000.00. Any decent GT40 including the ugly Mark III's will bring over a million dollars. :ack If they were cheaper, I would have one.

Cheers. :cheers

Chip