WSJ article - The Ford That Dethroned Ferrari in 1966


KennethClay

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 15, 2012
860
New York
Nice article in today's Wall Street Journal about the 1966 Le Mans winning Ford GT and also the 2017 car. It was written by A.J. Baime, who has a regular column and was also the author of "Go Like Hell".

See: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-ford-that-dethroned-ferrari-in-1966-11573574351
 

JWZ

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 17, 2013
747
Texas
Subscribe to read??? Clickbait....LOL!
 

KennethClay

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 15, 2012
860
New York
Ugh - didn't know that, as I'm a subscriber. Well, here's the text. I wish I could post the 20 pictures as well.

The Ford That Dethroned Ferrari in 1966
A collector talks about owning the car that won the climactic race featured in the movie ‘Ford v Ferrari’—plus a modern supercar that pays tribute
Rob Kauffman in his 1966 Ford GT40 Mk II, the car that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year in France. JEREMY M. LANGE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

By
A.J. Baime
Nov. 12, 2019 10:59 am ET

Rob Kauffman of Charlotte, N.C., 56, an entrepreneur and owner of RK Motors, a sales and restoration shop for collector cars, on his 200-mph Fords, as told to A.J. Baime.
In a few days, a movie called “Ford v Ferrari” is coming out about the Ford-Ferrari racing battle, which culminated in 1966 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. There was some controversy about the finish that racing fans still talk about, but ultimately the winning car was the #2 Ford driven by the team of Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, which is one of the cars I now own.
Photos: A Matched Pair of 200-MPH Fords
The 1966 Le Mans-winning GT40 Mk II and its custom-painted mate, the 2017 GT Heritage Edition


Rob Kauffman with his two Fords: the 1966 Le Mans-winning GT40 Mk II, left, and the 2017 GT Heritage Edition.
JEREMY M. LANGE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
1 of 20


I found it by coincidence. A restorer in New Hampshire named Mark Allin was working on another of my cars and he told me that this Ford GT40 Mk II, as it was called (because it stands 40 inches high), might be for sale. I asked which one and he said chassis No. P/1046. I said, if that’s true, I’m interested. A few phone calls and plane rides later, I bought the car and did a 5,000-hour plus restoration in attempt to get it looking exactly as it did on the starting line at Le Mans in 1966.

There are many reasons why people are still talking about this car today. The cast of characters involved in creating it are still icons of the automotive world— Carroll Shelby, Henry Ford II, Bruce McLaren, Ken Miles. And it’s the car that toppled Ferrari—the first American car ever to win Le Mans outright—so there is the whole patriotic thing. In 2018, I took the car back to Le Mans and ran it on the track, which was pretty cool.

A few years ago, Ford decided to get back into endurance racing so the company built a new Ford GT, which was raced by the Chip Ganassi racing team [ Mr. Kauffman was an investor and partner with the team and still is]. Ford won Le Mans again in the GT class in 2016 [though not overall in all classes, as it did in 1966] and I was there to see it.

The company created street versions of the racing car, including a small number of Heritage Editions with paint schemes to commemorate some of the most important Ford racing cars of the 1960s. The Heritage Editions commemorating my 1966 car used a more modern font for the racing number, but I convinced Ford to do one for me to match the font of my 1966 car, so technically my Heritage Edition is one-of-a-kind.

The 1966 car is an important historic artifact that needs to be preserved. The new Ford is a pure modern supercar. Both were built to go over 200 mph. Fifty years from now when I am gone, I hope these two cars are still together.
 

twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
The complete story

 

GTinTN

GT Owner
Jan 17, 2019
222
Brentwood, TN
Thanks for sharing - looking forward to the movie!