1966 Ford GT40 Famous American Muscle Car 1920×1080 HD
Posted by admin at 5 May 2014, at 19 : 13 PM
Car of the day – 1966 Ford GT40 Famous American Muscle Car 1920×1080 HD
Today, we have here a new car. But this time we’re not going to introduce this particular 1966 Ford GT40 model in the picture above. This time, we’re going to introduce the Ford GT40 in general.
It’s easy to see why the Ford GT40 can be called the first American supercar. The main purpose of the Ford GT40 was to dominate Ferrari and win races, which it did, as the winner of 24 hours of LeMans 4 times in a row, from 1966 to 1969. To add to this, the GT40 GT-40P 1075 was the first car to win at Le Mans twice (in 1968 and 1969).
The car was named GT which is short for “Grand Tourisme”, and the number 40 was the height of the car. There were several Ford V8’s used, which were larger than the Ferrari V12’s of the time. The car that won LeMans twice, used the Gurney Weslake engine with the special alloy heads made by Weslake.
In 1963, Ford heard that Enzo Ferrari, wanted to sell his company to Ford. After millions of dollars spent by Ford in legal negotiations and audits, Ferrari cut off talks in the late stages of the deal. Enzo Ferrari wanted to remain the head of the racing division of Ferrari. Ford told Ferrari that he would not be allowed to race his cars at the Indianapolis 500 after the deal was made. Henry Ford II was very upset as Enzo Ferrari ended the deal, and the search for a car that could dominate Ferrari soon began.
After Lotus refused, Ford chose Lola’s proposal. Lola used a Ford V8 engine in their mid-engined car, the Lola Mk 6. It was ahead of it’s time and did well in the 1963 LeMans. Ford agreed on a short-term deal with Eric Broadley to contribute to the project. The agreement included a sale of two Lola Mk 6 chassis to Ford. Ford also hired John Wyer, who was involved with Aston Martin in the past, to the development team. Also, the only Ford engineer with experience involving a mid engined car, Roy Lunn, was sent to England. The first chassis built by Abbey Panels of Coventry was delivered March 16, 1963. The first Ford GT the GT/101 was introduced in England on April 1 and soon exhibited in New York.
The Ford GT40 was first raced in 1964 at the 1000 kilometer race at the Nurburgring, where it retired with suspension failure after holding second place early in the event. Three weeks later at the LeMans, all three entries retired although the Ginther/Gregory car led the field from the second lap until its first pit stop. In February of 1965, Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby took a Shelby American entered GT40 to victory in the Daytona 2000 kilometers.
We have more to say about this great muscle car, but we’re going to continue tomorrow with a new image of the Ford GT40 model. See you tomorrow!