Ford GT40 LeMans Winners

[Bob S]

Mine too, Bill. Think about that body style being over 60 years old now! ..and still looks fast and mean.

[Bill L.]

Very nice. One of my favorite LeMans cars.
Bill L.

[Bob S]

Well, thank you, Chuck.  I remember being given toys by my Dad as a child - I only thought of them as "racing cars" then, but looking back in pictures, I realized they were cars like this. I took them everywhere we went. I remember being scolded by my Mom in church because I had put them in my pocket and was "racing" them on the pew during a sermon.

[Chuck M]

Amazing, Bob, simply amazing!

The Gulf car is the car of my childhood dreams, 1967 being the first year I became aware of Le Mans.

I was 8.

[Bob S]

Thank you, Gents!  The beauty of this hobby is that we can model our dreams without the insurance and tax burdens of the real thing.  Plus... we get to smell the paint

[Anthony Leger]

Beautiful. The newest GT was recently on Top Gear that Matt Leblanc hosted and said it went for $400K and all 1000 were spoken for

[Ryan K]

Noice!

[Bob S]

The Ford GT40 is a high-performance endurance racing car with the Mk I, Mk II, and Mk III model cars being based upon the British Lola Mk6, and were designed and built in England, while the GT40 Mk IV model was designed and built entirely within the United States. The range was powered by a series of American-built engines modified for racing. The GT40 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four consecutive times, from 1966 to 1969 (1966 being the Mk II, 1967 the Mk IV, and 1968–1969 the oldest chassis design, the Mk I), including a 1-2-3 finish in 1966. In 1966, with Henry Ford II personally in attendance at Le Mans, the Mk II GT40 provided Ford with the first overall Le Mans victory for an American manufacturer,[5][6] and the first victory for an American manufacturer at a major European race since Jimmy Murphy´s triumph with Duesenberg at the 1921 French Grand Prix. The Mk IV GT40 that won Le Mans in 1967 is the only car designed and built entirely in the United States to achieve the overall win at Le Mans.

The GT40 was originally produced to win long-distance sports car races against Ferrari (who won at Le Mans six times in a row from 1960 to 1965). Ford/Shelby chassis #P-1075, which won in 1968 and 1969, is the first car in Le Mans history to win the race more than once, using the same chassis. Using an American Ford V-8 engine, originally of 4.7-liter displacement capacity (289 cubic inches), it was later enlarged to the 4.9-liter engine (302 cubic inches), with custom designed alloy Gurney–Weslake cylinder heads.

These examples are built from the excellent curbside 1/24 Fujimi kits that embraced the racing legend in 6 or 8 different logo liveries and across at least 2 different GT versions. I chose to build the LeMans winning Gulf car form 1967, as well as the new 1969 version sporting double air dams for better engine cooling. The Gulf-sponsored car is a difficult color to reproduce with a spray can, but I found a Krylon color that was very close. The only drawback with Krylon paint is that it must be mist coated and sanded between coats to achieve a gloss finish acceptable at this scale. This example is probably 12-15 mist coats to SLOWLY build the color up. The red car is Tamiya TS-49 Bright Red. My next subject may get an engine transplant from my parts box, but I'm still working out the logistics before I cut the body open.