My son, SuperDave, did a stint at Felt Bicycles as product manager. One of his projects was the Gulf GT40 tribute bike. Jay Leno got serial #001, the company president got #002, and SuperDave owns #003. Nice to see a younger generation appreciates this car's legacy even though he wasn't born until decades later.
Stayed in the same hotel in the summer as Shelby and John Wyer did when they raced at Le Mans Not much has changed
I volunteer at REVS Institute we had our Gran Sport Corvette on loan to Peterson Museum for a year and they let us have the MK I to display. It was very cool to see and let people enjoy. It was my understanding only 7 were built and sold. One story was a Ford dealer still had a new one in his showroom in 1969 because they were so expensive and not very street able. Some of the fit was not great. I understand as they were built to be raced.
As a teen, I bought models of several cars and planes over the years, but the one I most admired was the GT40. It will always remain a true classic for the ages.
Just to show you how low the GT40 is, this is a photo I took at Road America at a Shelby club regional meet quite a few years back. The GT40 is on the starting grid next to a Pantera.
Original GT40's at Lime Rock park, vintage festival last year 2024. They looked so awesome. Stood there staring at them until it got awkward. haha
31 MK I road cars and 7 MKIII which were modified to meet US laws - higher headlights. Many dealers kept oddball Fords in the showroom. It wasn't because they were too expensive or hard to sell - they were bait to draw people into the dealership. Prototypes: The first 12 cars were considered prototypes. Mk I: There were 84 production versions of the Mk I model, with 31 of them specifically built as road cars. Mk II: There were a total of 13 original Mk II models built by Ford. Mk III: Only seven Mk III models were produced as road cars. The I II & III were all built at Ford Advance Vehicles in England Mk IV: A total of 10 Mk IV models were built. The "J-Cars" are often counted separately from the other GT40s. These has J serial numbers and were built in the US. They were initially to be called J Car to signify a whole new car from the GT40 but with the death of Ken Miles they dropped the J Car name and just used MKIV.